Burned Out: Recovering from Seminary

How about you? Have you been to Bible College or Seminary? What was your experience? What happened to you as a result?

By Jeremy Myers, Saturday, December 09, 2017

I still remember that my number one fear about going to seminary was a fear of freezing to death. Not physically, but spiritually. Many seminarians become cold and rigid. They have all the right answers, but none of the right life. I did not want that to happen to me.

A funny thing happened to me though.

I was so intent on warding off the cold, I think I might have burned up. ...Or burned out. ...Or something else I haven't figured out yet. I'm not sure what happened. I didn't freeze to death, but I did die. Who I was when I went in to seminary is not the same person who came out.

Many days, I am still not sure that this is a good thing.

All the learning I received (and rejected) in Seminary did something to me, and I'm still not exactly sure what it was. Some days it seems like a resurrection. Other days more like a burial.

I keep on waiting for the light to appear so that I can figure it out, but so far, nothing has shown up.

So I've decided to become a little more proactive. How am I going to do this?

I am going to do something I was never able to do in seminary: think about what I was taught.

I have dozens of notebooks full of class notes from Seminary. I am going to blog through some of them, thinking critically about the lessons, and asking the questions here on this blog that I never had the courage or time to ask in class.

One of problems with seminary is that you get so much information in so little time, it is impossible to process or reflect upon any of it. This is especially true when you are also working a full-time job as I was. So blogging through seminary is going to allow me to process what I was taught, and reflect upon it in a way that I was able to do before.

And since I don't have professors to please this time around, I will allow myself to be critical in ways that I could not previously afford. I can ask the heretical questions, challenge the long-held traditions, or maybe even agree with something.

One other benefit is that it should help me on my Imperative Theology writing project (forthcoming). I think that before I launch into a writing project like that, I need to analyze what I have already learned.

If this sounds insanely boring,... TOO BAD. It's my blog. I can write what I want.

Just kidding! ...Well, kind of. The Writer's Manifesto by Jeff Goins encouraged me to do this. But it is not the only thing I am going to write about. I will still be writing other topics of interest, and will also be making regular posts from my book-in-the-works, Close Your Church for Good.

I will begin by considering the topic of theology itself. Is it good? Is it bad? Can we live without it?

How about you? Have you been to Bible College or Seminary? What was your experience? What happened to you as a result? Are you glad you went? If you didn't go, would you like to? Why or why not?

Originally posted at RedeemingGod.com.