Bye Bye Cambridge

Today we left Cambridge and headed back to London for the final leg of our trip. It has been an amazing experience, but the consensus in our group is we are ready to see our families. There is still some exciting things ahead of us in the next couple of days, and we aim to finish well this amazing opportunity we have had.

Before we left Cambridge today we toured the Tyndale House and met with a couple of different men in Tyndale House. We met first with Dr. Jonathan Chaplin, the director of the Kirby Lang Institute for Christian Ethics. His primary concern is the unique relationship between Christian ethics and our culture. Our second meeting with Dr. Peter Williams, who serves as the Warden for Tyndale House (master, dean, head of college), was a wonderful time with a brilliant man. Tyndale house has a rich history and essentially is seeking to equip the people of God to understand the Bible. It is not uncommon for the likes of some very influential evangelicals to be found on sabbatical at Tyndale House like John Piper and D.A. Carson. Were I to try to describe more fully right all that they do I would not do it justice so I have included a link to their website. http://www.tyndalehouse.com/Intro.htm

Peter Williams told us more about Tyndale House and all the right and wrong reasons one should or should not pursue a doctoral degree from Cambridge or otherwise. It was an honest and welcomed assessment to a group of seminary students. One of the things I most appreciated about what he said with regards to the church and the PhD program was simply this, (not direct quote) a PhD is not designed to prepare you for the pastorate. He was saying we need both pastors and scholars in the sense that one is focused on caring for the flock of God's people and the other is focused on the academic, archeological, historical, and other pursuits that essentially aid the pastors in doing what they do through the verification of higher critical study. I feel that the MDiv is designed in part to prepare you for the pastorate and that is why I have enjoyed my pursuit, and not that God wouldn't or couldn't lead me in the way of a PhD, but that is not my heart currently. I hope what I have explained here makes sense, but if it does not then please allow me the opportunity to further explain with whatever questions you may have. To give you an idea of the caliber of man Peter Williams was upon first impression to many of us in the room, he is like a younger Albert Mohler, and though we were only there one day it would seem that all those who have the privilege of studying at Cambridge in connection with Tyndale House are in great hands for as long as the Lord keeps Peter Williams there. They have a big vision, but with that comes big needs and you can learn more about that too on the website.

One final note about the Tyndale house though I am quite sure there is much more to say; the room where we met with these two men of Tyndale House was the room were the ESV (English Standard Version) was translated. This is of particular significance to me as it is the primary source I use for teaching and studying God's Word. http://www.esvstudybible.org/
I have included also a picture of the Cambridge Divinity School building.