{"id":59,"date":"2023-04-02T19:47:41","date_gmt":"2023-04-02T19:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/p2.ca\/?p=59"},"modified":"2023-05-18T13:49:54","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T13:49:54","slug":"hello-and-welcome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/p2.ca\/index.php\/2023\/04\/02\/hello-and-welcome\/","title":{"rendered":"Hello and Welcome!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-pocket-casts wp-block-embed-pocket-casts\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div style=\"width: 100%; max-width: 500px; max-height: 100%; position: relative;\">    <div style=\"padding-bottom: 42.857142857142854%;\"><\/div>    <iframe title=\"Hello and Welcome - Master of Divinity Podcast\" src=\"https:\/\/pca.st\/embed\/0ulmivm5\" style=\"border: 0; border-radius: 8px; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Hello and welcome to the Master of Divinity Podcast.&nbsp; I\u2019m Michael Kooiman, and I will be your guide through these episodes\u2014sharing what I know, posing occasional questions, and (hopefully) opening a world for you.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What is a Master of Divinity?&nbsp; The Master of Divinity, or MDiv, as it\u2019s commonly called, is the basic degree for ministry in most Christian churches.&nbsp; It usually follows an undergraduate degree, and it generally takes three or more years to complete.&nbsp; It includes academic courses, as well as practical training, usually in the form of some sort of internship, similar to medicine.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And where do you get one of these shiny degrees?&nbsp; Generally, you attend a theological college, sometimes called a divinity school, sometimes a seminary, sometimes a Bible college.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While there, you learn about a variety of topics in about five main areas: the Bible, history, ethics, systematic theology, and the practice of ministry.&nbsp; I\u2019ll say a brief word about these: Bible, history and ethics are easy (to describe, not acquire).&nbsp; Systematic theology is the study of Christian ideas, such as \u2018what\u2019s the Holy Trinity and how does it work?\u2019 or \u2018what does it mean that Jesus is divine?\u2019 Big questions.&nbsp; We will take up these questions in the fourth course, but they also appear whenever we ponder faith.&nbsp; The practice of ministry is sort-of self-explanatory, when you think about it, but it is a topic within the basic degree that seems to continually expand and has a close kinship to the tradition you embrace.&nbsp; So the basics are fairly universal, like worship and pastoral care, but some study is unique to a tradition.&nbsp; I come from a more liberal tradition, so I did a half-course in social action, how to plan a protest.&nbsp; It was the 80s.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The overall purpose of this study is to give you a broad outline of the kinds of things ministers learn as they prepare to serve the church.&nbsp; Think of it as a \u201cbrain-dump,\u201d sharing what I\u2019ve learned to help you to better understand a life of faith.&nbsp; And this, of course, fits with one of the key lessons we will look at in the history of the Christian church (the second course).&nbsp; Martin Luther popularized the idea that we\u2019re all ministers (the \u201cpriesthood of all believers\u201d) and we should approach faith from an informed position.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To add in this, let me tell you about the website that I\u2019m creating as we go.\u00a0 It will include the scripture passages I highlight, links to worthwhile things to see online, and the odd footnote.\u00a0 The website can be found at p2.ca\/podcast.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To conclude, let me say a word about structure.&nbsp; When I did this study with live humans, it ran to about 20 evenings.&nbsp; Maybe it was 19, since systematic theology sort of demanded three evenings for the Trinity.&nbsp; So five courses in the areas mentioned: Bible, history, ethics, systematics and practical theology, with the last topic centred on worship.&nbsp; Evenings are not episodes, of course, so I have no sense how long this will take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, let me add an important caveat: If I had a lawyer, she or he would tell me to tell you that you will not receive a degree at the end of this podcast.&nbsp; For that you have to go to a proper university.&nbsp; What I will strive to do is share enough to peak your interest, and hopefully create in you a desire to learn more.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And a final caveat, then I\u2019ll stop for today.&nbsp; This course comes to you through me, and everything I carry with me: somewhat traditional theology, liberal social values, and a decidedly Canadian view of the world.&nbsp; I can\u2019t even explain what that is, so you\u2019ll just have to look for it as we go.&nbsp; And I live in Florida, so there\u2019s that.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks for joining me, and I hope you enjoy the podcast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Special thanks to Heather Maclean, who played the tune HOLY MANNA, an American folk hymn composed by William Moore (1790-1850).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" src=\"https:\/\/p2.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/image-7.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-254\" srcset=\"https:\/\/p2.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/image-7.png 800w, https:\/\/p2.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/image-7-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/p2.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/image-7-768x511.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Calvin United Church, near Perth, Ontario (my photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hello and welcome to the Master of Divinity Podcast.&nbsp; I\u2019m Michael Kooiman, and I will be your guide through these episodes\u2014sharing what I know, posing occasional questions, and (hopefully) opening a world for you.&nbsp;&nbsp; What is a Master of Divinity?&nbsp; The Master of Divinity, or MDiv, as it\u2019s commonly called, is the basic degree for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/p2.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/p2.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/p2.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/p2.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/p2.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/p2.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256,"href":"https:\/\/p2.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions\/256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/p2.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/p2.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/p2.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}