As promised, the new Paige Patterson Portrait

A few days ago, I posted about the unveiling of Dr. Paige Patterson's portrait at SWBTS. Today, having found the link I am proud to share the portrait with you here. To see the full view you can click here. To compare with the SEBTS portrait, you can click here.

Enjoy.

A Word on Perseverance or Finishing What You Start

The school year is once again at hand. As a seminarian I am looking forward to starting classes again both with optimism and with a bit of disappointment. I enjoy going to class and learning and am very much looking forward to finishing my M. Div. and receiving that diploma from SWBTS at the end of this academic school year (Lord willing). However, on the other hand I will miss summertime. I've been busy and have enjoyed doing many things that do not involve seminary work (although I did spend a good portion of my summer in class -- but that's for another post), but I've also gotten to relax a little bit.

As I prepare to go back to class I'm reminded of a subject that is close to my heart and one that I wish were as dear to the hearts of my fellow seminarians, namely, perseverance. As I look forward to the first days of class I have no doubt that many of the classes I will attend will be full of students who are eager to learn, hungry for knowledge, and present in class. However, over the past two years at seminary I've recognized a disappointing trend. While many, if not most of my classes will be full for the first few weeks, a number of these classes will have dwindled significantly before the semester is over. Why, I have often asked myself, is this the case? Why is it that so many who are called to the hard work of the ministry leaving the classes to which they committed at the beginning of the year?

Even now, I do not have a satisfactory answer to this question. I'll not accuse any of laziness or academic ineptitude, but rather I will endeavor to admonish my fellow seminarians, and indeed others who walk in other paths now, to remember the importance of finishing what we start.

Every semester at school we all register for classes. Some of the classes are those which are required, others are elective classes that we choose because we think that we might enjoy them or benefit from them. Sometimes we choose easy classes for whatever reason, other times we choose more difficult classes for an equal variety of reasons. One thought that occurs to me is that I have made a choice to be in school (even though I am tired of spending my life as a student now that I have reached adulthood). My choice was made as a response to God's calling on my life to ministry. I know that in order to be the best minister I can be, I am called to prepare in a myriad of ways, one of which is in the area of academics.

To me it is important for a Christian minister to be willing to work hard and persevere in a good work even if and when he or she may not enjoy it. Sometimes seminary can be that way. There are times when I find myself neither enjoying nor excelling particularly in some of my classes, yet I recognize that they are part of the package when I signed on for seminary.

There's another aspect of the problem as well--I pay for my education. Perhaps it's a matter of pride, but God has blessed me with work and a steady paycheck so that I can pay the CP subsidized tuition at my Southern Baptist seminary. I'm strongly convicted every time I hear it said that higher education is one of the only areas in which people want to get less than they pay for. I do want to get every bit of the education I am paying for. I also recognize that I only pay half of my tuition -- there are ordinary people sitting in the pews of Southern Baptist Churches who match every dollar I pay in tuition. I would be ashamed to squander their money by failure to go to class or failure to complete a class that I've signed on for.

I say all this to encourage my brethren (and sistren) to persevere. It makes me sad and considerably disappointed when I see so many of my fellow students dropping out of their commitments to their professors and to the members of the convention by quitting their classes for whatever reason. If you commit yourself to something, follow through! Don't quit.

Also a word to those who are no longer or not yet students, perseverance and following through on commitments are critical character traits for all of us. No boss wants to hire a quitter, nor do you and I work simply for an earthly boss, but for God (Col. 3:23-24) I also think of the importance of honoring our commitments and honoring our word. (Ps. 15; Mt. 5:37; James 5:12)

Paige Patterson on Campus Violence

Last week in a chapel service at SWBTS, seminary president Paige Patterson admonished the male students to be prepared to stand up to, and stop a campus shooter, should such violence ever occur at the seminary. The clip can be found here (4/18).

Yesterday, the seminary released a statement, written by Dr. Patterson expanding his remarks.
Since his original remarks last wednesday, many have criticized the president for "being insensitive" and for a myriad of other charges, most stemming from each pundit's interpretation of his motives.

I will not make apology for his remarks. Dr. Patterson has been called many things, but "sensitive" is not usually one of them. I do, however believe it is important for us not to judge his motives, only God and Dr. Patterson can know those. I will agree, even as a current student of the seminary, that his remarks struck me as quite bizarre. Upon reading the press release, however it appears to me that he does raise a legitimate viewpoint. Dr. Patterson views Christianity as a faith of selflessness and sacrifice, and rightly so for this is what the Bible commands of us. I agree with Dr. Patterson that the values of courage and sacrifice are important and ought to be taught at our seminaries.

How then should our faith work itself out in our lives? Does our faith lead us to attack a gunman in order to save the lives of others? Or does it manifest itself in other ways? I pray that the day never comes when someone with intent to kill enters our churches or seminaries (again), yet if and when that day does come, we should have an idea of just what our faith does call us to do. Are we to show our faith through quiet martyrdom, or are we to actively struggle against one intent on doing harm? Each of us must answer that question for ourselves.

Antiplagiarism Service Sued For Copyright Infringement

Last week, this story was published about a lawsuit against a company that offers an anti-plagiarism service to schools across the country. According to the Washington Post, two high school students from Mclean, Virginia are suing iParadigms, LLC--the California company which offers the Turnitin anti-plagiarism database. Turnitin is a service, “seeks to root out cheaters by comparing student term papers and essays against a database of more than 22 million student papers as well as online sources and electronic archives of journals. In the process, the student papers are added to the database.” And that – the fact that student papers are added to the database – is the heart of the lawsuit.

I have a particular interest in this case because SWBTS (where I am currently a student) uses Turnitin to screen papers and major assignments for most of its classes. According to the story, "Turnitin is used by 6,000 institutions in 90 countries, including Harvard and Georgetown universities, company officials have said."

The suit charges that Turnitin unlawfully adds students' papers to its database without the consent of the authors, and offers no remuneration to the students. These high school students object to the use of their intellectual property (their papers) by a for-profit business without their consent. The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, seeks $900,000 in damages from Turnitin.

Read more about it here.

What do you think? Is it wrong for this service to use student papers in this way without giving them any compensation or even getting their permission? Is the company doing the same thing (using someone else’s work without giving them credit) that its service seeks to prevent?

On a personal note, I believe it is sad that plagiarism is a problem in seminaries. Conversely, I think it borders on the ridiculous that we must be constantly warned (and threatened) about plagiarism to the point where professors are lecturing us on the evils of “unintentional plagiarism.” Plagiarism is bad, but the remedy must never be worse than the cure.