This Was No Comfort to Me.

Today, I was listening to a lecture by the eminent professor who teaches the distance course that I'm taking. He said this: "I'll never ask you anything on a test that I couldn't tell you myself."

As his student, I drew no comfort at all from his statement. I'd seen his resume posted on the seminary web site. It was impressive. He is the Richard Jordan Professor of Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary. He has a BA, a BD and, from the University of Edinburgh, a PhD. Oh, and a diploma from the University of Lyon.

The description continues: "His firm grasp of multiple languages [probably Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French . . . ] and his theological competence are capably demonstrated in translating such works as Sermons by John Calvin on II Samuel. He is serving with David Wright of the University of Edinburgh as a general editor for a revision of Calvin's Old Testament Commentaries."

Hmm. Are you getting the picture? I began to feel very nervous about the upcoming midterm exam, even bearing in mind that he wouldn't ask me anything he didn't know.

He has recently written Creation and Change: Genesis 1.1 - 2.4 in the Light of Changing Scientific Paradigms and Carolina Scots: An Historical and Genealogical Study of Over 100 Years of Emigration, and has just published a systematic theology. He has travelled extensively throughout the world preaching and teaching. He was enlisted to serve on the Jurisprudence project of The Christian Legal Society and wrote a book, The Emergence of Liberty in the Modern World. Other publications include If God Already Knows, Why Pray? and Preachers with Power: Four Stalwarts of the South.

There was absolutely no comfort in his statement, "I won't ask anything of you that I couldn't tell you myself."