A New Semester

A new year, a new term: new profs, new classes. Here's the run down:

BIOL 201 - Biochemistry:
I heard this class isn't too harsh so long as you stay on top of the material. A BIG plus is that the tutorial is drop-in, i.e., not required. Sweet. I wasn't a big fan of the BIOL 200 tutorial. This class has a midterm and a final exam.

CHEM 205 - Physical Chemistry:
Thermodynamics, kinetics, and spectroscopy. Disgusting material. I don't want to do it - I don't care about it. But it's a requirement, so I have no choice. Weekly quizzes (WebCT I think), midterm, and final exam.

GREK 325 - New Testament/Hellenistic Greek:
Continuation of a full year course. I did very well first semester. Now we are going to be reading more Hellenistic texts and less NT texts. I guess that's cool because it gives me a nice spectrum of ancient Greek. Midterm and final exam.

RELG 304 - Creation and Covenant in Ancient Israel:
This class looks like a great one. It covers the Pentateuch in depth (i.e., Genesis to Deuteronomy). We will be learning different critical approaches to the texts. The focus is on the twin themes of creation and covenant, and how they are used in the Pentateuch, and the Hebrew Bible in general. Short essay (10 pages), midterm and final exam.

RELG 414 - Gospels and the Historical Jesus:
This is one of the two main classes I want to take for my religious studies major (the other being 'Paul of Tarsus'). This class looks like it's going to be amazing. The professor (Dr. Cousland) is so jovial and funny - just a great lecturer. The textbook looks great, and the material we're going to be covering is exactly what I was looking for. One paper (15 pages), a midterm and a small midterm on the last day of class; no final exam.

RELG 370 - Theory and Method in the Study of Religion:
Continuation of last semester. Last semester, we learned different theoretical approaches to interpreting religion. This semester, we need to go to an actual sacred space in Vancouver, and analyze that space using the theoretical knowledge we learned. I already have a place in mind (the Catholic Church across the street from my Church), and I think I know which theoretical approach I want to use (Otto and phenomenology). I've taken out a couple books from the library already - I want to get an early start on this paper. One paper (12 pages) only; no exams.

So that's the outlook for this term.

Looks good, but very, very busy.

I need to get started on stuff early; there's no way I can cram all this stuff the last month. No way!

Cheers,
Kev