What I'm doing with my Christmas vacation:

Mirrored from www.pastoralepistles.com:

So what am I doing over my Christmas break?

BIG TASK #1: generating syllabi for not one but TWO Pastoral Epistles-related classes for the spring.

1. FIRST is a 300-level class in the Pastorals. I've taught this class every spring since I've been at KCU and have NOT been happy with it, ever. Previously, I've taught it where the students had to write several small research papers on issues like authorship, women in the PE, etc. I've also done it with other types of projects and papers. THIS SEMESTER, I'm going to have students make group presentation on the hot topics (women in the church, church discipline, etc.)
2. SECOND is a class in expository preaching, which I'm teaching because our preaching professor left and hasn't been replaced. I'm going to focus on exegesis and sermon development, and the Pastorals will be our primary text.

What books are we using? Towner's new commentary; Luke Johnson's offering from the Knox Preaching Guides, which I've had reprinted; Mark Harding's What Are They Saying about the Pastoral Epistles?; I think that's it.

Last spring, I required students in the undergrad class to purchase and write a book report on my book, Leadership Succession in the World of the Pauline Circle. It was a disaster. I felt guilty about requiring my students to spend $85 on my book, and it was WAY too far over their heads.

So now I only require it for my graduate seminar in the Pastorals.

Other things I'm doing, non-Pastorals related:

• BIG TASK #2: Installing Pergo on the top floor of our house. It's a Christmas present for both me and my wife. Honestly, it's more a present for my wife, but I've always wanted it too!
• Doing all kinds of church and ministry related stuff;
• Doing all kinds of family stuff--Christmas concerts, basketball practice, daddy's taxi service, shopping and cleaning up;
  
• Teaching an online class (200-level Gospel of Luke) from 15 December through the end of January. I've got a ton of emails and online discussion posts to read every day. (We're using SAKAI, btw, and it ain't great.)
• And (of course) watching football and eating way too much.