ABSTRACT
As a young college graduate at the end of the 1980s, I eagerly engaged in the common seminary curriculum, which followed the four academic disciplines—exegesis, history, systematics, and pastoral practice. In these departments, I was well trained to teach and support with reasonable arguments the basic truths of my theological tradition. I entered the ministry ready to demonstrate objectively and reasonably that our theological position was at least defensible according to academic standards. I began my service as pastor under the assumption that the people in my care would be focused on certain intellectual questions: which Christian denomination is correct? Which church teaches the truth about infant baptism? Predestination? Atonement? Christology? And Christ’s real presence in the Lord’s Supper?
