New Testament Class

On the last day of my New Testament class, we wrote short free response papers explaining what effect if any the class and the service projects associated with it had on us. I wrote a more substantial response than I was accustomed to writing for an assignment like that. I felt like the way that I benefited from the class was real and substantial.

In previous Religion classes, I have felt like there was a lot of emphasis on grades, and often grades were based on fact-memorizing, probably so that the class would feel substantial and we would need to study. That's good to get us to study, but it also got me to focus less on spiritual understanding and more on whatever I needed to do to get an A, because it was important to me to get a good grade. As a result, I rarely felt spiritually strengthened by my attendance and my study. It was just material to cover.

I found that the teacher's approach in this class was a little different. We still read a lot, read the 4 Gospels, and another book called "Between the Testaments: From Malachi to Matthew." But tests would cover basic concepts, essay format, about each of the Gospels, who wrote them, when, where, and for whom, and most importantly a large section on what the writer's main goal was with the text. The test certainly evaluated what we learned from the class, because we had to include lots of concepts from class discussion. It also left room, though, for us to talk about much more important concepts, especially, what the purpose of these Gospels is and what we can gain from them.

This final comment is somewhat ironic. After attending this class for several months, there is one thing that is especially positive that I feel like I gained from the class. I feel like my testimony of Jesus Christ was strengthened during this period. I often found myself pondering outside of class about simple things we discussed in class about Jesus. Sometimes I would read the scriptures and run into ideas that caused me to remember what we had discussed in class. This happened when I attended the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. I think that spiritual learning experiences like that are a really good sign that small miracles are occurring with regards to the things I'm studying.

My teacher said on the first day of class that his goal was to look at these texts from the eyes of those who wrote them, then using the right lenses, we will get the clearest view of what Jesus was like when he was on earth, how clear his example was, and how revolutionary and faith-inspiring his teaching was. The four Gospels offer different perspectives on the same person, allowing a tremendously complete view of him.

I'm grateful I took the class. I am very satisfied with what I gained from it. It was a great study of the 4 Gospels and Jesus Christ as presented in them.