Comps Pointers

This morning my youngest sister begins her comprehensive exams for the Master of Divinity degree. Having completed these exams myself at the same institution a mere 5 years ago, I feel uniquely qualified to offer some advice.

First, some helpful maxims to remember:

1. Everything is sacramental. Wow your professors by making anything a sacrament, a means of communicating God's love. The Prophets? sacraments! The Ethical teachings? sacraments! Comps...well those are more like purgatory. But just be sure to use the lower-case "s." Otherwise, they'll fail you.

2. It's all about relationship. It's a hippie post-Vatican-II world. All the shit you spent the last 3 years learning is only valuable in so much as it helps bring others into a better relationship with God and the world. If you're stuck on a question just begin, "Well, really, isn't it all about relationship?"

3. Use the words or phrases "hermeneutic," "multivalent," "in ministerial practice," and "historical context" at least once in every answer.

4. Finally, while the MSU (make-shit-up) IM (It's-a-mystery) Rules have been generally helpful in writing term papers, they are not as helpful in the Comps. Professors like to think they've equipped you with the correct response for everything, so avoid them in this one case, though Lord knows, we in the field rely on them rather heavily.

Now some thoughts from other sources:

As Suz, the Magis editor, so cleverly put it, "COMPS is actually and acronym for Cool, Obligatory exaMination you're guaranteed to PasS."

And this guy offers helpful pointers on what not to do during the Oral Comps.

Alright. Everyone think calming thoughts to my sister for the next few days, even though I know she'll do great. It's like I always say, she does everything her older sisters do, but she does it better.

Comments

[Alison]

Good luck to your sister!!

So, I have to know and maybe I missed this on the blog somewhere and maybe it doesn't matter since everyone else already knows this, but how did you come to this profession? What drew you to it?

[Holy Famoley]

DC, I'm gutted. You've summed up what I thought was my personal theology in points 1 & 2. I've based my life on what is essentially a means to bluff your way through an exam...