Whew. I have midterms next week. How did that happen? We are mid-term. Fast.
Here's where I seem to be standing:
1. Acing Hebrew. Lots of work, but it's working.
2. Doing well in Christianity and the City. Fun class, relaxed, lots of time for contemplative thinking.
3. Hebrew Bible and contents: Eh. I'm doing well, but I don't care about it much. I've done most of this work before, and I miss my old professor.
4. Philosophy for Theologians: killing me. Really. Killing me. I am apparently the world's worst philosopher. I'm not stupid, but I could not really care less about some abstract postulation about the stupid hidden Forms in some stupid person's head. Especially while that person has slaves. Especially when that theory is going to turn into a big mind/body dualism within Christianity. I care about how things play out, how people live them. I don't do this big mental abstract supposedly-not-related-to-anything crap very well. (Sorry, MLG.) So I am seeking extra help from my prof (the aforementioned radical Jesuit), and struggling. I like school, I am good at school, and nothing has ever been so hard for me as this. It's pratty intense.
In other news, I have a spiritual director. His name is Fr. Bill Wizeman, and he is a young Jesuit. He works at Corpus Christi (which, after I mistakenly called it "Corpus Crispy" once, now cannot stop laughing at the thought of: toasty Body of Christ, anyone?), the Catholic parish across the street where Thomas Merton was baptised and came to faith. We are working on prayer life, which has suffered some the past year. (Well, a lot, really - this past spring I was so mad at God I wasn't even praying grace anymore. Sue helped me come back to little bits of prayer, but I am really working on a daily, intentional practice.)
In still other news, can I tell you how much I love my job? I love my job. I love talking to chaplains on the phone. I love being at the Episcopal Church Center. I love lunchroom chat, and I love midday chapel. Plus, a week ago Friday, Frank Griswold presided! For the 20 of us!
I must go study for midterms. I might go to the Emerge service (an updated liturgy) tonight at St. Bartholomew's, a gorgeous Episcopal Church in midtown. I went last week, and left feeling fed, and might return.
I love you all! You are free to leave comments, you know. Blessings!
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2 comments:
that sounds relly awesome. Loving your job is very rare in this world, so good for you--you are truly one of the few. as far as theory, i have to say is pisses me off to no end, but I LOVE it--I LOVE postulating. That's why I lvoe Barthes actually--his theory isn't abstractions, but real-life contemplations that appeared in his daily world. Much better than like Frederic Jameson.
Yo, I love THEORY. I love post-modern theories. I can deconstruct a text faster than you can blink.
But philosophy is a whole new ballgame. Esp. since my professor told me, "Shelly, you not actually *engaging* the texts. You're just *fighting* them." Which was true. Trying to immerse oneself in Augustine with some kind of f***ing sympathy can make a contemporary feminist kind of insane. But I did my best.
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