It Is Finished....All the Papers Marked

The past week has been a rather busy one. Most of my time was consumed by marking all the papers for our TEE students who took my course, Biblical Interpretation, and the research papers of my Master of Theology students.

I am still rather puzzled at the papers produced by the TEE students. Despite all my reminders not to do so, a large number of students still consulted dated popular commentaries by William Barclay and Matthew Henry. As a result, it is not surprising that only a very small percentage referred to semi-technical and technical commentaries in their exegesis papers. And even smaller numbers looked up journals despite easy access to ALTAS.

It seems to me that this observation only goes to show the extent of the influence of the writings of Barclay and Henry among believers, and these works appear to be the first port of call in looking for resources to aid them in understanding the text.

How can we encourage the students to leave these popular references behind and move on to consult recent academic works?

Please, Can You Pass My Paper Based On ...?

It has been almost 10 years already since I started teaching in several seminaries in Malaysia (both as an adjunct and full time lecturer). One of the things I did over the years is to compile the requests forwarded by the students in asking (or, perhaps, pleading with) me to pass their term papers or exams. I must say the students did attempt to give some pretty "creative" reasons in hoping that I would grant their requests. Here are some of them (I have paraphrased some of them but the essence of the request remains the same):

• "I really fasted and prayed in writing this paper. So I guess I should be given a decent grade."

• "My age is catching up - based on compassionate ground, can you please pass my exams?"

• "I come from engineering background and I am used to writing technical reports in mathematical equations. Therefore I can't write a theological paper where there is no equation. So can you please pass me?"


• "Can you pass me in the exam? I know I did badly - but I need to pass your course so I could graduate."


• "I travelled overseas to use the theological library of xxx college - so if you don't pass me, there is nothing else I could do. I have tried my best in consulting the best library in the region."


• "I don't have time to go to the seminary library. This is because I am a leader in the church, and I am busy serving the Lord. So can you be a little bit easy on your grading?"


• "As a pastor for many years, I am writing this paper based on my experience. I don't think I need to consult the academic books."

The list could go on. If you are in my shoes, what would you have done to these requests above?

Another MTh Graduate

This morning, I had the privilege of chairing Sivin Kit's oral defence for his Master of Theology thesis on "A Trinitarian Public Theology: Malaysian Churches and Civil Society." Both the examiners, the Rt Rev Dr Solomon Rajah, Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia, and Joseph Komar passed Sivin's thesis with minor corrections.

Congratulations, Sivin. We are very proud of you. We wish you all the best for your application for your doctoral studies.

MTh Seminar

STM held its inaugural Postgraduate Research Seminar for 2010 recently.

The primary purposes for establishing the postgraduate seminar are:
1) to create a platform for students to present aspects of their research to the wider community, and to receive feedback for their work;
2) to provide fellowship among postgraduate students so that there would be mutual support and encouragement; and
3) to interact with supervisors and faculty members for feedback and support.

During this seminar, two papers were presented. Rev Sivin Kit presented a paper on “Ecclesiological Issues Confronting Malaysian Churches after the Mar 8, 2008 12th General Elections” and Pastor Wong Yuk Soo read his paper on “Paul’s Command to Silence in 1 Cor 14:34-35."

The next Postgraduate seminar will be held on Friday, March 12, from 2.00-4.30pm at the conference room. All are welcome.

Another LKY in STM?

Two years ago, I blogged about the existence of a Mini Kar Yong in the campus. This year, a number of students and colleagues have mentioned that there is now a Kar Yong look-alike. In fact, a few people have mistaken both of us.

Do we actually look alike? Or are we long lost brothers?

Now imagine this scenario in chapel. The real LKY is preaching, and the LKY look-alike is interpreting - would this cause confusion?

What My Students Think of Us

Sze Zeng blogs about his experience in Trinity Theological College after the end of his first semester there. He shares from three different perspectives as embedded in TTC's ethos of training: intellectual inquiry, spiritual formation and vocational training. Since I am not part of TTC's community, I don't think I am in a position to comment or respond to Sze Zeng. But I could certainly empathise with him on some of the issues he raised.

Closer to home, we also hear of our own students' lament about their seminary experience. The following is what one of our seminary students posted about his rather negative reflection about us as lecturers in one of his blogposts. Is this a case of unmet expectations of the student (whether these are realistic or not is a separate isssue), or we, as lecturers, are simply incompetent or 'beyond redemption'?

Lecturers: In many ways, being more competent than me, they have always challenged me to be ready to be a competent full time pastor. Unfortunately, I realised some of them just talked only ...they are good academically, not really that pastorally(not being patience by walking alongside with the students). On the other hand, some are really pastoral but not academically competent (do not update their information on their disciplines- they still use the 1990s materials for their lecture). Some even preached and don't practice what they preached. Sometimes, their preachings are bad model eg. Generally, most of them are busy and difficult to spend times with us or to nurture us personally. I pity those students in Chinese department where they have to bear the incompetencies of the lecturers who were neither pastoral nor academic. Well comparing to the Westerners, perhaps, at least Malaysian lecturers would try to be friends with us and are more compassionate towards us. These are the mixture of the characteristics of the lecturers there that make me as a student, need to be patient with and be challenged to pray for.

Another student blogs about his learning experience after one year in seminary. This is what he says:

Things that I have learned in lecture is (sic) very dry, spiritually dry, because it is just knowledge....I realised that when I understood something, it doesn't makes (sic) my relationship with God become more intimate.

Incidentally, Sze Zeng does have some good things to say about TTC lecturers - something that is missing from my students. Some food for thought for us as lecturers.

It Is Finished!!

It is finished! I have finally finished marking all the papers of the graduating students. So here's wishing them all the best for their future ministry.

Another Proud M Theol Graduate!

This morning, my Master of Theology student, Lal Rawn, successfully defended his thesis on "The Concept of Indwelling Presence of Spirit-Paraclete in Jesus' Farewell Discourse in John 14-16". Heartiest congratulations to Lal Rawn, who is from the Evangelical Free Church of Myanmar.

Lal Rawn in action, defending his thesis

Today's viva is just one of the many happy moments for Lal Rawn. His wife is expecting their first child in about 2 weeks' time.

Lal Rawn with his examiners, supervisor and the Director of Postgraduate Studies

I wish you all the best, Lal Rawn. It is a real joy to see how far you have come. All your sweat, hard work, and perseverance had finally paid off. I am proud of you. Well done.

Another Proud M Theol Graduate of STM

Last Saturday, one of my postgraduate students, Geok Hock, had his viva voce. I was very pleased to know that both the external and internal examiners passed him without corrections. Geok Hock's thesis is on "A Proposal for the Structure of Luke's Travel Narrative".

Geok Hock will be joining Malaysia Bible Seminari's English Department as Lecturer in New Testament, beginning this November. We wish him all the best as he begins his service at our sister institution. He will be a great asset there.

Of Thesis and ...

Having had to see 5 thesis writing students over the past few days is sufficient to make one very tiring. Since Tuesday morning until just then, I have been literally seeing all my thesis writing students (3 MDiv and 2 MTheol students) non-stop. As the final deadline of submission is nearing, it is even more crucial that these students have their theses ready for submission to the readers/examiners.

Supervising thesis is a mixed bag, and I am sure the same goes for my students. But all I can say is that one particular student finds great joy in the midst of writing thesis....He has blogged about it. Needless to say, he was on cloud nine last night. What I saw him, he was in such a jovial mood that he could not even park the car he was driving in its proper parking position! I wish him all the best!

5 Thesis Writing Students

It's been crazy since the second I stepped into office this week after returning from Rome. I have 5 thesis writing students who will be graduating this semester, and all their thesis are due for submission within the next few weeks, and I have to read all these theses by this week.

I have 2 postgraduate Master of Theology students who have done excellent research on "The Concept of Indwelling Presence of Spirit-Paraclete in Jesus' Farewell Discourse in John 14-16" and "A Proposal for the Structure of Luke' Travel Narrative."

Apart from the postgraduate students, I have another 3 Master of Divinity students doing NT thesis under me. One is working on "Echoes of Scripture in 1 Peter" and the other on "The Function of the Faithful Sayings in the Pastoral Epistles." One other is doing it in Chinese (yes - I have to supervise one Chinese thesis - and I am still shaking my head in disbelief!) working on 1 Cor 8-10 on the issue of food sacrificed to idol. This is a rather interesting thesis arguing that the issue that Paul is dealing with in 1 Cor 8 and 10 is not the issue of social location of the meal (whether the meal is held in the temple or private home) but the issue of what type of meal being served (whether it is a religious meal or a social meal). This thesis would have an impact in understanding the social networking of the Chinese community in the country.

I wish all my thesis writing students all the best!

Getting Used to "New" Title in the Seminary

Over the last few days, students have been calling me "Reverend", after my ordination last Sunday.

Gosh - is this the new title I have to get used to? Or are these students just having some fun in poking me?

Whatever it is...remember the message of the photo above....Haha...not very fitting for a Reverend, right!

Of Plagiarism...Agony...and Anguish

My colleague, the Reb, blogged about headaches and time wastage in having to write 12 warning letters to the seminary students for offences such as late submission of assignments and, most of all, plagiarism! I concur with the Reb that the what we have detected thus far is simply the tip of the iceberg.

I have been agonising over the issue of plagiarism since I started teaching in the seminary. Personally, I have detected a fair number of plagiarism. This is something I just simply could not understand - why can't the students just footnote it? Is it that difficult to just footnote it?

More than anything, it causes me deep pain and anguish every time I have to confront the students concerning issues of plagiarism. No matter how stern my warning is concerning the crime of plagiarism in the beginning of every course I teach, I still have students ignoring the plea for academic integrity both in the submission of assignments and theses.

Beyond wasting my time (which can be profitably used otherwise in my research and writing) in checking the references and sources, beyond the sleepless nights I experience in agonizing over the issue of having to confront my students, and beyond the disappointment that some of the students actually blamed the lecturers for exposing their act of plagiarism, is the issue of why the students continue to plagiarise despite all the warnings. Have we not considered plagiarism as a crime which is a deeper reflection of the fundamental issue of our integrity, character formation, and honesty? And if we cannot be honest with ourselves and uphold academic integrity while being trained in the seminary, can we remain faithful when we serve in Christian ministry in the future?

Someone once told me that he is shocked to hear that would-be-pastors would commit plagiarism and he wondered about the future of the church if such candidates were sent to seminary.

My plea is this: please do not plagiarise. Just footnote it. Be honest with yourself - before God and human. It causes the lecturers more pain than the students will ever know when we detect the act of plagiarism.

41st Birthday Celebration!

Yesterday, a group of students and friends organised a birthday celebration for me at my apartment. We had lots of food (as usual) and they prepared my favourite dish - salad!

Thanks to all who helped put this together. Your fellowship and friendship meant a lot to me. I greatly appreciate all that you all have done to make my 41st birthday memorable.

I will let the photos do the talking.

Pastoral Group - I am Taking a Chinese Speaking Group!

My pastoral group having breakfast together

This year, something rather "strange" happened to me in the seminary. In view of the surge in the number of students in the Chinese department, I have been asked to take a pastoral group comprising students from the Chinese department. I was a little bit apprehensive as my command of Chinese is terribly poor (for those interested in some history of my poor command of Chinese, please click here for a previous post). I could not even hold a decent conversation in Chinese, what more in taking a pastoral group comprising 100% Chinese speaking students.

As such, I asked that I be given bilingual students from the Chinese department - those who have a fairly good command of English, to be in my pastoral group. After some adjustments, I have the privilege of being allocated with a group of 9 students from the Chinese department.

After taking stock of how previous years of pastoral groups had been organised, I try to do something different this year. Instead of meeting as a group every Wednesday morning, I have made it a point to meet with all the students individually as well. Perhaps this is a good opportunity for me to get to know these students from the Chinese department better, going beyond just knowing their names, as I don't teach them (except for Perng Shyang, whose thesis I supervise). So what we will do is that once a month, we will have breakfast together. The other 2 weeks in a month, we will meet as a group for discussion or some form of group activities. As for the other remaining week, I will meet with one student individually so that we could get to know each other better.

Hopefully, this arrangement will help me get to know the students better, and also serve as a better platform to provide pastoral care for them. I also hope that this will make the pastoral group a more meaningful one. How this will eventually work out, only time will tell.

New Students Arrive at the Seminary

A group of 30 students arrived at the seminary yesterday to begin their journey of being equipped for Christian ministry.

Jan 5 marked the beginning of the 4-day orientation for them. This evening, together with the new students and faculty, we had an informal steamboat dinner.

I look forward to getting to know the students better in the coming days.

Pray for the new students as they adjust to life in the seminary, and for thier studies as well.

Christmas Comes to Tanjung Sepat

Two evenings ago, together with several students, we decided to take a rather long drive to a coastal village, Tanjung Sepat, for some seafood dinner. At the same time, we also took the opportunity to catch up with Lik Chang, one of the seminary students who is doing his year end field education at the Chinese Methodist Church in Tanjung Sepat.

After dinner, Lik Chang proudly showed us his creative handiwork to liven up the atmosphere in preparation for the Christmas celebration. He has put in more than 2 weeks of effort to get this lighting ready. Strategically placed outside the church, it surely lights up the night at this sleepy village and attracts some attention from the villagers who pass by the church every day. Well done, Lik Chang!

It Was A Nice Treat

Sze Zeng blogs about wanting to get me to patronise Starbucks during my trip to Singapore beginning next week. That reminds me of Yoshua who called me out for a drink at Starbucks last week in Seremban. Nice of him to keep his word for taking me out in returning a favour that I did for him earlier on in the semester. Don't ask me what the favour was for. Nothing to do with his grades...Anyway, thanks for the coffee.

Band of Brothers in STM

The 3 of us DO share some similarities...However, someone cheekily says that someone important in the seminary is missing from the photo. Guess who...

STM Commissioning Service and Graduation Dinner

As we approach STM's Graduation Week, the campus has been transformed into a hive of activities. Families, relatives, and friends of the graduands are already to share the joy of their as they receive their scrolls later this afternoon in the Graduation Service.

In line with our tradition, we had our Commissioning Service to send off our graduands and Graduation Dinner to celebrate the completion of their studies yesterday.

Dr Ezra Kok (right) speaking at the Commissioning Service, interpreted by Mr Chew (left)

Praying for all our graduands

Graduation Dinner