:: in.a.mirror.dimly ::

I can’t remember when I first chatted with Derek Cooper during my time at Biblical Seminary, but it was pretty early on in my career. Soon our wives met and became fast friends, while Derek and I kept in touch at school. We continued to keep in touch after graduation.

Over the course of his seminary career, Derek attended a number of different schools. When he felt called to attend seminary, he spent time at a school with a very different theology from his own, assuming that things would work out.

They didn’t.

So he transferred to another school.

Then he moved. Another transfer.

Then he spent a semester checking out one school before settling in at the seminary where we met.

My chronology may be a bit off, but you get the idea. While entering seminary without too much knowledge about the schools out there, he quickly became an expert at evaluating the various schools out there. By the time he applied for his PhD at Lutheran Seminary, he became an encyclopedia of knowledge about every seminary. He even knows details about many schools outside of their theology departments.

So when I heard he was writing a book on picking the right seminary, I thought it was a perfect fit for him. His students at Biblical Seminary look up to him for advice and his insight has been nothing short of prophetic as my wife has explored her own graduate school options.

Now his book is out: So You’re Thinking About Going to Seminary. What’s great about this book is the sheer breadth of topics Derek covers. He begins with the basic question about whether or not someone should attend seminary in the first place, and walks readers right through the process to the point that he suggests possible professions and career paths.

While this book will undoubtedly help Christians decide whether or not seminary is the right choice or which seminary is the right fit (denominationally, theologically, etc.), it seems that Derek has left no stone unturned by providing guidance through seminary classes and other issues that will come up while attending seminary. He doesn’t just provide insight into step A, but rather goes from A-Z with his ideas, check lists, and questions.

If you really are considering seminary, then you will find this book an engaging read. Derek has made this topic as compelling as any human being possibly could, while the designers have done an amazing job pulling key quotes, inserting charts and graphs, and breaking down ideas into lists. Each appendix at the end is a gold mine of information.

So if you are considering seminary as a step into ministry or just to sharpen your theology, have a look at Derek’s book. With the information he supplies, it will be well worth its $15 price tag. Just think, even if he convinces you NOT to visit a prospective seminary, it’s much better to have spent the $15 on his book than $100 or more on that application fee and gas to visit all of those schools. And if he convinces you to attend seminary, then $15 is a bargain for such valuable, life-changing advice.