Settling In and Study

It's now been a week since we left Sydney. Last night was the first time we have had a whole night's sleep. Liz and I were over jetlag in two days, but Philip and Katrise struggled with the changes. Philip cried for two hours each of our first two nights in our apartment. But that is getting ahead of the story.

We spent our first weekend in a hotel suite while we sorted out renting the apartment on campus, furnishing it, etc. Our first night in the apartment was Tuesday night. It felt good to be able to sleep in our "own" beds.

Philip was feeling incredibly homesick. He was missing all his friends (esp. Sam, Oliver, Lachlan, Mitchell, Amish and Benny). Emails from several of them helped. But what really helped was finding a new friend.

Yesterday, Philip spent several hours playing (fighting?!?) with the other 7 year old boy who lives on campus. Hayden is a great kid and Philip has been looking to play with him today as well. [Legos is their thing at the moment]. Hayden's been off campus a bit because, being the beginning of the summer break, he has been camping, visiting his grand parents, etc.

Philip has also been excited to have a large campus to ride his scooter around. Every stairwell on campus is filled with kids' bikes and scooters. This could be the beginning of a long, fun summer. We're borrowing bikes for Philip and Katrise.

Every week there is a bread delivery to campus. The local supermarket sends left-over bread and students are able to supplement their grocery shopping with free bread. We had our first experience of this today, while Liz was out shopping. So Katrise and I tried to decide what was worth taking. American bread is very different from Australian bread - much sweeter usually. I found some loaves of King Sooper's brand that only had 2g of sugar. Of course, Katrise wanted to take a packet of cupcakes (decorated for high school graduation, since that has just happened this week). I picked up a pack of donuts (to try out, but they were pretty stale) and some bagels. It's a good thing that bread freezes! Apparently, there are produce deliveries as well.

Now to mention some study...

One of the classes I am taking this summer is EM501: Introduction to Christian Education. This is a topic that I haven't really encountered in this form before. The immediate thing that sprung to my mind was adult Sunday School classes - something popular in certain segments of the American church, but unknown in any Sydney churches I am familiar with. I'm finding out that much of what they have in mind would fit with the adult Sunday School model, but is much broader than that.

Our textbook is "Introduction to Christian Education" by Michael J. Anthony. It defines Christian Education as "the process by which those who have experienced a personal spiritual rebirth in their relationship with God partner with the indwelling Holy Spirit to grow in the image of Christ." The beginning of the course surveyed the history of Christian Education. It began with the Didache (Christian instruction for new adult converts during the first centuries of Christianity) and continued through the ages until the present scene, with its mix of local church, parachurch and internet media forums. It then went onto to consider Biblical references to education in the OT and the NT. These included references in Deuteronomy to the instruction of children within the family context, the teaching of the community in Nehemiah and the words of Jesus in the Great Commission to teach disciples in all nations all that he had commanded them.

Several chapters of the text addressed the issue of development - especially in children and adolescents - with insights from psychology, etc. The models developed by Erik Erikson, David Levinson, Jean Piaget, William Perry and Albert Bandura were surveyed. Moral development, presented by Lawrence Kohlberg and Carol Gilligan were reviewed and reflected on. Finally, the thoughts on faith development by James W. Fowler were considered.

Despite the weighty topic and the heavy duty research referred to, the text is only an introduction, so it has been a fairly easy read. It has been interesting to reflect on the ways in which I have learnt more about my faith. I remember a fairly structured Sunday School program, but I don't remember much of the theological content. In my last year of high school I spent a year in a small group where our teacher taught three teenage boys the book of Revelation (from a dispensational perspective). Student Life provided a comprehensive program of education and training - both for students and new missionaries. Once I finished high school, my local church(es) have been lacking in any formal, organised instruction. I attended a "Regional Bible Study" taught by John North for several years. That was the closest thing to an adult education program I have seen in Sydney.

My first assignment for class is to write brief biography of an influential figure in the history of Christian Education. Suggested figures were: Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, Jon Amos Comenius, Thomas Aquinas, E.L. Thorndike, Jerome Bruner, John Dewey, William Rainey Harper, George Albert Coe, Pestalozzi, Johann Herbart, Friedrich Froebel, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Robert Raikes, Horace Bushnell, and Henrietta Mears.

I chose Henrietta Mears because I had heard about her but didn't know much about her. I knew she ran the Sunday School at Hollywood Presbyterian in the 1950's which was attended by Billy Graham, Dawson Trotman and Bill Bright. Anyone who influenced guys like that should be worth learning about!

As for other study news, I have to sit an exam to attain advance standing for Greek (since I studied it in Sydney). I'm hoping to schedule it before I begin to fill my head with Hebrew in two weeks.