My Students

I admire my students so much.

Something important to understand in the Latin American church is that higher education isn’t really a requirement for becoming clergy. The Catholics have a pretty rigorous training program. But Protestants have a lot more flexibility.

If you’re a member of a denomination, that denomination will have its own expectations for educational requirements. The Anglicans have a seminary. The Assemblies of God churches have multiple seminaries. The requirements at such places vary from place to place.

Many of my students come in from such seminaries, so I get a glimpse of what sorts of things they learn there, and what sorts of things don’t get covered.

One of the challenges is plagiarism. This is a problem in the US church as well. It sort of makes sense given the way we typically think about theology. If you’ve taken a theology course or gone through a Sunday School curriculum, how much emphasis was there on getting the “right” answer? Maybe a particular teacher/pastor didn’t emphasize that so much. But our religious environments surely do push us to find “the right answer.”

If the primary goal of studying theology is to find the “right” answer then plagiarism actually makes a lot of sense. As long as you are copying from the right person, you haven’t really done anything seriously wrong. Find a trustworthy theologian, copy what they say, and you’ve done theology! Nailed it!

But what if the goal of studying theology isn’t to agree with the correct people but rather to develop the ability to think theologically today. The Bible doesn’t change, but our world definitely does! It isn’t that big a deal whether or not my students agree with John Calvin, or René Padilla, or even me for that matter. What’s far more important is that they develop the ability to apply their faith to the most pressing issues facing 21st century Latin America. I want to help my students develop the skills to do that well.

Thankfully, for the most part my students do embrace this view. Their job is not to copy me or anyone else. Their job is to become my colleagues. This has happened in a number of ways, both metaphorical and literal. A handful of my fellow professors have actually taken a class or two from me! I have had the opportunity to learn from them too! It’s a joyous experience!

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The pandemic was difficult for my students. Several lost their jobs and had to stop their studies. At the same time, the transition to online education made things easier for people who live outside of San José. I’ve had students who have needed to take a 4-hour bus ride to get to my in-person classes downtown. Not everyone can set aside that amount of time. With the move to online, things are suddenly much more accessible to such students.

The fact that many churches invested more money in audio-visual equipment also means that my students have more recordings available of their work. Just a week ago, a student from a Hebrew class I taught 3 years ago sent me a video from a Bible study he led in which he made use of some of the things I had taught him. This sort of thing did occasionally happen before the pandemic, but it’s quite a bit easier today with the adaptations brought about by the pandemic.

Just as it has become more common for my students to share their research with me, it has also become more common for them to share their struggles with me. They’ll call me up to ask for an extension on a paper, but we quickly end up talking about the reason why they need the extension: a hospitalization, a divorce, a diagnosis…

These become moments for lament. I read a Lament Psalm. We lament together. We pray. I follow up a few days later with another Lament Psalm. We talk. Life goes on.

In these moments, I’m not their “pastor” per se. My students have other people who fill that role nicely. But, I personally have studied with so many different professors who were generous with their time. I benefited greatly from the moments in which my teachers were willing to take my deepest and darkest questions seriously. Pondering life’s great mysteries with a struggling student was part of how they saw their role as a professor. I can never pay them back for all they did for me. But, I do hope to pay it forward.

This photo has nothing to do with my students, but it is the most beautiful house in the town where I live.