Ben Reading His Paper
As many of you know, I teach Biblical Studies at Grace Bible College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Recently, one of my students, Ben Tacoma, wrote a paper for the student paper competition at the Midwest Regional meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society. Ben’s paper was selected and he read his paper on last weekend and won the prize for best undergrad paper. The paper compared Paul and 1 Clement on the topic of Schism in Corinth. Sadly student papers are usually lightly attended and only a few people were present to ask questions. Ben did a good job answering these, and I think his poise helped push him to the top of the competition.
He wrote the paper as part of an independent study class for me in which he translated a large portion of 1 Clement and produced a paper on a theological topic in the letter.
Of course I am enormously proud to have had a hand in the winning paper, but Ben did the work and deserves the honor. He has posted his paper on his blog, if you would like to read it.
Ben and I found out later at one of the Corinthian sessions that he and a few others who were planning on attending got stuck in a meeting that took place at the same time. He apologized and told Ben that he really wanted to come to hear the paper. I thought it was awesome to hear that, and I am sure Ben appreciated it. He did a great job.