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An Ethiopian proverb urging not to serve minced meat to the lion exemplifies the relationship that any education system establishes between master and pupil. The image applies to both: the master is called to provide his pupils with a food nutritive enough for their training; the pupil is called to be reasonably watchful and alert in order to be justly appraised by the master. As he retires from work after several decades of teaching as a patristic scholar and a Lutheran pastor, professor emeritus Jacques-Noël Pérès reflects on what he learned from his masters and meditates on his own teaching experience at the Institut protestant de Théologie in Paris. He describes it as an attempt to become a joyful master by honoring the legacy of the Church Fathers and the Reformers while remaining attentive to the needs and questions of the present times. He stresses thereby that sciences are not antagonistic to faith, that theologians have still much to learn from the ancients, and how enjoyable it is to teach.