Officially an Alumni and Post-Graduation Meditations

Two days ago, on Friday, June 2, 2023, I completed all of the required classes for the fulfillment of the English undergraduate degree program at my college.

So I am officially an alumni of the College at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. As of now, my wife and I are meditating over the many possibilities of the future. As a bachelor's degree holder, I have an exponentially increased chance to land a full time job. Yet, through unique and awesome circumstances, I also have the chance to continue my studies with a Master's degree totally free of charge. So, I can choose to remain in purgatory and work my way to an occupation, or go back to the fortressed walls of academia and continue my intellectual strivings. This is a hard decision to make, obviously.

On the one hand, I pride myself on the work I have accomplished over the past four years, and the improvements I've made as a thinker, theologian, philosopher, and person. The first three of those improvements could not have happened as easily without an academic environment like Southeastern. The last - improvement as a person - could of course have been accomplished outside of the academy, and is something I attribute more to the simultaneous grace of God and of my wonderful new wife, Kristen.

On the other hand, though, I have a strong desire to put off the weights one necessarily has to bear while a college student: the constant background hum of teachers' expectations and the requirements of completing assignments well, the tax of constant and arduous thinking, the existential burden of a more complete knowledge of the world, humanity, and God. It is a hard burden, and it takes a big toll. Would the payoff be worth it?

There is also the added weight of knowing I probably won't ever translate the Master's degree I pursue into any career payoffs, not unless I become a professional theologian or theology/Bible professor one day (I have applied to the Master of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies degree). Both of those futures are intensely unlikely, too, which gives the prospect of further study an even greater bitter taste. Yet, the personal enrichment available in something like an MA in Bible/Theology is also something in itself which gives me - someone, as you know, intensely interested in both of these fields - a deep excitement.

Regardless of the outcome, I know our Lord will guide Kristen and me through it all and effect a greater Christlikeness in us both.