Summer School!

Summer still seems like something of a distant rumour here on the Canadian prairies.  After a relatively mild winter, the last few weeks in southern Alberta have been decidedly wintry.  January felt kinda like April this year, and, well, April has felt a bit like January.  And as I look out my window this morning and see the last traces of the most recent dump of snow melting, I hear rumours of more snow on Sunday.  Sigh.  Ah well, summer is coming.  And summer means…. Summer school!!

Wait, what?

Okay, maybe summer school doesn’t sound very appealing.  Maybe it dredges up all kinds of painful childhood memories of being forced to sit indoors while the sun was shining and friends were playing and the outdoors was beckoning.  If so, may I present to you an opportunity to rehabilitate your conception of of summer school?  Imagine stimulating courses on faith and culture and art and literature and history and biblical interpretation from world class instructors in the morning (courses that are often offered only in the summer!), and then beaches and forests and hiking and fascinating cultural opportunities and amazing restaurants in one of the most beautiful cities in the world for the rest of the day.  Imagine the opportunity to learn and grow spiritually and enjoy time in a magnificent corner of God’s creation.  Imagine a week or two at Regent College’s Summer School in Vancouver, BC this summer!

Readers of this blog will know that Regent College is a special place for me.  I attended Regent from 2005-2008 and our family grew to love both the school and the city of Vancouver.  It is a place that attempts to hold together things that often drift apart —piety and critical thinking, prayer and scholarship, worship and rigorous thought, committed faith and deep cultural engagement.  I’m not a huge fan of “mission statements” but Regent’s describes their ethos very well: Regent College cultivates intelligent, vigorous, and joyful commitment to Jesus Christ, His Church, and His world.  It is a great place to learn and grow.

So, if you are in or around the Vancouver area this summer, consider taking a course.  There are a number of great options to choose from.  A few that caught my eye were:

• “Technology, Wilderness, and Creation” (Loren and Mary Ruth Wilkinson)
• “Modern Literature and the Question of Belief” (Roger Lundin)
• “The Kingdom of God in the Teachings of Jesus” (Scot McKnight)
• “Hollywood Cinema in the Christian Imagination” (William Romanowski)
• “Faith, Hope and Poetry” (Malcolm Guite)
• “J.R.R. Tolkien: Writer for our Time of Terror” (Ralph Wood)

You could even take Hebrew or Greek if you were looking for some summer punishment.  Or if you had some sins to atone for.

At any rate, the full list of course offerings can be accessed here.  Check out the video below for a better sense of what summer school at Regent might look like.  And consider spending a week of re-creation—body, mind, and soul—at Regent this summer!