T-shirts I found funny, in descending order of their appeal according to my tastes:

Nature Abhors a Vacuum
http://store.cottonfactory.com/cf-597.html

Pie 3.14
http://store.cottonfactory.com/cf-070.html

Stud Muffin
http://store.cottonfactory.com/cf-091.html

Adopt a ninja
http://store.cottonfactory.com/cf-283.html

Please don’t separate us… we share vital organs.
http://store.cottonfactory.com/cf-430.html

Trust me I’m a ninja
http://store.cottonfactory.com/cf-272.html

Without you I’m nothing.
http://store.cottonfactory.com/cf-345.html

California!
http://store.cottonfactory.com/cf-012.html

My other ride has a flux capacitor.
http://store.cottonfactory.com/cf-487.html

I’m Hungary for Turkey.
http://store.cottonfactory.com/cf-041.html

I got Greece on my shirt.
http://store.cottonfactory.com/cf-046.html

Written at 1:56 pm         ||         4 Comments

This is a quote from chapter five of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s book “The Brothers Karamazov.”

“I shall be told, perhaps, that Alyosha was stupid, undeveloped, had not finished his studies, and so on. That he did not finish his studies is true, but to say that he was stupid or dull would be a great injustice. I’ll simply repeat what I have said above. He entered upon this path only because, at that time, it alone struck his imagination and presented itself to him as offering an ideal means of escape for his soul from darkness to light. Add to that that he was to some extent a youth of our last epoch — that is, honest in nature, desiring the truth, seeking for it and believing in it, and seeking to serve it at once with all the strength of his soul, seeking for immediate action, and ready to sacrifice everything, life itself, for it. Though these young men unhappily fail to understand that the sacrifice of life is, in many cases, the easiest of all sacrifices, and that to sacrifice, for instance, five or six years of their seething youth to hard and tedious study, if only to multiply tenfold their powers of serving the truth and the cause they have set before them as their goal such a sacrifice is utterly beyond the strength of many of them.”

Written at 4:29 pm         ||         Add a Comment

I was complaining recently about a midterm that I took in a theology class. The class is lecture-based and we have outlines given to us of all of the lectures. So some days it feels very passive. And for the exam we just had to spit back out some of the lesson materials we’d been given. So I was frustrated, feeling like the class wasn’t much use. But this morning I got to thinking about how little I’ve been putting into the class. If I get little out of it, that’s likely because I’m not dwelling on the material. I’m not wrestling with the questions the professor is presenting. I’m not making an intentional effort to do unassigned readings to see what others have to say about these issues. When I come to class, I bring nothing with me. Sure, a laptop and notebook and pen, but nothing contributory.

There’s also another class I have that I’ve been complaining about. It’s a class that’s designed to teach students how to do research, especially in theological fields. Since 1) I’m primarily studying Philosophy and 2) I feel that I am already competent in my ability to do research, I feel that the class is a waste of my time and money.

But I’m going about this all wrong. My focus is too narrow. Why am I complaining about these classes? What is important is not whether I’m personally benefiting from every hour I spend in class, but whether I am becoming more educated by my experience here at Talbot. There will always be nit-picky details to complain about. Get over it, James. Stop whining. Grow up. Spend less time belly-aching and more time doing what’s important, like actually learning and drawing closer to Jesus and blessing other people.

I want to re-read some missionary biographies in order to help shift my focus from the immediate to the long-term. God, grant me vision, a holy ambition, a place to set my sights and run toward. Let my life be more than the mundane, even in the midst of the mundane. Give me eyes to see the enormity of your work in this world and the magnitude of your glory.

Written at 3:49 pm         ||         Add a Comment

“Often it seems that we who study or teach theology find ourselves entangled in such a complex network of discussions, debates, and arguments about God and “God-issues” that a simple conversation with God or a simple presence to God has become practically impossible. Our heightened verbal ability, which enables us to make many distinctions, has sometimes become a poor substitute for a single-minded commitment to the Word who is life.”

Henri Nouwen in The Way of the Heart

Written at 11:10 pm         ||         Add a Comment

So today finishes up the end of the fifth week of classes. It hardly seems that I’ve been here that long. Yet, it also seems like I know the campus well, am adjusted to the broader surrounding area, and don’t have much trouble getting from place to place. I know which grocery stores I like, where to find a movie theater or a coffee house, and have gotten plugged into a solid church. Classes are going well. I’m taking Metaphysics with J.P. Moreland, a theology class, a research methodologies class, and a class on the foundations of ministry. Metaphysics is my favorite, and I’m enjoying getting to know my classmates and trying to figure out what I think about the various views presented in class and in our course readings.

For those who may be wondering, the subject of metaphysics deals with questions like, “What exists?” and “What is the nature of change?” So metaphysics will try to determine whether or not minds, or abstract objects such as numbers, or properties (such as a thing’s “being round”) exist. The claim that there is nothing in the universe other than matter is a metaphysical claim. The claim that a person’s mind is more than just that person’s brain is a metaphysical claim. Those who do work in metaphysics (called metaphysicians) try to think very carefully about how to address these questions and issues. Although it might appear abstract and useless, there are very real implications. For instance, the question of when a human being (the biological entity) becomes a person (someone with moral status) is important in debates surrounding abortion and euthanasia. Science cannot determine whether or not a creature that is biologically human is a person. It can only determine its biological status, not its moral status. But metaphysics can examine what it means to be a person, and the debate can proceed from there. So there’s your introduction to metaphysics.

Now, school isn’t the only thing that’s occupying my time. I’ve also found part-time employment, working at an after-school program as a 6th grade math teacher. We’re staying ahead of the schools, so I’m not tutoring, I’m teaching. That presents quite a challenge, as I’ve got 19 kids who range from 5th grade to advanced 6th grade. Some are bored. Some are confused. And I’ve got them for three straight hours twice a week. They get a ten-minute break. In my three-hour graduate theology class on Wednesdays, we get a twenty-minute break. Poor kids. So it’s a hard job, but I enjoy it more often than not. The kids are great. They get restless, obviously, but I think I would too. So I don’t blame them. Over all, I really like this job. On to housing…

There is a house adjacent to campus called “Philosophy House”. It’s a literal house that the school purchased. It’s reserved for use by the students in my program (M.A. Philosophy). There’s a quality library of books related to our courses and it’s a great place to study, since only grad philosophy students can get in. Its living room and kitchen are common areas that all students in the program can use. But there are also two bedrooms and two residents. One of them moved out a few weeks ago. So there was a vacancy. I spoke with the person who decides who gets to live there, and she said it was mine if I wanted it. I moved in a short time later and am really enjoying it. It’s quiet, is very close to campus, is an ideal place to study, and is reasonably priced for this area.

That’s the latest on what I’ve been up to!

Written at 2:40 pm         ||         3 Comments