TEDS Updates

Ah, yes, there is little that can distract the Willow when she’s on the hunt for the mighty syllabi.
~ Xander, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Ep. 7×05, “Selfless”
I’m a little like that. My Multnomah application is almost done, but I’m pretty sure that I want to go to TEDS, so I’m going to make my tuition deposit in a few days and register for classes. Being the nerd that I am, I’m already diving through any syllabi I can get my hands on and saying, “Ooo, this looks fun to study! Golly, I can’t wait to write that paper!” Hermione Granger and Lisa Simpson had nothing on me.
Here are some updates:
  • I was awarded some scholarships to TEDS, $3500 total which is just shy of a quarter of my annual tuition. I’m still eligible for other scholarships and grants on top of that. The only thing that will stop us from going now is if we aren’t offered enough in other awards and Stafford loans to cover the rest of my tuition plus moving fees.
  • The History of Christianity in America MA program was re-instated, so I’m back to doing that instead of the Church History program.
  • I have to take all of the non-MA-related core requirements: Old Testament, New Testament, and two courses on systematic theology. My request to test out of some of them since I did study Old Testament and New Testament pretty extensively in undergrad has been denied. However, I can do most of those classes through independent study which will ease my mommyhood arrangements a bit, and look! They has syllabi! (OT 5000, NT 5000, ST 5102,ST 5103)
  • I’m extremely curious about this New Religious Movements course and if and how it will present Mormonism, but alas, I’m not gonna have the room in my schedule for a class that has nothing to do with my program.
That’s what’s going on with me. I’m excited and starting to feel a little bit like my old geeky self.
UPDATE: From my admissions counselor, “Also, what’s the dress code at Trinity?” “There is none.”
Best. News. EVER!

Comments

TEDS Updates — 26 Comments

  1. Congratulations on the fin. aid, Jack. Might the denial to test out of the OT/NT courses have anything to do with having taken taken them at a heretical undergrad institution?
  3. jondh — I think I can attest that much of the BYU undergrad religion curriculum would… not satisfy an Evangelical seminary.
    The Early Christian Church History course, though, might and should; it used a text written by Bruce Shelley, and didn’t make assertions of apostasy or heresy at any point. But even then, it was merely an undergrad course without a lot of higher order thinking required.
    If I were thinking charitably about TEDS (which I am), I’d assume nothing more than that they want control over the level of rigor and over the content in those courses than is possible to measure with a test. And honestly, even the RELC 324 class I’m enrolled in right now through BYU Independent Study isn’t all that impressive from an academic standpoint. They don’t even require so much as a short essay question answer on a test!
  5. Rob,
    Look, if TEDS doesn’t think BYU Bible study courses hack it, they’ll find no disagreement from me, even if it is only for religious reasons! I myself will probably take some introductory Bible courses in graduate school for the same reasons you mentioned.
    Although in BYU’s defense, it really depends on which teachers teach the class. I always made sure I took religion courses from academic teachers (rather than CES track guys) and I took a LOT of NT Greek courses. Any class from Huntsman would hold up pretty well anywhere, wouldn’t you agree, Jack?
  6. Jack, you are such a nerd! (I have the same feelings about future classes too…like my Targumic Aramaic and Middle Egyptian courses next semester…woohoo!)
    TYD
  7. jon ~ Might the denial to test out of the OT/NT courses have anything to do with having taken them at a heretical undergrad institution?
    Possibly, and I have wondered about that. It could also be that I don’t formally have a background in biblical exegesis though. None of the Greek and Hebrew classes I took at BYU had a formal exegesis component.
    You also have to admit, BYU’s spectrum and depth of biblical studies offered are pretty tame in comparison to other Christian colleges. Even Dan Peterson agreed with me on that much when we were discussing it on another message board.
    I did find out today that I might be able to do language courses instead of the OT/NT survey courses; it’s a matter of convincing the teachers that I’m up to snuff in spite of the lack of formal exegesis training.
    TT ~ What Brian said.
    No, I want to teach history at the college level and I want to write, write, write, so the question is whether or not I need to go on to a PhD for that after my MA. I had a teacher in the history department at BYU who “only” had an MA, but she pointed out that she had published or co-published over 80 articles and books, while there are people in college history departments with PhDs who never publish anything past their dissertation. So we’ll see. I’m kind of shooting for being a Jan Shipps-Craig Blomberg hybrid.
    Doing curatorial work for a museum or library archive is also a possible goal.
  9. Huntsman’s classes were godly, Jon, in so many more ways than one. I have a hard time imagining undergraduate courses which could be more spiritually enlightening and academically rigorous.
  10. I’m jealous. I’d love to go back to school for a graduate degree. Maybe once I get my kids through college and work one job instead of 1.5 I’ll have time to do so. That TEDS sounds like a great program, by the way. I hope your finances and everything all work out well.
    And there’s nothing wrong with being a geek.
  11. That sounds awesome. I’m glad you’re so excited about it–and good luck with it all! Like everyone’s said, it’s fine to be a nerd/geek. I think most of us on here are one, or are married to one, or enjoy associations with one or more…
  12. Random question for you LDS folks: if I write to my husband’s future ward in advance, do you think we’ll be able to arrange some help with unloading our moving truck into our new apartment? Mormons usually help with stuff like that, right?
  13. Congrats, Jack! I’m excited for you. It sounds like an environment you will thrive in. As far as moving… Definitely let his ward know when you’ll get there. When we moved to AZ from CA, having never met any of the people in our new ward, they were there at 6:00am (it was already 117*, SICK) when we drove up with the moving van.
  14. Yay Jack! Go fight win!
    To get the ward to help, alls you have to do is go to Mormon.org when you know where you’re going to live and type in your address in the ward locator. It will give you the ward, as well as the bishop’s name and number. Then you call the bishop. He’ll mobilize the troops for you!
  15. I can’t wait to see the expressions on the faces of the ward members when they see they’re helping us move into an apartment on the campus of the evangelical divinity school. It’s gonna be win.
  16. They won’t bat an eye, in the hopes that you’ll convert the entire school.
    Well, maybe not *that* much hope, but it won’t hurt to ask, and it might help some of those short-bus riders come to terms with a few Mormons.
    Alternatively, you could try for a mix-n-match by asking a local Evangelical congregation to show up at the same time, and not tell either group what you’ve done. Now THAT would be full of win.
  18. More than once I’ve been on the “welcoming committee” as a family drove the moving van up to the house from out of town. It happens all the time. It’s usually easier, though, if you can do it on a Saturday.
  20. Just out of curiosity, and this reflects my complete ignorance of evangelical div schools, why get a ministry-focused degree if you want to go into academia? From checking out the bios of many faculty, they also mostly come from EV schools, so is there a sort of closed loop where you can go into EV ‘academia’ only from within this system?
  21. Yeah Jack they’ll totally help.
    Make sure they all wear those “Mormon Helping Hands” yellow shirts, to really freak out the Gellies. Otherwise they won’t know they’re Mormon. Heck, I’ll drive the 3 hours if I get to wear a shirt and freak em out!!!
  24. It’s complicated, TT. Reasons for TEDS:
    ~ I dropped out of the American History MA program at the University of Utah, with a year of Es to my name. I blogged about this here. I probably won’t be getting into another secular program unless I take some graduate courses as a non-matriculated student to build up good grades again, and then apply. OTOH, evangelical graduate schools usually have open enrollment, and both TEDS and Multnomah have been understanding of my aborted year at the U. Two years of good grades while earning my MA at Trinity and I can probably get into a secular program again for my PhD if I want to.
    ~ It’s personal. Some days I feel like I understand LDS history, theology and doctrine better than I do evangelical history, theology and doctrine (though this has improved somewhat in the past few months). Having gotten so much up-close training from some top LDS scholars, I really want to spend some time getting to know my own faith a little better than I do.
    ~ The MA program I’m enrolling in is academic rather than ministry-focused. It’s intended to be an intermediate step towards doctoral study.
    ~ I would like to keep open the option of teaching at an evangelical college someday, and I think some people view my BYU credentials with suspicion. Having a degree from an evangelical college will certainly help with getting a teaching job at an evangelical college if I want to go that route.
    I’m thinking that if I do go on to my PhD, I’ll definitely attend a secular university.
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