“The Libronix seminar was not just a computer seminar, it was a chance to read the Scriptures together and make discoveries and wonderful insights,” reflected recent seminary graduate Mike Lawrie.
In May, Lawrie was part of the biggest group—30 people—ever to take the four-day seminar at Calvin Theological Seminary (CTS). The seminar offers training in reading and using the biblical languages of Greek and Hebrew.
For some, it was an opportunity to grow in their knowledge of the languages and their ability to interpret Scripture faithfully. For others, it was a way to satisfy the seminary’s requirement for comprehensive examinations in the biblical languages.
For all, it was an intense but devotional experience.
Candidate Chris Cassis reports, “Since the seminar, I use Libronix every week in order to prepare my sermons. A preacher still needs to use creative abilities in crafting the sermon, but the quicker a person is able to exegete the text, the sooner they will be able to craft the sermon and be freed up to do more pastoral care ministry with people.”
The Libronix seminar combines biblical language review, biblical interpretation for preaching, and biblical studies software training in an intensive seminar that gives students powerful resources and tools for biblical preaching.
Lawrie said that for some seminarians “there is a fear of taking a pastoral position somewhere that does not have access to a great library. However, the Libronix system can substitute for that. There is so much potential in the program to aid and assist in studies of the Scriptures, which will in turn help me with my teaching.”
The seminar is offered twice a year for students at the seminary, but Professor Carl Bosma and instructor Andrew Beunk, pastor of Fruitland CRC in Stoney Creek, Ontario, also have a version of the seminar called “The Word in Windows” that they take on the road for pastors looking for new sermon-making tools.
Professor Carl Bosma leads a Libronix seminar at CTS.
About the Author
Rev. Kathy Smith is senior associate director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, adjunct professor of church polity at Calvin Theological Seminary, and adjunct professor of congregational and ministry studies at Calvin University. She is a member of First CRC in Grand Rapids, Mich.
