{"id":14600,"date":"2017-10-17T08:44:17","date_gmt":"2017-10-17T15:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=14600"},"modified":"2017-10-17T08:44:17","modified_gmt":"2017-10-17T15:44:17","slug":"divine-grit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/divine-grit\/","title":{"rendered":"Divine Grit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Derek Rowntree\u2019s, Learn<\/em> How to Study<\/em> is a tried-and-proven resource book that helps students learn skills and approaches to improve their study habits.\u00a0 First published in 1970, the book has undergone six revisions, the latest in 2016. \u00a0Rowntree, once a professor at the United Kingdom\u2019s Open University, has been teaching university level students how to study and adapt to the advance of information technology for almost 50 years.\u00a0 This book, primarily focusing on the improvement of study skills and learning approaches helped me go \u201cback to the basics\u201d when surveying my dissertation problem on spiritual warfare.\u00a0 In other words, Rowntree inspired me to focus on the how-to study essentials and carefully walk the phenomena of spiritual warfare through a rigorous bibliographic examination.\u00a0 My hopes and prayers are that the results will not only help me know God and reflect Christ, but also achieve success in training, equipping, and multiplying disciples who can survive and overcome the devil\u2019s schemes while advancing the Kingdom of God.\u00a0 Obtaining the support and scrutiny from scholarly advisors and reviewers is the academic challenge for learning how to study. Therefore, this brief book review will concentrate on Rowntree\u2019s SQ3R model while engaging its essential tasks, behavioral traits, and useful strategies.\u00a0 My goal is to identify and integrate study skills and learning approaches that will help me develop a personalized study plan for spiritual warfare.<\/p>\n

SQ3R stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recall, and Review.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 Rowntree says we need to survey the problem and phenomenon that drives me to want to know God, reflect Christ, and help disciples defend against spiritual warfare.\u00a0 I am a hunter-warrior by practice and a servant-shepherd by calling.\u00a0 As a result, my life experiences, vocations, travel, and 15-year journey as an Armor of God Bearer gives me a unique voice and perspective to survey the realm of spiritual warfare.\u00a0 Upon initial overview, the problem is vast!\u00a0 Not only with the North American church, but on a global scale.\u00a0 Spiritual warfare spans time since the Garden of Eden, reaches across the world, invades all cultures, and does not discriminate between the young, old, rich, or poor.\u00a0 Spiritual warfare effects all aspects of life, even to the point of cursing the ground beneath our feet.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 Even though the survey is massive, Learn How to Study<\/em> helps me focus on the North American church, and the Christian leaders who God calls to shepherd His flock.\u00a0 My bibliographic survey will lead me to the next phase of the SQ3R, asking the Question.<\/p>\n

According to Rowntree, some of the questions I should be asking about spiritual warfare are: what is in this for me, what do I already know about this, what are the unanswered questions, and what are the questions the church will not ask?[3]<\/a>\u00a0 Knowing God, the devil is real, putting on the whole armor of God, and gaining discernment about the permissive will of God are the themes that I will analyze to find answers to question of spiritual warfare.\u00a0 My initial shot at a dissertation question is, \u201cWhy is the North American church marginalizing its response to the threat of spiritual warfare?\u201d\u00a0 I sense that it still needs more narrowing, but it is a starting point for beginning my research; most of which will involve a lot of electronic library searches, reading and non-reading.<\/p>\n

The next letter in the SQ3R acronym is Read. I will use my previously adopted Adler and Bayard techniques to read the history, theology, practices, and lessons learned about spiritual warfare.\u00a0 I will add a critical eye toward the authors, their ideas, and the churches present response to spiritual warfare.\u00a0 I will strive for accurate, credible, and scholarly works that are documented in peer-reviewed journals and book reviews.\u00a0 On a reflective note, I do not feel as overwhelmed with the prospect of reading and researching as I did before I joined the Elite-8.<\/p>\n

Recall, the 2nd<\/sup> R in SQ3R, is the slight modification that I believe will yield some of the greatest results.\u00a0 Suggesting that we forget 50% of the ideas we learn within just a few hours of reading, Rowntree really got my attention.[4]<\/a>\u00a0 I see confusion, poor memory, and lack of retention as another form of subtle spiritual warfare.\u00a0 Yes, I do!\u00a0 While Satan may not be able to read your thoughts, he nevertheless knows your pattern of behavior, and introduces all kinds of distractions and deceptions to decrease your recall, especially on divine truths that threaten his power and position.\u00a0 So, I do support Rowntree\u2019s recall principles, and add that if you are wearing the full armor of God, especially the helmet of Salvation, your recall will improve.\u00a0 The next phase, Review, involves re-running SQ2R, Survey, Question, Read, and Recall.<\/p>\n

The purpose of Review is to \u201cget feedback about how well you have recalled.\u201d[5]<\/a>\u00a0 Rowntree says to repeat each section, establishing a pattern that helps you recall what you have learned.\u00a0 This section gives great return for such a small investment.\u00a0 When I share about the armor of God, I use the \u201c3P\u201d approach to spiritual warfare; Put-it-on, Pray, and Persevere.\u00a0 The Put-it-on section involves learning about the metaphorical relationship between Jesus Christ and the six pieces of the armor of God.\u00a0 Precisely ordered, Paul instructs Christians to put on a belt, breastplate, and shoes and then take a shield, helmet, and sword.\u00a0 Prayer and Perseverance follow.[6]<\/a>\u00a0 Rowntree says that good study habits require \u201cgrit and self-control.\u201d [7]<\/a>\u00a0 I like this analogy, because wearing the armor of God in spiritual battle produces a type of divine grit and self-control that wins over evil.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, Learn How to Study<\/em> is a good resource to develop a personalized study plan for spiritual warfare, and a solid foundation on how to study at the graduate level.\u00a0 While I could not find any scholarly articles or reviews on this book, I did find a useful Amazon review from an international student who studied Rowntree over 30 years ago and says, \u201cOur study techniques had us adjust our patterns of reading, writing, skimming, and discussion by simply minor modifications whose affects were incredible.\u201d[8]<\/a>\u00a0 I totally agree this assessment, and after adapting the study and reading approaches from Rowntree, Adler, and Bayard I believe my personal scholarship and academic voice is beginning to improve.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Derek Rowntree. Learn How to Study: Developing the study skills and approaches to learning that will help you succeed in university: A virtual tutorial with Professor Derek Rowntree<\/em>. Kindle ed. (Wappingers Falls, NY: Beekman Books, 1989). Location 316.<\/h6>\n
[2]<\/a> Gen. 3:17, ESV.<\/h6>\n
[3]<\/a> Rowntree, How to Study, 2346.<\/h6>\n
[4]<\/a> Ibid., 2450.<\/h6>\n
[5]<\/a> Ibid., 2506.<\/h6>\n
[6]<\/a> Eph. 6:10-18.<\/h6>\n
[7]<\/a> Rowntree, How to Study, 336.<\/h6>\n
[8]<\/a> Zeech, \u201cLearn How to Study,\u201d Amazon, October 24, 2014, accessed October 17, 2017, https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/LEARN-HOW-STUDY-Developing-approaches-ebook\/dp\/B00UUD3JGY\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1508229746&sr=8-1&keywords=learn+how+to+study+rowntree.<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Derek Rowntree\u2019s, Learn How to Study is a tried-and-proven resource book that helps students learn skills and approaches to improve their study habits.\u00a0 First published in 1970, the book has undergone six revisions, the latest in 2016. \u00a0Rowntree, once a professor at the United Kingdom\u2019s Open University, has been teaching university level students how to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[913,1039],"class_list":["post-14600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-rowntree","tag-spiritual-warfare","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14600"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14601,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14600\/revisions\/14601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}