Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Well, I'm back. As you may have guessed, my recent and lengthy hiatus from the blogosphere was mostly due to paper season. I spent most of April on three major essays, one of which I'm fairly happy with. All in all I'm glad that this busy semester is now behind me.

Not that I can take the summer off. The next few months are going to be fairly busy:

- I've got to refresh my high school French in an attempt to pass a challenge test this Fall.
- I'll be doing some reading in Buddhism in order to fulfill the Religious Studies Department's Asian breath requirement.
- Most importantly, serious research for my thesis must now commence.

Aside from these academic requirements, I'll also be spending some time learning how to get the most out of my latest purchase: Logos Bible Software. It promises to be a real timesaver and to allow for deep and focused biblical and patristic study.

If I reflect on the past year at McMaster, it has continued a trend begun in my first year of undergrad at Redeemer. I started that year with incredible confidence in my intellectual abilities and the store of knowledge I had built up. As I came into contact with my fellow students and the faculty there, I slowly came to realize my own ignorance, even on topics about which I considered myself a specialist.

This humbling trend has continued (even intensified!) over the past months. Whereas I was once near the top of most of my classes, such is the case no longer. This too is a blessing. I find myself quite susceptible to intellectual pride, so being humbled is a healthy thing.

All in all it has been a challenging and rewarding eight months. And, from the look of things, more of the same lies ahead.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah, the Socratic effects of post-secondary education, if done properly. Too bad so many people don't get the full effect of such an education.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the link, Piet! I trust the software will be a real boon to your study. If you haven't already discovered them, be sure to check out the 70+ tutorial videos at Logos.com.

These should help accelerate you through the learning curve.

Blessings on your studies!

Daniel Foster
Logos Bible Software
daniel@logos.com

PietHarsevoort said...

Stu: I suppose life experience could produce the same results for those who don't get a chance to pursue post-secondary schooling. Either way, it is a valuable bit of wisdom.

Daniel: I have been working my way through the tutorial videos in my spare time this week. It is a joy to discover what the software will allow me to do. If I had purchased it before writing this last set of term papers I could've saved myself hours of laborious searching for relevant information.

Anonymous said...

Parenting has the same effect. The older your kids get, the more you realize you don't know everything. Try Grade 5 math!