My First Paper-My First Grade

Dr. Daniel Draney, an adjunct professor of history at Fuller Theological Seminary called my name last night and handed me back my first paper in seminary since the spring of 2002. (Previously, I attended Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, OK) I reluctantly took it. As I began to peruse through it, I was highly appreciative that he did not make his comments in red, but rather in pencil. Red marks always seem to hurt a little more.

I turned each page slowly, noting his correction of minor grammatical errors. He also wrote a couple of questions in the margins that pointed to the need for more clarity. As I was taking in the constructive criticism, I started to get nervous as I knew I was reaching the last page where I would see my grade. The last page contained a small paragraph noting that my paper was a "little difficult to follow" and that my sentence structure was at times "long and cumbersome." Altogether, he noted that I had a good understanding of the text and gave me pointers on concision and succinctness and how to illustrate a point by saying less.

I absolutely embraced his critique and accepted it wholeheartedly. It's been 7 years since I've done critical writing and my writing now has a proclivity to take on more of a sermon-esque approach. Now the challenge will be to prevent my sermons from sounding like my critical writing assignments. I must quickly re-learn the balancing act between the two.

Now the paper was due on October 13th. Class began September 29th. Because of a lack of finances I didn't get my books until October 10th. My grade was a "B." To have a 259-page book for 2.5 days and write a comprehensive 5-7 page report and get a "B" was an accomplishment within itself.

Unfortunately, I opened my big mouth and revealed that I had only had the book for a short time, and unintentionally caused some angst for those who received the same grade, but had had the book for 3 weeks. :)

When I saw their reaction I thought it a good idea not to tell them that I didn't read the whole book and only made it to page 97 and basically wrote on what I read. Fortunately, for me, the author continued in the same vein and built on his foundational argument that he made in the first 100 pages. All I can say is God is good! The professor usually puts one book on reserve, but it was already taken.

Oh yeah, the book we read (and I will read the rest of the book) was "The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity" by Philip Jenkins. Good book.