I just emailed with my prof from the philosophy class and it turns out that my Gadamer paper can be quite creative. I wasn't sure how to write it at all (he gave basically no guidelines), but I knew I wanted to relate G's hermeneutics to interfaith dialogue, because it's a great recipe for success in that arena. So prof said I could write it as a training manual for dialogue, using the Gadamerian hermeneutic for my model. Isn't that cool? What a fun, creative assignment. I now think I shall enjoy it quite a bit.
Another school has entered the running for the PhD business -Catholic University in DC. I don't know why my mentor wants me at Catholic school (he's still pushing Notre Dame on me, too) but he recommended it, and I got in touch with their religion and culture person, who said I sounded like just the kind of student they'd like to have. So that is nice. I now have people at 4 schools who've specifically shown interest in working on my topic with me. I think that is a good thing.
I am putting off the inevitable, though, which is signing up for the GRE. I think I'm reticent because I know once I sign up, I have to start studying, and that means re-learning math. Ew. I haven't done math since high school, so that is now nearly 15 years. I was always pretty good at it, I just didn't enjoy it - it's that deadly combination of being good enough at something that you can score high on the AP test and therefore never have to take it again if you don't want to. Oops. Anyway I highly doubt that part will make any sense to me. Hoo boy. If any of you local friends have study materials you can loan me, I'd be most grateful. The most helpful thing when J took it was a practice cd they sent him, but we can't find it anymore. I s'pose I'll hit the library too and see what resources they have. I just want to take some practice runs so I can determine how much I need to study. I always pretty much could rock standardized tests, but it's been ages since I had to think that way.
So once I have those scores I feel like I'll be able to better determine where to look and apply. I actually have wanted to give up several times this week, but I think I am just very tired and also scared of the GRE. If I have good scores, somehow, I think I will not be so anxious anymore. Right now I am just concerned that nobody will let me in. I'm not scared of getting in, I'm scared of not getting in. If I get in I think I'll be really happy.
And nobody will let me give up - well, one friend suggested it. He thought I should just try writing my food spirituality ideas down into a proposal for a book and see what happens. And I should do that anyway. But most of my mentor people are like, Nope, you are doing this. I guess I'm academically curious enough that they think I have the right qualities. Plus I pretty much always speak out about why i think something I've read is right or wrong or how I would finesse it, and apparently that's a sign that I need to do a Phd because I must think I have something to add to this world. :)
Today I am going to a museum, the Norton Simon, which will be so lovely. I love their collection. And I'm extra psyched to look at their Asian art b/c now I will know who all those gods are. And then for dinner, our favorite french bistro. This will be a good day. In fact, because the Gadamer paper is not so scary anymore, I think I'll take the day off and enjoy my radio shows (This American Life and Good Food).
Ooooh, except it's pledge drive time. I'm so happy we got to pledge again. We finally could afford it, thanks to J's job. I hated not being a member of KCRW. It's just an important thing around here. It's a status symbol, in our house at least. Plus we got some new cds, which is always fun. Don't seem to have won the iphone they were giving away, though. Oh, well. So we got the Shins, Lily Allen, The Bird and the Bee, and a sounds eclectic covers project. Apparently it's a bunch of girl bands and pop music, much different from what we usually order (which tends to be techno since we're not great at choosing that for ourselves). I don't even know this music, but if their djs like it, it's got to be good. J describes it as "girl bands with explicit lyrics" like "I want you to be my fucking boyfriend." We've come a ways from Spice Girls.
Well here is an interesting article. Overall it is about Korean missions, but there is one part that is a little scary - the zeal for dangerous missions work: "The harder, the farther, the more dangerous the place [of mission destination], the more evidence that you are doing well". Not necessarily a good move, and interesting that there are now apologies flowing. I think it's horrible what's happened to the missionaries, there, but I also think it may have not been the best choice for a trip location. Not that many places are safe these days. I dunno...I often think it's best to just find a way to serve in the community God put you in already. But that's a whole long other topic.
I'm going to go now and start my day o' fun. Hope yours is o' fun also.
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
De paper ees not too good...
Now you know I am tired b/c I'm talking like the crocodiles in the cartoon. I love those crocodiles. Dey ees funny. On Sunday they were like "ees box o' fun - no you see?" Ha ha ha ha.
I've decided to let paper be not so good. I'm tired of writing it and I have two more to go that are much more important papers, at least grade-wise. I did enjoy the topic and I did learn something, so that seems like mission should be accomplished. The prof is really particular about style stuff, but I've given up trying to please him on that. If I'm successful at this, I'll have an editor someday anyway. Quit picking on my footnotes, man.
Speaking of I have 2 extra pages w/the footnotes. But they're not indulgent. Word just formats things funny. I should turn off the auto-paragraph thing. It's so annoying when like half your page is blank b/c it's jumped down to the next page. Then it looks like you have more pages than you're supposed to and prickly prof gets pissy.
Anyway about 3:00 my brain started going out on me, so I figured I should probably give up this assignment, call it, it's dead on the desk. Of course I then worked another half hour. But I'm pretty much a goner.
gaaaahh my priest talked to the bishop today. don't know what will come of that or if he'll remember to say anything about me. Do I even want him to. I don't know. I tried to whine my way out of the PhD stuff yesterday but my mentor-prof would have none of it. Apparently I'm way too passionate about ideas to pretend not to fit in with the academic crowd, despite my protestations.
Usually J is home by this time and I take out my punchiness on him. But he's started teaching and is in Riverside until 4. Poo. That means he's not home until 5 or 5:30 or 6. Oh, I see my friend walking into her apartment. Maybe I will go bug her for a while.
Anyway, send me love and good thoughts so I can get through these papers. It's so anti-climatic when it's all you have left. Bleh.
I've decided to let paper be not so good. I'm tired of writing it and I have two more to go that are much more important papers, at least grade-wise. I did enjoy the topic and I did learn something, so that seems like mission should be accomplished. The prof is really particular about style stuff, but I've given up trying to please him on that. If I'm successful at this, I'll have an editor someday anyway. Quit picking on my footnotes, man.
Speaking of I have 2 extra pages w/the footnotes. But they're not indulgent. Word just formats things funny. I should turn off the auto-paragraph thing. It's so annoying when like half your page is blank b/c it's jumped down to the next page. Then it looks like you have more pages than you're supposed to and prickly prof gets pissy.
Anyway about 3:00 my brain started going out on me, so I figured I should probably give up this assignment, call it, it's dead on the desk. Of course I then worked another half hour. But I'm pretty much a goner.
gaaaahh my priest talked to the bishop today. don't know what will come of that or if he'll remember to say anything about me. Do I even want him to. I don't know. I tried to whine my way out of the PhD stuff yesterday but my mentor-prof would have none of it. Apparently I'm way too passionate about ideas to pretend not to fit in with the academic crowd, despite my protestations.
Usually J is home by this time and I take out my punchiness on him. But he's started teaching and is in Riverside until 4. Poo. That means he's not home until 5 or 5:30 or 6. Oh, I see my friend walking into her apartment. Maybe I will go bug her for a while.
Anyway, send me love and good thoughts so I can get through these papers. It's so anti-climatic when it's all you have left. Bleh.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Surreal Life
It's always weird to learn you're out there in the blogosphere. One of my former profs now church associate was telling us today how our sem prez gave him a printout of a little diatribe against him. He took it in stride, of course - he's hardly frazzled by something, first of all, almost 10 years old (don't know why it's just arriving at attention now), plus it's just funny that this person took such umbrage to what was actually a pretty good point. If you want to read about it, visit this site, then scroll down under "Unbelief at Fuller Theological Seminary" to the paragraph about John Goldingay. The whole page is kind of good for a giggle anyway.
One of our friends said a great thing to me the other night. He said I needed to be the religious person in a secular institution rather than the secular person in a religious institution - for a while, at least. I think that's a great answer to why I want to find myself not at Fuller for a PhD and I plan to start using it. It's so weird for me to read this sort of website (the one above) when I think Fuller is so conservative. I have to remind myself it's over the edge liberal to most. Well I guess those people probably don't believe they will see me in heaven anyway. Hmmm....they may not.
(if nothing else, I will avoid them)
(if that's allowed)
So I just wanted to post that funny page I found about Fuller. And report that I'm so tired I completely forgot to go to a friend's going-away today. That means I am wasted. I have 3 papers to write and then I can relax for the rest of the summer. Or at least, focus on the PhD prep full time. If I'm even still doing that. I don't know. Right now I'm too tired to think about it.
One of our friends said a great thing to me the other night. He said I needed to be the religious person in a secular institution rather than the secular person in a religious institution - for a while, at least. I think that's a great answer to why I want to find myself not at Fuller for a PhD and I plan to start using it. It's so weird for me to read this sort of website (the one above) when I think Fuller is so conservative. I have to remind myself it's over the edge liberal to most. Well I guess those people probably don't believe they will see me in heaven anyway. Hmmm....they may not.
(if nothing else, I will avoid them)
(if that's allowed)
So I just wanted to post that funny page I found about Fuller. And report that I'm so tired I completely forgot to go to a friend's going-away today. That means I am wasted. I have 3 papers to write and then I can relax for the rest of the summer. Or at least, focus on the PhD prep full time. If I'm even still doing that. I don't know. Right now I'm too tired to think about it.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Philosophy & PhD
I should really be posting my notes from this class – it’s quite fascinating stuff. It’s totally unlike anything I’ve done yet in seminary. And that’s fine – it’s good. It’s really really hard – we’re reading Gadamer’s truth and method, and stuff by the prof Merold Westphal, and these are by far the most difficult reading I’ve done here. It’s exhausting – you read (and it takes about an hour for 10 pages, so the average night’s homework takes 6-8 hours, this after 4 hours of class) and you are so tired at the end that you can barely do anything. Even last night I tried to start on Harry Potter but could barely enjoy it because my eyes (and voice) were so tired (recall that we read them aloud at our house so we read them together).
So hopefully this gets me off the hook for not writing much lately. Wish you were here – I’ve been having great in-person conversations. I simply don’t have the energy to write them down. But we talked yesterday at lunch and then with J at dinner about the definition of art. And we are currently talking about authorial intent and how much that has to do with meaning of a text. All this stuff is pretty interesting, when I actually understand it. I was nervous about my lack of previous philosophy but it turns out I did great on my midterm, so I guess I’m getting it figured out.
I think I could handle this (see, if I wind up doing performance studies at NYU I can imagine studying this kind of thing, so this was my litmus test to see if I like the worldview of the postmodernists). It’s certainly stimulating (despite my constant yawning). You know what’s so funny about the NYU thing? Not only are the people there pretty cool and I seem to be finding a nice cross section of departments from which I could perhaps pull advisement, but also a couple of our great friends just announced they are moving there b/c the husband is going to teach at NYU in comm & media studies (so he’s writing me a rec, natch). Also I remembered that my acquaintance Jeff, who runs the Revealer (link on the left – the greatest roundup of religious news on the web, IMHO), is there also. So it’s more enticing than ever, and it’s awfully neat that we’d already have great friends there. But it’s also so weird – it’s just not a place that one usually thinks of going straight out of seminary.
I’d still really like to go to a place with a more religious grounding, but I guess since I’m so interested in comparing religions I’m scaring them off. GTU basically said they had nuthin’ for me. They were like, you’re not interested in Christianity so why are you coming here? And I didn’t feel like fighting them over email, but really what I’m trying to do is fix Christians’ ideas about food – particularly the ways it can inform our worship practices by connecting us to God – by looking at those religions that do it better than us, that are more holistically aware of the meaning of food (not just socially, but biologically, emotionally, and so forth). So in the end I hope to write back to my home audience with what I’ve learned, if they’ll still have me.
I seem to be mostly finding not much interest apart from places where somebody already studies the meaning and import of food. So maybe I’m framing my question wrong. Maybe I should say I want to fix the Eucharist. And this is how I propose to do it. But then again, when I kind of whispered to my friend who went through this PhD process last year that “I think GTU might be kind of snobby” she gave me the knowing grin and told me that several people from Fuller have had that response. Gee, that puts it in the fine company of Harvard, which outright told my Fuller peer not to bother applying since she was coming from an Evangelical seminary (even tho she has a degree from Yale already and wound up at Duke). Nice move, Harvard. Way to be open minded. What happened to postmodern acceptance of all views? :)
So yeah, this place in Canada, Wilfred Laurier, is still on the list, for ritual studies; as is Indiana, for anthropology. And now NYU for performance studies. So if you know anything about these schools or programs, please share in the comments or shoot me an email. And if you have other ideas for me, or names, I would love to hear. The search is far from over; these are just the first places that have shown genuine interest in me. And that’s really nice to have. Of course, there’s the matter of the GRE and the applying and the getting in and the money. So by no means is any of this close to wrapped up. I don’t even feel like it’s a real possibility, yet. Not really.
Meantime, it turns out my priest isn’t meeting the bishop until a week from today, so no news on that front. But it’s OK. J is meeting with the film person at Azusa Thursday to talk about finding him an ongoing job there. So we may not want to move away anyway. And I guess if we stay here, I can work towards ordination, devote more time to the church, and write my ass off. Maybe I can get my crazy ideas out there w/o even having the PhD (although the doctorate isn’t for cred so much as for having the opportunity to really study – with access to the resources I’ll need – this topic that I’m fascinated with). MAYBE even getting a book published would then get me into the PhD…ahhhh…there’s an idea.
It would be fun to be Robert Farrar Capon, whose work is divine, and who is a priest who wrote about food. He didn’t go study it, he just loved food and cooking and had a great knack for bringing it together with his faith. Check him out.
Anyway class is getting going again so I guess I’ll close.
So hopefully this gets me off the hook for not writing much lately. Wish you were here – I’ve been having great in-person conversations. I simply don’t have the energy to write them down. But we talked yesterday at lunch and then with J at dinner about the definition of art. And we are currently talking about authorial intent and how much that has to do with meaning of a text. All this stuff is pretty interesting, when I actually understand it. I was nervous about my lack of previous philosophy but it turns out I did great on my midterm, so I guess I’m getting it figured out.
I think I could handle this (see, if I wind up doing performance studies at NYU I can imagine studying this kind of thing, so this was my litmus test to see if I like the worldview of the postmodernists). It’s certainly stimulating (despite my constant yawning). You know what’s so funny about the NYU thing? Not only are the people there pretty cool and I seem to be finding a nice cross section of departments from which I could perhaps pull advisement, but also a couple of our great friends just announced they are moving there b/c the husband is going to teach at NYU in comm & media studies (so he’s writing me a rec, natch). Also I remembered that my acquaintance Jeff, who runs the Revealer (link on the left – the greatest roundup of religious news on the web, IMHO), is there also. So it’s more enticing than ever, and it’s awfully neat that we’d already have great friends there. But it’s also so weird – it’s just not a place that one usually thinks of going straight out of seminary.
I’d still really like to go to a place with a more religious grounding, but I guess since I’m so interested in comparing religions I’m scaring them off. GTU basically said they had nuthin’ for me. They were like, you’re not interested in Christianity so why are you coming here? And I didn’t feel like fighting them over email, but really what I’m trying to do is fix Christians’ ideas about food – particularly the ways it can inform our worship practices by connecting us to God – by looking at those religions that do it better than us, that are more holistically aware of the meaning of food (not just socially, but biologically, emotionally, and so forth). So in the end I hope to write back to my home audience with what I’ve learned, if they’ll still have me.
I seem to be mostly finding not much interest apart from places where somebody already studies the meaning and import of food. So maybe I’m framing my question wrong. Maybe I should say I want to fix the Eucharist. And this is how I propose to do it. But then again, when I kind of whispered to my friend who went through this PhD process last year that “I think GTU might be kind of snobby” she gave me the knowing grin and told me that several people from Fuller have had that response. Gee, that puts it in the fine company of Harvard, which outright told my Fuller peer not to bother applying since she was coming from an Evangelical seminary (even tho she has a degree from Yale already and wound up at Duke). Nice move, Harvard. Way to be open minded. What happened to postmodern acceptance of all views? :)
So yeah, this place in Canada, Wilfred Laurier, is still on the list, for ritual studies; as is Indiana, for anthropology. And now NYU for performance studies. So if you know anything about these schools or programs, please share in the comments or shoot me an email. And if you have other ideas for me, or names, I would love to hear. The search is far from over; these are just the first places that have shown genuine interest in me. And that’s really nice to have. Of course, there’s the matter of the GRE and the applying and the getting in and the money. So by no means is any of this close to wrapped up. I don’t even feel like it’s a real possibility, yet. Not really.
Meantime, it turns out my priest isn’t meeting the bishop until a week from today, so no news on that front. But it’s OK. J is meeting with the film person at Azusa Thursday to talk about finding him an ongoing job there. So we may not want to move away anyway. And I guess if we stay here, I can work towards ordination, devote more time to the church, and write my ass off. Maybe I can get my crazy ideas out there w/o even having the PhD (although the doctorate isn’t for cred so much as for having the opportunity to really study – with access to the resources I’ll need – this topic that I’m fascinated with). MAYBE even getting a book published would then get me into the PhD…ahhhh…there’s an idea.
It would be fun to be Robert Farrar Capon, whose work is divine, and who is a priest who wrote about food. He didn’t go study it, he just loved food and cooking and had a great knack for bringing it together with his faith. Check him out.
Anyway class is getting going again so I guess I’ll close.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Harry Potter is out - oops
So my friend got his copy of Harry Potter in the mail today. OOOPS!!!
Shortly after his mail arrived, he got a frantic phone call from Scholastic begging him not to reveal anything about the book prior to the release date (which isn't until Saturday) in exchange for a $50 gift cert.
I hope this happened to more people than just him, because I don't want to get him in trouble. I just think it's really funny. Obviously he didn't tell me about the book, nor is he planning to sell it on ebay (although what an idea that would be) - he's too good of a guy. He'll abide by his gag order. But wow...he's a missionary - he could fund the next three years of his work...
But somebody is in BIG trouble over there, huh? Whoopsie. I wonder how many people got them - and how is he on the list and not me? Maybe we'll hear about this on the news. Or maybe Feminary is breaking the story! Woo-hoo!
UPDATE: the story has now hit the news (in the last couple hours). Here is a sample (they all say the same thing - please keep it hidden, suing the distributor, blah blah. Nobody is mentioning the monetary offer - oh, and there was a t-shirt thrown in to sweeten the deal, at least for my friend)
Shortly after his mail arrived, he got a frantic phone call from Scholastic begging him not to reveal anything about the book prior to the release date (which isn't until Saturday) in exchange for a $50 gift cert.
I hope this happened to more people than just him, because I don't want to get him in trouble. I just think it's really funny. Obviously he didn't tell me about the book, nor is he planning to sell it on ebay (although what an idea that would be) - he's too good of a guy. He'll abide by his gag order. But wow...he's a missionary - he could fund the next three years of his work...
But somebody is in BIG trouble over there, huh? Whoopsie. I wonder how many people got them - and how is he on the list and not me? Maybe we'll hear about this on the news. Or maybe Feminary is breaking the story! Woo-hoo!
UPDATE: the story has now hit the news (in the last couple hours). Here is a sample (they all say the same thing - please keep it hidden, suing the distributor, blah blah. Nobody is mentioning the monetary offer - oh, and there was a t-shirt thrown in to sweeten the deal, at least for my friend)
Monday, July 16, 2007
Well said
I know this is old, but I just found it (as I was digging around for info on the touring Buffy musical show - coming to a theatre near me! Yay!) and it is worth all of you reading. I can't believe I didn't hear a thing about this when it happened in May. It's kind of beyond words, so I'll let Joss take over: http://whedonesque.com/comments/13271
Sunday, July 15, 2007
so much lots is going on
First of all I am spending way too much money. Somebody stop me. It's the food, man, the food! I just keep eating. It's like I have to eat to live or something. Dang it.
Oh, J made the most incredible scallops for dinner, with rice and zucchini. That was homemade. I'm a lucky girl.
I could afford more food if I didn't keep feeding my friends (and especially giving them alcohol). But I like doing that. Curse my hospitable ways!
If you couldn't tell, J and I did a bottle of wine tonight so I'm just a little buzzed.
Anyway the point of the writing is to say hey I'm just about terrified for my philosophy class that starts tomorrow! 2 weeks of sheer confusion! What fun this will be!
J keeps saying that the fact I've read some of the book and actually understood it makes me smarter than most of the people. I don't care, I'm still gonna feel stupid. I've not taken philosophy since undergrad and I have literally no memory of it, except that I think the first day they announced our prof was having a heart attack so we were getting a new prof. That's all I remember. Oh, and the watchmaker proof of God. I'm sure there was more, it's just slipped my mind.
Speaking of undergrad, did you know that my favorite classes outside my major (in which I didn't do all that well anyway) were geology and anthropology? Weird, huh. Well, it's not all that weird, because as I tell people about what I want to study for a PhD I'm hearing a lot about anthropology as the field I'm talking about. Interesting. Things circle around.
I've been reading abour hermeneutical circles until I'm stupified. Weird-o. At least at home we talk about philosophy a lot. Surely I've picked up something from osmosis. I've got J reading the chapters right now so we can talk about it. He tricked me into this class because he wanted the books, so his punishment is to help me.
Anyway, here's a funny thing. I'm on a total roller coaster ride about the PhD. Lots of you are in programs and maybe you can identify; I had a great dinner with a friend who went through it and she affirmed all my crazy mixed-up feelings. Thank God. So every few days (or hours, depending) I think I'm completely nuts for trying to attempt this. Taking the GRE alone should be stopping me in my tracks. And I'm thinking I'm going to apply for all these places, and find recommenders?
And then I get emails from people who are basically telling me I'm completely unprepared and/or need to figure out what I want and/or I just don't fit their program. Some places that shall remain nameless have been really snobby. And I feel all shitty and decide I'm going to chuck it all and sit on my couch the rest of my life.
And then I will get an email from somebody who loves my idea and the whole thing starts over. I got great emails from people at NYU (performance studies) and IU (anthropology) and a tiny place in Canada called Wilfred Laurier (ritual studies). They are really exciting programs and the people are excited about me, which then makes me turn around and think maybe it won't be so bad. Every time I'm about to give up I get one of these messages - buck up, little girl, you're on to something here with this food thing.
Some people really get it, you know? They love it, too, the people who get a sense of what I want to study, what I hope to tell the world. And every now and then I get this really sure sense deep down that God wants me to tell everybody something really important, something about their connection to him and to the creation that is such an amazing gift, and how She feeds us with it – and with Her, really. It’s a deep thought. There’s so much to think about.
But then I get scared or I wonder do I need the PhD or should I just start writing. Will anybody listen?
Here’s another really weird thing. You know I’ve basically given up on the whole ordination thing. I decided that my church is not really all that into it, and I should just wait and someday maybe it will happen. Since I trust the process I don’t want to push things. I feel like I’ve done what I could and it’s time to let go. I’ve prayed that I could let go.
Today in church somebody was talking about Canon 9, which I guess is the rule that lets people who haven’t been to seminary go straight to ordination because their calling is evident. I was kind of half listening, but I often tune out a bit during ordination conversations because they are frankly pretty disheartening. What is really really sweet is that J said he was sitting there feeling simply awful for me. Didn’t want me to hear it. He said, “You are so clearly called to be a priest. Everybody who knows you knows it! I know it more than anything. And I was so sad when they were talking about it right in front of you.” He wanted to yell at them to open their eyes and see me. See me.
Well, what he didn’t know is that after church, totally out of the blue, the priest grabbed me and after we discussed the service (why one hymn didn’t work – wrong tempo – and why he shouldn’t have made a comment he did – I had to call him on it) he asked me what was up with my ordination process. And I said well nothing, basically, because I’ve done what I can and I’m waiting on affirmation from you or the congregation, and I figured you guys weren’t that into it, so I figured this might not be the right church to do it with. And he asked if I meant the Episcopal church and I said no, I meant St. B’s. And he said that he had a meeting with the bishop this week about another matter and he wanted to tell him about me, but he wanted to check and make sure he wasn’t moving too fast for me.
Too fast, people.
I’m not getting excited, I’m not letting myself. I simply said that yes, it would be fine – that in fact it would be an answer to much prayer and I’d be thrilled if he’d like to say something. I told him that I’d been told it wouldn’t work well if he wasn’t that excited about me (and I know he’s not that into the hierarchy and the institution). He said that was true, but he is excited about ME, and he doesn’t mind walking through the process with someone he’s excited about.
Well, if that wasn’t about the most surprising conversation, like, ever. J said I finally passed his Zen test – I finally stopped asking for it, stopped wanting it, and lo and behold…
Who knows. I am glad, I will admit it. I am humbled that he wants to go directly to the bishop about me. I’m really glad that he was thankful for my ministry – for what I said to him about the service, and for what he’s seen me do there. It’s such an affirmation.
So we got home, and I told J, and he was really happy. And that’s when he told me all about how he knew that is what I should be, a priest. That actually I already am. Or so he says.
It’s funny – I had decided ordination was a dead end, so I would try the PhD thing. I can get ordained later. Now I wonder if I should wait on the PhD and follow what happens with ordination. I can always do it later. I don’t know. I do know that when I told J the story, and when I said out loud that I could stay here and work towards ordination and maybe work in a church or campus ministry or something, I felt this massive weight lift off me.
Now part of that is the stress and fear about living up to the GRE and the PhD applications and all that. But most of it, I think, is that this thing that’s weighed on me for over four years now might actually be moving forward. But getting ahead of myself is painful, so I won’t. But weird, huh?
Anyway, J is almost done w/my essay, so we’ll talk soon about hermeneutical circles and the relativity of everything and how there is no getting outside the book (you Derrida fans feeling me?). I’m actually really digging this stuff. I know as a good Christian I’m not supposed to go in for all this relative truth, but it’s awfully well explained and makes a lot of sense, considering what I’ve seen in, say, interfaith dialogue alone. The embeddedness of all of us, man. It’s really there.
So there’s a lot to chew on. Thank God I’m going into a 2-week intensive and won’t have time for chewing on anything but Heidigger, Gadamer and Derrida. Whew. Good times.
Oh, J made the most incredible scallops for dinner, with rice and zucchini. That was homemade. I'm a lucky girl.
I could afford more food if I didn't keep feeding my friends (and especially giving them alcohol). But I like doing that. Curse my hospitable ways!
If you couldn't tell, J and I did a bottle of wine tonight so I'm just a little buzzed.
Anyway the point of the writing is to say hey I'm just about terrified for my philosophy class that starts tomorrow! 2 weeks of sheer confusion! What fun this will be!
J keeps saying that the fact I've read some of the book and actually understood it makes me smarter than most of the people. I don't care, I'm still gonna feel stupid. I've not taken philosophy since undergrad and I have literally no memory of it, except that I think the first day they announced our prof was having a heart attack so we were getting a new prof. That's all I remember. Oh, and the watchmaker proof of God. I'm sure there was more, it's just slipped my mind.
Speaking of undergrad, did you know that my favorite classes outside my major (in which I didn't do all that well anyway) were geology and anthropology? Weird, huh. Well, it's not all that weird, because as I tell people about what I want to study for a PhD I'm hearing a lot about anthropology as the field I'm talking about. Interesting. Things circle around.
I've been reading abour hermeneutical circles until I'm stupified. Weird-o. At least at home we talk about philosophy a lot. Surely I've picked up something from osmosis. I've got J reading the chapters right now so we can talk about it. He tricked me into this class because he wanted the books, so his punishment is to help me.
Anyway, here's a funny thing. I'm on a total roller coaster ride about the PhD. Lots of you are in programs and maybe you can identify; I had a great dinner with a friend who went through it and she affirmed all my crazy mixed-up feelings. Thank God. So every few days (or hours, depending) I think I'm completely nuts for trying to attempt this. Taking the GRE alone should be stopping me in my tracks. And I'm thinking I'm going to apply for all these places, and find recommenders?
And then I get emails from people who are basically telling me I'm completely unprepared and/or need to figure out what I want and/or I just don't fit their program. Some places that shall remain nameless have been really snobby. And I feel all shitty and decide I'm going to chuck it all and sit on my couch the rest of my life.
And then I will get an email from somebody who loves my idea and the whole thing starts over. I got great emails from people at NYU (performance studies) and IU (anthropology) and a tiny place in Canada called Wilfred Laurier (ritual studies). They are really exciting programs and the people are excited about me, which then makes me turn around and think maybe it won't be so bad. Every time I'm about to give up I get one of these messages - buck up, little girl, you're on to something here with this food thing.
Some people really get it, you know? They love it, too, the people who get a sense of what I want to study, what I hope to tell the world. And every now and then I get this really sure sense deep down that God wants me to tell everybody something really important, something about their connection to him and to the creation that is such an amazing gift, and how She feeds us with it – and with Her, really. It’s a deep thought. There’s so much to think about.
But then I get scared or I wonder do I need the PhD or should I just start writing. Will anybody listen?
Here’s another really weird thing. You know I’ve basically given up on the whole ordination thing. I decided that my church is not really all that into it, and I should just wait and someday maybe it will happen. Since I trust the process I don’t want to push things. I feel like I’ve done what I could and it’s time to let go. I’ve prayed that I could let go.
Today in church somebody was talking about Canon 9, which I guess is the rule that lets people who haven’t been to seminary go straight to ordination because their calling is evident. I was kind of half listening, but I often tune out a bit during ordination conversations because they are frankly pretty disheartening. What is really really sweet is that J said he was sitting there feeling simply awful for me. Didn’t want me to hear it. He said, “You are so clearly called to be a priest. Everybody who knows you knows it! I know it more than anything. And I was so sad when they were talking about it right in front of you.” He wanted to yell at them to open their eyes and see me. See me.
Well, what he didn’t know is that after church, totally out of the blue, the priest grabbed me and after we discussed the service (why one hymn didn’t work – wrong tempo – and why he shouldn’t have made a comment he did – I had to call him on it) he asked me what was up with my ordination process. And I said well nothing, basically, because I’ve done what I can and I’m waiting on affirmation from you or the congregation, and I figured you guys weren’t that into it, so I figured this might not be the right church to do it with. And he asked if I meant the Episcopal church and I said no, I meant St. B’s. And he said that he had a meeting with the bishop this week about another matter and he wanted to tell him about me, but he wanted to check and make sure he wasn’t moving too fast for me.
Too fast, people.
I’m not getting excited, I’m not letting myself. I simply said that yes, it would be fine – that in fact it would be an answer to much prayer and I’d be thrilled if he’d like to say something. I told him that I’d been told it wouldn’t work well if he wasn’t that excited about me (and I know he’s not that into the hierarchy and the institution). He said that was true, but he is excited about ME, and he doesn’t mind walking through the process with someone he’s excited about.
Well, if that wasn’t about the most surprising conversation, like, ever. J said I finally passed his Zen test – I finally stopped asking for it, stopped wanting it, and lo and behold…
Who knows. I am glad, I will admit it. I am humbled that he wants to go directly to the bishop about me. I’m really glad that he was thankful for my ministry – for what I said to him about the service, and for what he’s seen me do there. It’s such an affirmation.
So we got home, and I told J, and he was really happy. And that’s when he told me all about how he knew that is what I should be, a priest. That actually I already am. Or so he says.
It’s funny – I had decided ordination was a dead end, so I would try the PhD thing. I can get ordained later. Now I wonder if I should wait on the PhD and follow what happens with ordination. I can always do it later. I don’t know. I do know that when I told J the story, and when I said out loud that I could stay here and work towards ordination and maybe work in a church or campus ministry or something, I felt this massive weight lift off me.
Now part of that is the stress and fear about living up to the GRE and the PhD applications and all that. But most of it, I think, is that this thing that’s weighed on me for over four years now might actually be moving forward. But getting ahead of myself is painful, so I won’t. But weird, huh?
Anyway, J is almost done w/my essay, so we’ll talk soon about hermeneutical circles and the relativity of everything and how there is no getting outside the book (you Derrida fans feeling me?). I’m actually really digging this stuff. I know as a good Christian I’m not supposed to go in for all this relative truth, but it’s awfully well explained and makes a lot of sense, considering what I’ve seen in, say, interfaith dialogue alone. The embeddedness of all of us, man. It’s really there.
So there’s a lot to chew on. Thank God I’m going into a 2-week intensive and won’t have time for chewing on anything but Heidigger, Gadamer and Derrida. Whew. Good times.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Article Recommendation
We read a great article for class today, by good old Hans Kung:
“Christianity and World Religions: the dialogue with Islam as one model,” Muslim World, Vol. 77, No. 2, 1987, 80–95.
It's a provocative and well-reasoned support for the idea that Muhammad was a legitimate prophet of God, in the tradition of the Hebrew prophets. A very interesting and worthy thought - and something that can certainly build bridges.
“Christianity and World Religions: the dialogue with Islam as one model,” Muslim World, Vol. 77, No. 2, 1987, 80–95.
It's a provocative and well-reasoned support for the idea that Muhammad was a legitimate prophet of God, in the tradition of the Hebrew prophets. A very interesting and worthy thought - and something that can certainly build bridges.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Food for thought
http://impeachcheney.org/ - maybe sign the petition if this catches your interest. I did - it's up around 85,000 signatures now.
3 religions in 2 weeks!
Wow, you guys, it’s been so long since I wrote. I’ve been in class every day then spending the rest of my time reading for class the next day. These 2-week classes are really intense.
I’m taking world religions right now, which is totally fun. The class is such a mishmash of people from all perspectives – we have Mr. Apologetics Guy, who likes to ask several times during class (in a derisive tone), “But why would anyone actually believe that?” or "What kind of logic supports that idea?" on up to the psych students who are like, “Do we really have to worry about saving these people – I mean, if they’re really happy and devout, can’t we leave them alone?”
Yesterday we almost got into a debate about it, but the prof cut it off. So this morning we were treated to a devotional about how Jesus is the only way and we’re all in trouble for being ashamed of him and/or trying to please “men” (his word) instead of God. Mr. AG also said, loud enough for everyone around him to hear, “I don’t know why a person would come here if they’re not that crazy about Jesus!”
Actually, I don’t know why he isn’t at another seminary – like say, Talbot, where he’d fit in much better. So sorry to be respectful of others, and refuse to believe they must be stupid, and not think I am automatically smarter and know better, and not believe others have something to teach me. I've said it before, I'll say it again: until another point of view makes sense to you - until you can see why an intelligent person would believe it - then you haven't understood it.
But this is the danger of interfaith dialogue. You get to know people, and you can know longer believe they are just dumb. I find it changes the questions you ask and your basic worldview about others. But I’ve written on all this before.
Now class is starting again so I have to wrap up. I am completely fascinated by our study of Hinduism – but since the book didn’t come into the bookstore, almost nobody read it. That makes me so sad, because it was such a great book, and I learned so much. I think only 3 or 4 of us read it. Buddhism got the short shrift too, because the book we read was so dry that it made it completely boring. It was the kind of book that makes you want to tear out your eyes, because you’re bored literally to tears. That, or you fall asleep every few sentences. Bummer, b/c that’s such a fascinating religion. And now we’re on to Islam, and the book we’re reading is so terribly biased against the religion. It’s so annoying. It's mostly been about how Israel won their territory because they had a greater “will to survive” than the surrounding nations (who then uniformly turned to terrorism as the answer); and on how our governments need to fight the pervasive terror of Islam, and so on. There was one chapter on moderate Islam, and about 50 pages on terrorists and “Islamists,” plus the biographical chapters on Muhammad were all about his violence. Ugh. At least most of the class saw through it - we all complained about the text today, so he recommended a few others (John Esposito and Karen Armstrong's).
I pulled out my copy of Reading the Muslim Mind by Hassan Hathout, which I totally wish I’d thought to ask to read instead. At least it’s written from Hathout’s Muslim perspective, and it is way more fair. Plus, you see the thought of a brilliant contemporary mind. Now I agree it’s important to know history – at the same time, we all know how far we’ve come in Christianity. Seems only fair to be able to see the same for the religions we study.
One more quickie: I have to recommend an old BBC program called “The Long Search.” It is about several world religions, over several episodes. I’ve watched a couple of the Buddhist ones, the Hinduism episode, and now the Islam one too. Really great work. Highly recommended. Got it from our library – yours might have it as well.
OK, got to get to class now!
I’m taking world religions right now, which is totally fun. The class is such a mishmash of people from all perspectives – we have Mr. Apologetics Guy, who likes to ask several times during class (in a derisive tone), “But why would anyone actually believe that?” or "What kind of logic supports that idea?" on up to the psych students who are like, “Do we really have to worry about saving these people – I mean, if they’re really happy and devout, can’t we leave them alone?”
Yesterday we almost got into a debate about it, but the prof cut it off. So this morning we were treated to a devotional about how Jesus is the only way and we’re all in trouble for being ashamed of him and/or trying to please “men” (his word) instead of God. Mr. AG also said, loud enough for everyone around him to hear, “I don’t know why a person would come here if they’re not that crazy about Jesus!”
Actually, I don’t know why he isn’t at another seminary – like say, Talbot, where he’d fit in much better. So sorry to be respectful of others, and refuse to believe they must be stupid, and not think I am automatically smarter and know better, and not believe others have something to teach me. I've said it before, I'll say it again: until another point of view makes sense to you - until you can see why an intelligent person would believe it - then you haven't understood it.
But this is the danger of interfaith dialogue. You get to know people, and you can know longer believe they are just dumb. I find it changes the questions you ask and your basic worldview about others. But I’ve written on all this before.
Now class is starting again so I have to wrap up. I am completely fascinated by our study of Hinduism – but since the book didn’t come into the bookstore, almost nobody read it. That makes me so sad, because it was such a great book, and I learned so much. I think only 3 or 4 of us read it. Buddhism got the short shrift too, because the book we read was so dry that it made it completely boring. It was the kind of book that makes you want to tear out your eyes, because you’re bored literally to tears. That, or you fall asleep every few sentences. Bummer, b/c that’s such a fascinating religion. And now we’re on to Islam, and the book we’re reading is so terribly biased against the religion. It’s so annoying. It's mostly been about how Israel won their territory because they had a greater “will to survive” than the surrounding nations (who then uniformly turned to terrorism as the answer); and on how our governments need to fight the pervasive terror of Islam, and so on. There was one chapter on moderate Islam, and about 50 pages on terrorists and “Islamists,” plus the biographical chapters on Muhammad were all about his violence. Ugh. At least most of the class saw through it - we all complained about the text today, so he recommended a few others (John Esposito and Karen Armstrong's).
I pulled out my copy of Reading the Muslim Mind by Hassan Hathout, which I totally wish I’d thought to ask to read instead. At least it’s written from Hathout’s Muslim perspective, and it is way more fair. Plus, you see the thought of a brilliant contemporary mind. Now I agree it’s important to know history – at the same time, we all know how far we’ve come in Christianity. Seems only fair to be able to see the same for the religions we study.
One more quickie: I have to recommend an old BBC program called “The Long Search.” It is about several world religions, over several episodes. I’ve watched a couple of the Buddhist ones, the Hinduism episode, and now the Islam one too. Really great work. Highly recommended. Got it from our library – yours might have it as well.
OK, got to get to class now!
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Some fun reading material
A great discussion on communion without baptism going on:
http://auluslactinus.blogspot.com/2007/06/communion-without-baptism-cwob.html
And something from my food studies listserv (specially for the fourth!):
Coming Soon...
Process cheese slices in red, white and blue. Process feta cheese slices wrapped in plastic for your Greek sandwich. Process cheese flavored like bubble-gum or root beer so your finicky young eater wants more!
[Actually this last claim I got from following a couple of links out of the article on to innovatewithdairy.com. Here is a sample from that page – In a taste test at a Chicago-area elementary school, kids ages 10-12 had the opportunity to be one of the first to try blueberry and sour apple-flavored cheese. These school children voted blueberry their favorite and described the flavored cheese as “fantastic,” giving it a thumbs-up rating as a snack option they would enjoy. They suggested their own list of flavors that might make flavored cheese a hit with the younger set, including chocolate, peanut butter, watermelon and cotton candy.]
The link below will tell you more.
http://www.dairyfoods.com/CDA/Articles/Ingredient_Technology/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000071103
http://auluslactinus.blogspot.com/2007/06/communion-without-baptism-cwob.html
And something from my food studies listserv (specially for the fourth!):
Coming Soon...
Process cheese slices in red, white and blue. Process feta cheese slices wrapped in plastic for your Greek sandwich. Process cheese flavored like bubble-gum or root beer so your finicky young eater wants more!
[Actually this last claim I got from following a couple of links out of the article on to innovatewithdairy.com. Here is a sample from that page – In a taste test at a Chicago-area elementary school, kids ages 10-12 had the opportunity to be one of the first to try blueberry and sour apple-flavored cheese. These school children voted blueberry their favorite and described the flavored cheese as “fantastic,” giving it a thumbs-up rating as a snack option they would enjoy. They suggested their own list of flavors that might make flavored cheese a hit with the younger set, including chocolate, peanut butter, watermelon and cotton candy.]
The link below will tell you more.
http://www.dairyfoods.com/CDA/Articles/Ingredient_Technology/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000071103
Monday, July 02, 2007
A Sermon for the Fourth of July
I wish I could take credit for this one, but that goes to my husband, stinker that he is, who preached this winner his first time at bat this Sunday (or "at pulpit" as it were). I was quite impressed (and a little jealous - the man has had zero training. Plus he didn't take all my advice, but that's another story). I think he actually literally pounded the pulpit a couple times. Those Southern Baptist roots are hard to shake. Enjoy - this is my post for the 4th this year!
“True Freedom”
A sermon for the Fifth Sunday After Pentecost (July 1, 2007)
Lectionary Readings: Year C, Proper 8
“True Freedom”
A sermon for the Fifth Sunday After Pentecost (July 1, 2007)
Lectionary Readings: Year C, Proper 8
Just last week we baptized baby Ryan and we read where the Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians that there is only one baptism and that for those who are baptized into Christ there is no longer any Jew or Greek.
Today, brothers and sisters, it is my duty to remind you that in Christ there is no longer any Englishman or American. There is no longer any Pasadenan or Costa Rican, no African or European. In Christ we are all One. There is one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all. In Christ we are a new creation, we are born again into the kingdom of God.
Yes, the kingdom of God. You have heard it said that America is a Christian nation. But in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus says that if we are to follow him we will have no place to lay our heads. We will have no home in this world, because Christ has no home in this world. Jesus’s disciple Peter learned this lesson well, and he later wrote that we are aliens and strangers in this land.
At his trial, Jesus told Pontius Pilate that God’s kingdom is not of this world. So where is it? Earlier Jesus had said the kingdom of heaven is within you. And not just within you as an individual. An alternate translation of that verse is “among you”. The kingdom of heaven is among you – among us – as a community gathered to follow Jesus as his Church.
The Greek word we translate as “church” is ekklesia. It literally means “called out”. We are called out of America to become a new people set aside for God’s own purposes. The Apostle Peter said we “are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people.” He’s not talking about America. He’s talking about the Church.
In a few minutes we will proclaim our faith in the King of Kings. Using the words of the Nicene Creed we will say “We believe in One Lord, Jesus Christ.” Brothers and sisters, there is only one Lord. And if Jesus is Lord, then Caesar is not. If Jesus is Lord, then George W. Bush is not. If Jesus is Lord, then neither Barack Obama nor Hilary Clinton can hope to win any election that truly matters next year. They’ve already lost. The powers of this world were defeated at the Cross of Christ. Our God reigns! Amen?
Therefore we come before this Table today to announce the victory of God, to make our true Declaration of Independence: independence from the world and dependence on God, independence from American individualism and dependence on one another as God’s body on earth.
When we gather to eat the body of Christ, we become the body of Christ. We become the dwelling place of Christ on earth. As we said in our Collect for the Day, we become God’s “temple”. God is with us and we are his kingdom. Every time God’s will is done on earth, that is God’s kingdom come. When God dwells with us through Christ Our Emmanuel, we are God’s kingdom. Today. Now. Christ is already King. Glory be to God!
There is still work to be done, of course. God’s will is not done perfectly. It’s not even done perfectly within our own community. There are still divisions: divisions between us and God and divisions between ourselves and others. But when Christ comes again, and when his Kingdom is revealed in all its glory, it will not be something new but something more of the same. The new has already begun. The kingdom came at Pentecost.
Today is the Fifth Sunday after Independence Day!
When we were baptized in the Spirit at Pentecost and the Church was born, we became a new people. Called out from every nation, tribe, language, and people, we left our old identities behind and became God’s People.
So what does this mean? Does this mean that we can’t be involved in secular politics? If our true citizenship is in heaven (in other words, if our true citizenship is in this place, gathered around that Table), then does that mean we shouldn’t vote? Of course not. Does this mean that we cannot celebrate our heritage as African Americans (or Scotch-Irish Americans as the case may be)? Of course not. Our identity as Christians does not completely remove us from the world. We are in the world, we just are not of the world.
We do have a heritage on our mother’s side, whether our mother is Israel, Rome, or America. But our true inheritance comes from our Father in heaven. As our Psalm for today says, it is in God that we have a “goodly heritage”.
Our ultimate allegiance is not to the flag of the United States of America. Our allegiance is to the Cross of Christ. Hopefully the two cultures will not conflict. In most circumstances we will be able to render unto America the things that are America’s while still rendering unto God the things that are God’s.
But sometimes the kingdom of Christ does conflict with the kingdom of the world. And in that case our choice is clear. No one can serve two masters. And when we count the cost we come to see that Christ is the pearl of great price whose beauty outshines all others. Nothing we desire can compare to him.
In our Epistle reading from Galatians today we find one place where the values of the Kingdom conflict with the values of the World. This week our American neighbors celebrate their high holy day. On the Fourth of July Americans celebrate what they call their “freedom”.
But the word “freedom” means something very different for us as People of God than it does for Americans. When Americans talk about freedom they mean the ability to do what they want to do. Independence Day is the celebration of freedom from the King of England, freedom to decide for ourselves what to do and not to have laws imposed on us by a foreign power. It is a celebration of freedom as Self-Determination.
But it is this idea of freedom – freedom as self-determination – that seduces us into forsaking God. We don’t like to be told what to do. We want to decide for ourselves what to do. We want to perform what Paul calls “the works of the flesh”, things like “enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy”, gossip, worry, complaining, and so on. And when God tells us we can’t do these things, we feel resentful. We feel as if he is taking away our freedom.
But that’s because we don’t have a Christian understanding of freedom. We have an American understanding of freedom. We think freedom means doing whatever we want.
Therefore, in the name of Jesus Christ I challenge you to repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near! The Greek word we translate as “repent” is metanoia. It literally means to re-think or to change your mind. We must change our minds, no longer being conformed to the world’s way of thinking, but being transformed by God’s way of thinking.
We must learn to see that the works of self-determining flesh are slavery but we were called instead to a life of Spirit-empowered freedom. We must learn to see that when God tells us to do what he wants instead of what we want, he has our best interests in mind.
God wants us to be happy. It is simply confusion to think that the pursuit of happiness requires “liberty” and “independence”. If we want to be independent from God, we can’t possibly be happy. That’s because God wants us to be happy, so the only way we can choose our own will over God’s will is to choose unhappiness over happiness.
As C.S. Lewis put it “the doors of hell are locked on the inside.” Lewis writes that hell is where the damned “enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded, and are therefore self-enslaved: just as the blessed, forever submitted to obedience, become through all eternity more and more free.”
True freedom is not self-determination and the ability to do what you want. True freedom is slavery to Christ. Paul lists the “fruit of the spirit” as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” These are wonderful things that we would all like to do. But it is not as easy as it sounds! The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
The only way we can actually do these things is to “crucify our flesh” – to put our own desires to death so that it is no longer ourselves that live but Christ who lives in us. We must become slaves to Christ. Then we will be free from selfishness, worry, anger, resentfulness. We will be free to be happy. That is true freedom.
It’s not the American way. But it is the way of the Cross. It’s not the kind of freedom that can be won by violence, revolution, and war. Self-determination can be won by violence. In fact, self-determination can only be won by violence because for me to do what I want I have to prevent others from doing what they want. But, brothers and sisters, that is not true freedom. True freedom can only be won by self-sacrifice, by forsaking the American way for the way of the Cross.
But if we do choose to follow Christ and to walk in the way of the Cross we, like Christ himself, will have nowhere to lay our heads. We will be called out of our identities as Americans and we will become strangers and aliens in the world. And yet – and yet! – we will also be dwelling in Christ and the power of his kingdom. And by God’s grace we will discover that the way of the Cross is none other than the way of life and peace.
In the name of the Almighty King: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
FARM 21 Bill
Just found this; it is an excellent alternative to the current farm bill:
http://www.house.gov/kind/press/070510-%20RMA.pdf
http://www.house.gov/kind/press/070510-%20RMA.pdf
Riled up and stuff
First, happy Irenaeus day to everyone! Here's a bit about our buddy Irey from the Daily Office website:
Irenaeus maintained that the Gospel message is for everyone. He was perhaps the first to speak of the Church as "Catholic" (universal). In using this term, he made three contrasts:
1. He contrasted the over-all church with the single local congregation, so that one spoke of the Church in Ephesus, but also of the Catholic Church, of which the Churches in Ephesus, Corinth, Rome, Antioch, etc. were local branches or chapters.
2. He contrasted Christianity with Judaism, in that the task of Judaism was to preserve the knowledge of the one God by establishing a solid national base for it among a single people, but the task of Christianity was to set out from that base to preach the Truth to all nations.
3. He contrasted Christianity with Gnosticism, in that the Gnostics claimed to have a message only for the few with the right aptitudes and temperaments, whereas the Christian Gospel was to be proclaimed to all [persons] everywhere.
What a guy.
But I've gotten all riled up this morning reading a story in the paper entitled "Bush warns against children's health plan". The gist of it is that Bush thinks that a move toward universal healthcare for children is a move toward government-run healthcare for everybody.
Oh, no! What a tragedy that would be!! You mean that insurance companies would be forced to cover whoever needed care? Even if that care cut into their bottom line?? What a terrible state of affairs!!
Seriously, I have such a problem with this. Why? Because I am one of the people who is not able to get health coverage on my own. I don't qualify because I have depression. Now since that's an ongoing thing with me, it's maybe somewhat understandable (although all I need for it is medication, I don't even need doctor visits). But I have read documented cases of people denied insurance because, say, they once had an operation 10 years before. Now that is stupid. Or they have a condition like mine, or like diabetes, that is ongoing.
Now help me out here - if you have a condition that is ongoing doesn't that mean you actually need the health care? Like, more than the healthy people who get coverage? Ah, you see, we start to understand that it's not about actually helping sick people...it's about making money. And you can't make money insuring sick people. Only healthy ones. Which means you're not actually doing anything but taking a very safe risk and lots of cash from people who most likely won't use your services. Nice racket.
Anyway, Bush calls this push for children's insurance a "step toward a government takeover of medicine" (quoting the story, not him) "His bottom line: Government healthcare programs should focus on the poor and near-poor, not on middle class families."
Ah, because as we all know the middle-class has so much extra cash sitting around to pay super-high premiums. Or is the idea that middle-class people will only work for huge companies that cover healthcare? So no middle-class people are allowed to be self-employed? Or students? I guess once you become self-employed or a student you drop to "near-poor," huh?
Bush's solution for the middle class is to mess with the tax code. Ah, yes, the answer is always in the tax code. That way, the majority of us will never know what happened and not realize what we need to do to take advantage of it. Smart. Keeps those big insurance companies in the black.
He's so worried that Democrats want "to take incremental steps down the path to government-run healthcare for every American" (quoting Bush). Well, gee, yeah, that sounds pretty dandy to me. I could actually maybe have some choice in my healthcare, instead of only getting the crappy insurance that will cover a deviant like me? What a concept.
Bush says it eliminate choice and competition. Excuse me, but at the moment, I have no choice. There is no competition over me. A huge number of us never get a choice to begin with because nobody with cover us. Please. I think eliminating the insurance companies' choice to not cover me would be the proper choice to eliminate! Making them compete over me is what I want. Again, we see only concern that the businesses have choices. Not the consumers. Not the sick, I should say.
Bush says that government-run healthcare would "result in rationing, inefficiency, and long waiting lines." Did he ever think that maybe the reason the lines are so short is because only a few people can get health insurance?? Yeah, sure, if you eliminate healthcare for millions of us, those lines are sure gonna be short! Only the wealthy and the employed-with-benefits waiting in that queue. And that group keeps shrinking.
Then there's the whole middle-class that he's so concerned with, and a lot of those people are waiting in long lines b/c they can only afford HMO coverage. I remember when I had an HMO for years, depending on which part of the city I was living in (and thus which office I visited), I could have to wait 6 weeks for an appointment. 6 weeks! Now, some of the offices could do same-week or same-day, and of course this was all for checkup appointments (illness usually got you in faster). But come on, a 6-week wait - and phone center people who laugh at you if you ask for anything earlier - is pretty much a "long waiting line" I think. I don't see how it could get much worse, Mr. Bush.
So basically, what I'm seeing here is that people in the President's situation (government-covered and/or wealthy and/or businesspeople) are pretty much the only folks hurt by government-run healthcare. And unfortunately, they are in power. So the rest of us get by however we can.
Bush's answer is to increase access to private insurance. But even if I had access to it (which I don't b/c of said condition), I couldn't afford the premiums. So that's kind of a dead end.
I'm sorry to get so political this morning. I know I've been raging activist mode lately. It's just that this particular issue gets under my skin so much because I have been affected, I've been one of those people who can't get insured. And I remember how wonderful it was to be covered, even by a stinky HMO that has hurt other people, and to be able to go in and get whatever I needed (within reason - I know this HMO has denied care to lots of cases). But for me, where I'm at in life and health, it was perfect. And I kind of think that's how the government program could be. Of course, some people may abuse it. But hopefully it would settle down and eventually people would use it just when they need it. It would sure help empty out emergency rooms (which are used as doctor's offices for the uninsured, since they are required by law to treat whoever comes in, no matter how minor).
I just think more and more that our stubborn holding on to a private system is not right. I guess I'm kind of advertising Michael Moore's new flick, here. But there is something to the fact that most industrialized nations provide universal healthcare. I guess we could keep private insurance for the rich, and they could get the better care that they expect. I'd just be happy if I could qualify for basic care on my own. Having lived a couple years relying on Planned Parenthood and county mental health (yikes), I know how important it is to level this field a little bit. And I am grateful that I get to have real insurance again thanks to J's new job. But I know I'm leaving a lot of folks in the clinics, and for them I will continue to speak.
Irenaeus maintained that the Gospel message is for everyone. He was perhaps the first to speak of the Church as "Catholic" (universal). In using this term, he made three contrasts:
1. He contrasted the over-all church with the single local congregation, so that one spoke of the Church in Ephesus, but also of the Catholic Church, of which the Churches in Ephesus, Corinth, Rome, Antioch, etc. were local branches or chapters.
2. He contrasted Christianity with Judaism, in that the task of Judaism was to preserve the knowledge of the one God by establishing a solid national base for it among a single people, but the task of Christianity was to set out from that base to preach the Truth to all nations.
3. He contrasted Christianity with Gnosticism, in that the Gnostics claimed to have a message only for the few with the right aptitudes and temperaments, whereas the Christian Gospel was to be proclaimed to all [persons] everywhere.
What a guy.
But I've gotten all riled up this morning reading a story in the paper entitled "Bush warns against children's health plan". The gist of it is that Bush thinks that a move toward universal healthcare for children is a move toward government-run healthcare for everybody.
Oh, no! What a tragedy that would be!! You mean that insurance companies would be forced to cover whoever needed care? Even if that care cut into their bottom line?? What a terrible state of affairs!!
Seriously, I have such a problem with this. Why? Because I am one of the people who is not able to get health coverage on my own. I don't qualify because I have depression. Now since that's an ongoing thing with me, it's maybe somewhat understandable (although all I need for it is medication, I don't even need doctor visits). But I have read documented cases of people denied insurance because, say, they once had an operation 10 years before. Now that is stupid. Or they have a condition like mine, or like diabetes, that is ongoing.
Now help me out here - if you have a condition that is ongoing doesn't that mean you actually need the health care? Like, more than the healthy people who get coverage? Ah, you see, we start to understand that it's not about actually helping sick people...it's about making money. And you can't make money insuring sick people. Only healthy ones. Which means you're not actually doing anything but taking a very safe risk and lots of cash from people who most likely won't use your services. Nice racket.
Anyway, Bush calls this push for children's insurance a "step toward a government takeover of medicine" (quoting the story, not him) "His bottom line: Government healthcare programs should focus on the poor and near-poor, not on middle class families."
Ah, because as we all know the middle-class has so much extra cash sitting around to pay super-high premiums. Or is the idea that middle-class people will only work for huge companies that cover healthcare? So no middle-class people are allowed to be self-employed? Or students? I guess once you become self-employed or a student you drop to "near-poor," huh?
Bush's solution for the middle class is to mess with the tax code. Ah, yes, the answer is always in the tax code. That way, the majority of us will never know what happened and not realize what we need to do to take advantage of it. Smart. Keeps those big insurance companies in the black.
He's so worried that Democrats want "to take incremental steps down the path to government-run healthcare for every American" (quoting Bush). Well, gee, yeah, that sounds pretty dandy to me. I could actually maybe have some choice in my healthcare, instead of only getting the crappy insurance that will cover a deviant like me? What a concept.
Bush says it eliminate choice and competition. Excuse me, but at the moment, I have no choice. There is no competition over me. A huge number of us never get a choice to begin with because nobody with cover us. Please. I think eliminating the insurance companies' choice to not cover me would be the proper choice to eliminate! Making them compete over me is what I want. Again, we see only concern that the businesses have choices. Not the consumers. Not the sick, I should say.
Bush says that government-run healthcare would "result in rationing, inefficiency, and long waiting lines." Did he ever think that maybe the reason the lines are so short is because only a few people can get health insurance?? Yeah, sure, if you eliminate healthcare for millions of us, those lines are sure gonna be short! Only the wealthy and the employed-with-benefits waiting in that queue. And that group keeps shrinking.
Then there's the whole middle-class that he's so concerned with, and a lot of those people are waiting in long lines b/c they can only afford HMO coverage. I remember when I had an HMO for years, depending on which part of the city I was living in (and thus which office I visited), I could have to wait 6 weeks for an appointment. 6 weeks! Now, some of the offices could do same-week or same-day, and of course this was all for checkup appointments (illness usually got you in faster). But come on, a 6-week wait - and phone center people who laugh at you if you ask for anything earlier - is pretty much a "long waiting line" I think. I don't see how it could get much worse, Mr. Bush.
So basically, what I'm seeing here is that people in the President's situation (government-covered and/or wealthy and/or businesspeople) are pretty much the only folks hurt by government-run healthcare. And unfortunately, they are in power. So the rest of us get by however we can.
Bush's answer is to increase access to private insurance. But even if I had access to it (which I don't b/c of said condition), I couldn't afford the premiums. So that's kind of a dead end.
I'm sorry to get so political this morning. I know I've been raging activist mode lately. It's just that this particular issue gets under my skin so much because I have been affected, I've been one of those people who can't get insured. And I remember how wonderful it was to be covered, even by a stinky HMO that has hurt other people, and to be able to go in and get whatever I needed (within reason - I know this HMO has denied care to lots of cases). But for me, where I'm at in life and health, it was perfect. And I kind of think that's how the government program could be. Of course, some people may abuse it. But hopefully it would settle down and eventually people would use it just when they need it. It would sure help empty out emergency rooms (which are used as doctor's offices for the uninsured, since they are required by law to treat whoever comes in, no matter how minor).
I just think more and more that our stubborn holding on to a private system is not right. I guess I'm kind of advertising Michael Moore's new flick, here. But there is something to the fact that most industrialized nations provide universal healthcare. I guess we could keep private insurance for the rich, and they could get the better care that they expect. I'd just be happy if I could qualify for basic care on my own. Having lived a couple years relying on Planned Parenthood and county mental health (yikes), I know how important it is to level this field a little bit. And I am grateful that I get to have real insurance again thanks to J's new job. But I know I'm leaving a lot of folks in the clinics, and for them I will continue to speak.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Church & School in Mourning
A woman who just graduated from Fuller has been killed in a car accident along with three members of her youth group (a fifth unidentified person died as well, in another car). Her husband is in critical condition. I know they have a child but have had conflicting reports on the gender and age (but he/she is a toddler). I didn't know her, but this is a tragedy for our campus and especially for that poor church, which lost four teenagers and the youth sponsor (the husband is the youth pastor). Really awful. Please lift up this family and church in your prayers.
More info here: http://revkasedoggy.wordpress.com/2007/06/25/prayers-for-this-youth-group/
More info here: http://revkasedoggy.wordpress.com/2007/06/25/prayers-for-this-youth-group/
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
A sweet film
I had the privilege of watching a very sweet film recently, called Eve & the Fire Horse. It won a special jury prize at Sundance and it looks like Roger Ebert and several notable critics loved it; so I don’t know how much my opinion actually adds to the conversation, but I thought I’d tell you about it anyway, because it hasn’t got US distribution so they’re hoping for a word-of-mouth campaign.
It’s about a Chinese girl growing up in the 70’s in Canada, and how her religious identity shifts as her upbringing comes into contact with new ideas. She has been raised in traditional Chinese (to honor her ancestors, the intricacies of luck) and Buddhist ways. But her sister becomes enraptured with Catholicism (after reading a book given to her by, of all people, the Jehovah’s Witnesses!), and brings Eve along for the ride.
Eve has a very active imagination, and the film often shows her fantasies. In one particularly poignant sequence, she imagines Jesus and the Buddha dancing together, in a beautiful image of interfaith cooperation that I can’t get out of my head. The best part of the scene is her reaction, which is unbridled laughter and joy at seeing this connection between them – her old deity and her new. The imaginary sequences reminded me of those in Millions, another of my favorite flicks about childhood and religion.
As time goes on, her sister digs in her heels and the fantasies begin to reflect a less tolerant viewpoint. This isn’t to rag on Christianity, but (as far as I could tell) is the way the little girl’s mind understands what she’s learning about the less loving side of the religion (and indeed, she is learning from her rather confused sister - who knows just enough to be dangerous, a pretty intolerant nun, and Sunday School “friends” who turn on her – no wonder she has a sour taste in her mouth!). In the end, not to give too much away, I think both religions come off looking good, with the sister finding true happiness and transcendence in Catholicism, and Buddhism continuing to be practiced by the family at large. Eve just wants to find love and acceptance by her family, which seems to be her religious quest.
I really enjoyed the slice of childhood life, especially all the Christian foibles that the girls encounter. I remember all the awkward conversations with friends, trying to convert them; inviting friends to church only to see them become more popular than I was; practicing good deeds; even pretend baptizing (I clearly remember “baptizing” my siblings in a pool once). I assume the Buddhist elements are as accurate.
The best part, of course, is the blending of the two in Eve’s life. It touches not only on themes of religious tolerance (and not) and getting by in a pluralist society, but also a great deal on the immigrant experience. It would be a wonderful film to show a comparative religions class – there is a lot of ritual action and some great dialogue that could spark discussion. I would recommend it for children, too, as a conversation-starter about religions.
The film has some humor, a lot of pathos, and lots of difficult stuff happens – both on a large scale and also small kid stuff, like teasing. I really highly recommend it. Right now, it looks like you can’t rent it, but check wwww.eveandthefirehorse.com for updates. You can order it off the website starting July 24th. If you have a good use for it (e.g. a church screening, a class, etc.), they will probably send you a complimentary dvd. I plan to share it with as many people as I can (of course, if you’re local to me, I’m happy to loan it to you).
Hope you get a chance to check it out – it’s really worth watching.
It’s about a Chinese girl growing up in the 70’s in Canada, and how her religious identity shifts as her upbringing comes into contact with new ideas. She has been raised in traditional Chinese (to honor her ancestors, the intricacies of luck) and Buddhist ways. But her sister becomes enraptured with Catholicism (after reading a book given to her by, of all people, the Jehovah’s Witnesses!), and brings Eve along for the ride.
Eve has a very active imagination, and the film often shows her fantasies. In one particularly poignant sequence, she imagines Jesus and the Buddha dancing together, in a beautiful image of interfaith cooperation that I can’t get out of my head. The best part of the scene is her reaction, which is unbridled laughter and joy at seeing this connection between them – her old deity and her new. The imaginary sequences reminded me of those in Millions, another of my favorite flicks about childhood and religion.
As time goes on, her sister digs in her heels and the fantasies begin to reflect a less tolerant viewpoint. This isn’t to rag on Christianity, but (as far as I could tell) is the way the little girl’s mind understands what she’s learning about the less loving side of the religion (and indeed, she is learning from her rather confused sister - who knows just enough to be dangerous, a pretty intolerant nun, and Sunday School “friends” who turn on her – no wonder she has a sour taste in her mouth!). In the end, not to give too much away, I think both religions come off looking good, with the sister finding true happiness and transcendence in Catholicism, and Buddhism continuing to be practiced by the family at large. Eve just wants to find love and acceptance by her family, which seems to be her religious quest.
I really enjoyed the slice of childhood life, especially all the Christian foibles that the girls encounter. I remember all the awkward conversations with friends, trying to convert them; inviting friends to church only to see them become more popular than I was; practicing good deeds; even pretend baptizing (I clearly remember “baptizing” my siblings in a pool once). I assume the Buddhist elements are as accurate.
The best part, of course, is the blending of the two in Eve’s life. It touches not only on themes of religious tolerance (and not) and getting by in a pluralist society, but also a great deal on the immigrant experience. It would be a wonderful film to show a comparative religions class – there is a lot of ritual action and some great dialogue that could spark discussion. I would recommend it for children, too, as a conversation-starter about religions.
The film has some humor, a lot of pathos, and lots of difficult stuff happens – both on a large scale and also small kid stuff, like teasing. I really highly recommend it. Right now, it looks like you can’t rent it, but check wwww.eveandthefirehorse.com for updates. You can order it off the website starting July 24th. If you have a good use for it (e.g. a church screening, a class, etc.), they will probably send you a complimentary dvd. I plan to share it with as many people as I can (of course, if you’re local to me, I’m happy to loan it to you).
Hope you get a chance to check it out – it’s really worth watching.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Time to write to congress - Farm Bill under review!
I just found out that the Farm Bill is being "marked up" (looked at, worked on, voted on) in the next couple of weeks in the House of Reps first and then Senate. PLEASE take 2 minutes to write your elected reps about this. It is SO important!! I've made a little list of why:
Who is affected by or has a stake in the Farm Bill?
United States farmers
Farm subsidies are only for 5 crops, none of which are fruits/veggies (corn, wheat, rice, soybeans, and cotton); 10% of farms (corporations, really, which have bought up multiple family farms and can produce at vastly higher yields) receive over 70% of the subsidies; 2/3 of US farmers do not receive any subsidies at all; if a farmer plants a non-top-5 crop he loses ALL subsidies; the overproduction of these crops affects the land, our health and the world...
Subsistence farmers around the world
Our subsidized crops, already ruled illegal by a number of international courts, drive down international prices so that farmers cannot compete in their own markets.
Recipients of food stamps and school lunches
Both are covered by this bill; 35 million Americans cannot feed their families without the stamps, which amount to $1/meal/person ($21/week - can you eat on that?).
Anyone who pays health insurance premiums
Raised by the growing number of diabetics and obese people, a problem created and exacerbated by processed, non-diversified diet and non-sugar sweeteners.
Anyone who pays taxes
Might as well decide how your money is spent - the health costs in Medicare alone are worth consideration.
Rural communities
The first and ongoing casualty of corporatizing farming.
People who care about the poor in our country and around the world
People concerned about immigration problems
For instance, the lack of farming income in Mexico drives people north; people cannot afford to make tortillas any longer and are eating ramen. Bye bye, culture.
People who wish to eat more heathily, or locally, or organically
People who wish to eat something other than processed food now & then, and maybe something not sweetened with corn syrup
(which the body recognizes as alcohol not sugar)
Animals
Like happy cows? Feedlots would not exist without the corn glut (not to mention meat would taste better and be more sustainable).
The earth and its resources
land, water, petroleum, global warming, diversification of crops, wetland restoration, alternative fuels, etc. etc.
Got a pet cause? It's probably affected by the farm bill!
Write Congress today! The crucial time is by July 4!! After this, it's another 5 years before the Bill is reviewed again!
Here is a simple, 2-minute sample letter:
http://www.bread.org/take-action/offering-of-letters-resources/sample-letter.html
And you can look up your congresspersons' info here:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/ (enter zip code in left side search box)
This site gives you all your elected reps, state and federal.
Note that we are shooting for handwritten letters, not emails, because they have far greater impact. Write to the DISTRICT office, not to Washington, so it arrives in time (DC mail is held a month for security). Write to House of Representatives AND Senators. The most important thing to ask for is a reduction in subsidies in favor of more conservation and stronger nutrition programs. Lots more info, and a nifty movie, can be found at www.bread.org.
Thanks for your consideration. This is so important!!
Who is affected by or has a stake in the Farm Bill?
United States farmers
Farm subsidies are only for 5 crops, none of which are fruits/veggies (corn, wheat, rice, soybeans, and cotton); 10% of farms (corporations, really, which have bought up multiple family farms and can produce at vastly higher yields) receive over 70% of the subsidies; 2/3 of US farmers do not receive any subsidies at all; if a farmer plants a non-top-5 crop he loses ALL subsidies; the overproduction of these crops affects the land, our health and the world...
Subsistence farmers around the world
Our subsidized crops, already ruled illegal by a number of international courts, drive down international prices so that farmers cannot compete in their own markets.
Recipients of food stamps and school lunches
Both are covered by this bill; 35 million Americans cannot feed their families without the stamps, which amount to $1/meal/person ($21/week - can you eat on that?).
Anyone who pays health insurance premiums
Raised by the growing number of diabetics and obese people, a problem created and exacerbated by processed, non-diversified diet and non-sugar sweeteners.
Anyone who pays taxes
Might as well decide how your money is spent - the health costs in Medicare alone are worth consideration.
Rural communities
The first and ongoing casualty of corporatizing farming.
People who care about the poor in our country and around the world
People concerned about immigration problems
For instance, the lack of farming income in Mexico drives people north; people cannot afford to make tortillas any longer and are eating ramen. Bye bye, culture.
People who wish to eat more heathily, or locally, or organically
People who wish to eat something other than processed food now & then, and maybe something not sweetened with corn syrup
(which the body recognizes as alcohol not sugar)
Animals
Like happy cows? Feedlots would not exist without the corn glut (not to mention meat would taste better and be more sustainable).
The earth and its resources
land, water, petroleum, global warming, diversification of crops, wetland restoration, alternative fuels, etc. etc.
Got a pet cause? It's probably affected by the farm bill!
Write Congress today! The crucial time is by July 4!! After this, it's another 5 years before the Bill is reviewed again!
Here is a simple, 2-minute sample letter:
http://www.bread.org/take-action/offering-of-letters-resources/sample-letter.html
And you can look up your congresspersons' info here:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/ (enter zip code in left side search box)
This site gives you all your elected reps, state and federal.
Note that we are shooting for handwritten letters, not emails, because they have far greater impact. Write to the DISTRICT office, not to Washington, so it arrives in time (DC mail is held a month for security). Write to House of Representatives AND Senators. The most important thing to ask for is a reduction in subsidies in favor of more conservation and stronger nutrition programs. Lots more info, and a nifty movie, can be found at www.bread.org.
Thanks for your consideration. This is so important!!
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Lots of good stuff
Thanks for your patience while I enjoy some vacation time. It's been really good. Occasionally I get stressed; I have a lot to do in these 2 weeks off - like a zillion books to read and movies to watch and people waiting on stuff from me. But I'm trying to not do too much. And to take quality time for sitting in the park, dreaming of PhD programs, and today, visiting my hubby's class. It's Socrates day. Can't miss that. Plus it's fun to heckle him.
Speaking of him, we got the most wonderful, PTL-worthy news. He got his contract from Azusa Pacific and his title is...wait for it...Assistant Professor!!! Now, we were hoping for Visiting Instructor or maybe Visiting Asst. Prof, but never thought he'd get a real actual title that implies actual professorhood. What a thrill! And he's not even a PhD yet!
The salary is way generous, beyond what we'd hoped, and the very very very best part is full benefits - health, dental, vision and a host of other fun perks (like money for hosting students at home, for professional dues, etc.). I can't believe we're going to have real health insurance again - pinch me! I am so excited - and so very very grateful to God. I knew if we held out things would get better again. I will be able to get my psycho meds - and I don't have to go to Planned Parenthood anymore! (interestingly, the first thing we both said was, "Let's get pregnant!" but then we both freaked out about that and it went away)
My other favorite part is that one of his first reactions was to say, "I've gotta finish my dissertation fast" - because he doesn't want to go down from this ranking, and this is a great rank to have on the CV, so his next job needs to be the same or better. That means, finish the PhD asap. I love that he's got this motivation now. Wouldn't it be totally cool if we both graduated next summer? It's also our 10-year wedding anniversary. That, my friends, will be cause for a freaking humongous party.
So that's happy news. Also I've been reading my books for the world religions class, and learning tons. I really enjoyed learning the basics of Hinduism - what a cool system they have. It's so very mystical. Really quite quite similar to what we studied in mystical theo this last quarter. Yesterday I started on Islam. That was not as happy. All the Muslims I know are really great, peaceful people, and they believe their religion is peaceful, so I took their word for it. But then I read about Muhammed's life, and he was quite the rabble rouser. He'd go attack people all the time. Big-time warrior. So that upset me, because I wish he was a peaceful man. But he doesn't seem to have been.
I would very much love to hear from any Muslims about reconciling this. I want to have a positive view of Islam, but from what I've read so far I'm nervous that it is not a very peaceful religion, which means it doesn't fit my ideals for religion. The book I'm reading (Islam in Context by Riddell and Cotterell) tries to put a positive spin on everything, explaining that raiding caravans and war between cities was quite culturally appropriate at that time. But it seems like violence has always been part of culture, and the really great religious leaders - Jesus, the Buddha come to mind - reject violence no matter how entrenched it may be.
I don't love what I'm learning so far about Islam, and that makes me sad. Because I really want to believe it's a great religion. But it can't be rooted in disrespect for human life and be truly great. I want to be corrected on this.
Finally, I watched the first season of HBO's "Rome" - what a totally fun history geek show! Now, it can get draggy, but on the DVDs they have a special feature called "All Roads Lead to Rome" that you can turn on, and it pops up little historical facts throughout the show. So I watched them all with that feature on, and I learned tons while enjoying the drama. It also makes you appreciate the incredibly specific historical accuracy that went into the show. They do so much that you'd not even catch without the popup. Their treatment of the religious life is especially fascinating to me - and very accurate, as far as I've studied. The very first episode had a Tauranbulum (sp?) which was a sacrifice of a bull over a pit in which a person sits and is drenched in the blood, to wash away sins. It's one of my favorite old rituals - such an interesting comparison to Christianity.
Anyway, I heartily recommend it to those who are interested in the time period. I guess I should mention that it would be rated R or even NC-17 if it were a movie - there is language, really gory violence, and tons and tons of sex. But I guess they were having tons of sex back then. So it's all accurate, it's just a matter of are you ready to see what Roman culture was really like, in all its debauchery.
And I watched Deliver Us from Evil, a documentary about an abusive priest. It was one of the most difficult docus I've seen, and also incredibly important. It really, really upset me - it was so horrible to watch the ongoing destructions of the victims and their families, and the priest himself. But even as I wanted to turn away, I knew it was vitally important to be aware of this. I hadn't realized the extent to which this issues permeates all the levels of the church - all the way to the top. The main message of the film is that any institution is dangerous when it puts the institution above the people. And I agree with that. Also I didn't realize what a total pig Mahony is. I met him once and always kind of respected him, but no more. Ugh.
So there's some stuff for you to watch (when you're not guiltily pleasuring yourself with "So you think you can dance" - I know I am). Happy to hear from you about any and all of the stuff in this post. I know it's a lot - I've been away and there's much to tell!
Speaking of him, we got the most wonderful, PTL-worthy news. He got his contract from Azusa Pacific and his title is...wait for it...Assistant Professor!!! Now, we were hoping for Visiting Instructor or maybe Visiting Asst. Prof, but never thought he'd get a real actual title that implies actual professorhood. What a thrill! And he's not even a PhD yet!
The salary is way generous, beyond what we'd hoped, and the very very very best part is full benefits - health, dental, vision and a host of other fun perks (like money for hosting students at home, for professional dues, etc.). I can't believe we're going to have real health insurance again - pinch me! I am so excited - and so very very grateful to God. I knew if we held out things would get better again. I will be able to get my psycho meds - and I don't have to go to Planned Parenthood anymore! (interestingly, the first thing we both said was, "Let's get pregnant!" but then we both freaked out about that and it went away)
My other favorite part is that one of his first reactions was to say, "I've gotta finish my dissertation fast" - because he doesn't want to go down from this ranking, and this is a great rank to have on the CV, so his next job needs to be the same or better. That means, finish the PhD asap. I love that he's got this motivation now. Wouldn't it be totally cool if we both graduated next summer? It's also our 10-year wedding anniversary. That, my friends, will be cause for a freaking humongous party.
So that's happy news. Also I've been reading my books for the world religions class, and learning tons. I really enjoyed learning the basics of Hinduism - what a cool system they have. It's so very mystical. Really quite quite similar to what we studied in mystical theo this last quarter. Yesterday I started on Islam. That was not as happy. All the Muslims I know are really great, peaceful people, and they believe their religion is peaceful, so I took their word for it. But then I read about Muhammed's life, and he was quite the rabble rouser. He'd go attack people all the time. Big-time warrior. So that upset me, because I wish he was a peaceful man. But he doesn't seem to have been.
I would very much love to hear from any Muslims about reconciling this. I want to have a positive view of Islam, but from what I've read so far I'm nervous that it is not a very peaceful religion, which means it doesn't fit my ideals for religion. The book I'm reading (Islam in Context by Riddell and Cotterell) tries to put a positive spin on everything, explaining that raiding caravans and war between cities was quite culturally appropriate at that time. But it seems like violence has always been part of culture, and the really great religious leaders - Jesus, the Buddha come to mind - reject violence no matter how entrenched it may be.
I don't love what I'm learning so far about Islam, and that makes me sad. Because I really want to believe it's a great religion. But it can't be rooted in disrespect for human life and be truly great. I want to be corrected on this.
Finally, I watched the first season of HBO's "Rome" - what a totally fun history geek show! Now, it can get draggy, but on the DVDs they have a special feature called "All Roads Lead to Rome" that you can turn on, and it pops up little historical facts throughout the show. So I watched them all with that feature on, and I learned tons while enjoying the drama. It also makes you appreciate the incredibly specific historical accuracy that went into the show. They do so much that you'd not even catch without the popup. Their treatment of the religious life is especially fascinating to me - and very accurate, as far as I've studied. The very first episode had a Tauranbulum (sp?) which was a sacrifice of a bull over a pit in which a person sits and is drenched in the blood, to wash away sins. It's one of my favorite old rituals - such an interesting comparison to Christianity.
Anyway, I heartily recommend it to those who are interested in the time period. I guess I should mention that it would be rated R or even NC-17 if it were a movie - there is language, really gory violence, and tons and tons of sex. But I guess they were having tons of sex back then. So it's all accurate, it's just a matter of are you ready to see what Roman culture was really like, in all its debauchery.
And I watched Deliver Us from Evil, a documentary about an abusive priest. It was one of the most difficult docus I've seen, and also incredibly important. It really, really upset me - it was so horrible to watch the ongoing destructions of the victims and their families, and the priest himself. But even as I wanted to turn away, I knew it was vitally important to be aware of this. I hadn't realized the extent to which this issues permeates all the levels of the church - all the way to the top. The main message of the film is that any institution is dangerous when it puts the institution above the people. And I agree with that. Also I didn't realize what a total pig Mahony is. I met him once and always kind of respected him, but no more. Ugh.
So there's some stuff for you to watch (when you're not guiltily pleasuring yourself with "So you think you can dance" - I know I am). Happy to hear from you about any and all of the stuff in this post. I know it's a lot - I've been away and there's much to tell!
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)