BitterSweetLife

Well, it’s that time of year again. In the preliminary assessment, this semester’s reading assignments compare favorably—if that’s the right word—with the Spring Stack.

I am, in fact, happily inclined toward my classes this Fall, although the page count has me a little nervous. For one class in particular, six-hundred-some required pages (Theology 1) seems on the high side. But that’s what higher education is about, apparently—paying someone to force you to read what you know you ought to, want to, but otherwise wouldn’t. Professors are in the business of time-acquisition and redirection.

Theology 1 and the History of Christianity, I hope, will prove to be favorites. Church Growth holds promise because my professor is, ironically, a staunch anti-CG man, bent on presenting both sides of the movement. As for the last class, Pastoral Care and Counseling, I can only hope that in the end, it transcends the dubious promise of its pink central text.

I can’t say I’ve ever owned a pink book before, but it’s not as if I’ll be wearing it. Just the same, one feels some guilt by association. If Understanding People doesn’t prove to be a classic, it will find itself flung upon the mercies of Half.com faster than you can say “sap.”

As to the other volumes in the stack, several have the potential to stake out permanent bench space in my mental education building, and may even vie for frequent playing time (Providence and Prayer, Grudem’s Systematic Theology). Like the Jayhawk newbies, this fall’s recruiting class has its quirks, but decidedly holds promise.