Dear Fellow Students:
Excitability:
I am excited, in a rare way. I have finally saved enough money and arranged sufficient time to study a course in Church History with Dr. David Hogg at SEBTS. I chose his course over another that had an open seat because it is rigorous. Looking at his syllabus from last spring semester it seem clear that there is a much lesser chance that I can earn an "A," or even a "B" than in perhaps another course at the school.
Shipping Books:
However, I am delighted to be in the course. I have but one snag and I think the school administration is taking care of it for me, though it is taking awhile; it's now Thursday and I wanted to get registered and paid up on Monday so I could see this year's syllabus and order all the books I need from Amazon. The school bookstore (Lifeway) offers a discount of 20 percent which would help us, but they do not ship internationally. I thought about asking a Raleigh-based friend of mine to buy the books for me and ship them to me, but then realized that that would not really be fair, given that it would save only perhaps twenty or thirty dollars, and take him a couple of hours. No good.
A Frugal Wife:
However, that is exactly what my wife would do if she were to live in the U.S. while I were here. She cuts corners to save every penny. She sews my children's pants when they get torn, and given that we live in an upscale neighborhood (as dictated by my private teaching job), my children are the only ones with tattered clothing. We get a lot of free clothing from the South Korean equivalent of the Goodwill in the U.S. And that donated clothing is in great shape, different from that of the U.S., practically new in appearance and form. I believe the Lord has looked out for us here in so many ways that I could not enumerate them.
My Blessed Knees:
Even in the smallest ways, when I have an injury of sorts, God gives me just enough capacity to accomplish what I need. Right now both knees are bad, and the doctor said I needed surgery a couple of years ago, after a hit playing volleyball on one knee, and then this past summer from carrying my youngest son while hiking on the other knee. And I did nothing, even though surgery here is a small portion of the price for the same procedure in the U.S. And, lo and behold, I have gotten by these past two years just fine. I swim when I need exercise, and just make sure not to kick too vigorously, which brings pain in the knees.
The upshot is that I feel healthy as a pig and don't see any reason to get surgery, a procedure that while it may clean out some detritus and tie up loose ligaments, may actually reveal a need for a knee replacement. That's 8000 dollars and two operations six months apart here in South Korea, probably much more in the U.S.
Paradoxically, I feel closer to God with impaired knees. I depend more closely on Him, having seen with my own knees how I don't really need my body all that much, certainly not so much as I would have assumed in my youth.
And my father, a doctor, told me the same thing a few years ago, "Son, you don't need your leg to exercise." He was right. He died the next year, in a plane crash, but he understood God's sustenance and providence from his own life, I believe. And he was not loath to share that with me.
Waning Potential:
Through my life my potential for excitement has understandably waned with my ageing process. However, I have always been perhaps somewhat more excitable than is typical for my age. That may be related to my having remained a virgin in every respect regarding the sexual to such a very late age.
I hung out with writers in my college days, as I did a lot of writing. However, they lived a different lifestyle than I. They drank alcohol and coffee, and they got little if any exercise. I was into running, and did not want to pollute my body. They also had sexual relationships, and I never could understand why my male friends lost interest in their girlfriends, refused to commit to them in marriage. I never had a girlfriend until my wife so there was much I could not really understand, much that in retrospect seems clear.
I came to believe that my friends exhausted their capacity for excitement in their sexual profligacy. There is irony in this, and an unending sadness. They struggle with basic issues and miss out on joy, a joy that is so simple and undivided.
In Continence Therein:
I believe the only lasting sexual pleasure resides in raising children. The fullness of sexual pleasure is so much more than the fleeting sensation of a passing embrace. It involves gestation, nursing, walking about the house at night calming a baby, sitting beside children while they work on homework (We homeschool.), and learning to respect a wife's need to sleep in peace rather than engage in repetition of coital embrace, learning to be still and know who is who. This, too, is all a part of one's extended sexual pleasure. It may sound negative (and terribly dismal to all of my friends from college, the writer's group), but I see now how abstaining from sexual simulacra (activities using contraceptives, which do simulate coitus but which ultimately are designed to prevent fertilization) actually focuses the memory and one's mind on the beauty of one's growing children far better, or so it has been for me, and I find the greatest satisfaction in the embrace of my wife in continence.
Nonetheless, I find oddly that I am very excited now about studying Church History at SEBTS. I can't wait to get my textbooks. I ordered some of them from last year's syllabus, with the understanding that the requirements may have been changed a bit, such that one or two of the four books I ordered might be unnecessary purchases with respect to the course requirements, setting me up for a mild censure from my wife, who would probably rather I had waited to order once SEBTS administration got everything worked out on my SBC status, which they had changed without notification, surprising me with a much higher bill when I tried to register earlier this week, above a thousand dollars for but one course.
Southern Baptist Church Status:
When I went through the admissions process, the secretary in charge there sent me an e-mail assuring me that I would be regarded as an SBC student, and receive the lower rates of tuition, which was a critical factor for my wife and me, as the difference is considerable from our perspective.
I was raised Southern Baptist, in Taylorsville First Baptist Church. Then, when I did a graduate degree in Boone, North Carolina, I attended First Baptist Church of Boone, and even became an assistant to the youth director, Cathy Davis (from Duke Divinity). Even though I only planned to be in Boone two more years, I requested to have my membership changed, as that is where I was going to church full time.
A couple of years ago, when I was applying to SEBTS, however, when I tried to get a church recommendation form, I was told that First Baptist of Boone had no record of me. The entire staff (minister Stephen Carricker and others) had changed over the decade and a half. Too, given that I did not grow up in that church, older people did not remember me, either.
The director of admissions made an allowance for that, given my statement of intention to preach within the Southern Baptist tradition after graduation, and my assurance that I would join a Southern Baptist church when I return to the U.S. Now, however, that all is suddenly uncertain again. It may be that I must wait until I come to the U.S. to take this course. We will see. I cannot understand what is so uncertain about the assurance from the secretary, which I will post below, in blue.
I spoke with Shane and we will be able to consider you a SBC student. You will not need to submit a Church Recommendation form with your application.
This seemed very clear to me and I could not understand how anyone could read it any other way, than to recognize that it gives me the right to receive the lower SBC tuition rate. But, I am not an administrator, only a teacher and a student. So, there must surely be some things about administration which are beyond my ken, and I do believe this, like all things, is in God's hands. It will all play out for the best. [Update: It came out just fine; they respected their earlier decision. It just took some time, as people were out of the office during the vacation period.]
I am listening to Kevin Vanhoozer's Chapel message on drama, again. I heard it when it came out, and got so much out of it that I felt it appropriate to hear it again. I do that with other chapel messages, listen to them a few months later, and I believe I learn much more this way. I believe it would be good for all students to be required to take a test on the content of Chapel messages. We can learn very much from Chapel.
Vanhoozer says:
1. "If God is Lord, then everything that happens to us during the day is a kind of offer."
2. "Those who walk by faith have to learn to accept whatever comes as an offer from the Lord."
3. "Jesus fulfills God's promise, but in an unexpected way. There is creativity and there's fidelity because in Jesus Christ God is making good on his Word in surprising new ways."
4. "We need to be creative in new cultural contexts, but in ways that are nevertheless entirely in keeping with, faithful to, what went on before."
5. "To play our part[s] well, we need to play with others. We are members of an ensemble, the Body of Christ."
6. "I have been presenting theology as 'God-centered Biblical interpretation that issues in performance knowledge on the world stage to the glory of God.' To know how to display the mind of Christ in concrete situations is the sum of Christian Wisdom."
That final sentence above in #6 is a strong, if attractive, assertion, and I do not feel fully qualified to assess its accuracy. I admire this man for his contribution to theology, introducing the dramatic aspect. I much enjoy his emphasis on the difference between ad-libbing and true improvisation. I was a juggler on the Manic Expressions Juggling Troop from 1984 to 1990. I learned much about life by this dramatic experience, juggling on the streets in New York City, Charleston, Miami, Key West, New Orleans, Boulder, Aspen, and in IJA competitions.
The Power of Drama:
Everything Vanhoozen says hearkens me back to those days, and stands as a vivid clarification of the pulse of my more salient experiences and the knowledge I gleaned from those experiences. He truly understands drama. Much that I learned by experience in pleasing crowds and maintaining their rapt attention was haphazard and could probably have been learned more efficiently with formal training. All the formal training I ever had was Drama 35 at UNC-CH, back in 1979 or 80. But I greatly enjoyed that class. I only took it because I needed an elective, never thinking that more drama training might help me in my future life spreading God's word more effectively and with the fullness of God's power in me.
Question: Vanhoozer at 36:30 "Exegesis here takes us only so far. Biblical scholarship is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the understanding faith sees(what word is this?)
Excitability:
I am excited, in a rare way. I have finally saved enough money and arranged sufficient time to study a course in Church History with Dr. David Hogg at SEBTS. I chose his course over another that had an open seat because it is rigorous. Looking at his syllabus from last spring semester it seem clear that there is a much lesser chance that I can earn an "A," or even a "B" than in perhaps another course at the school.
Shipping Books:
However, I am delighted to be in the course. I have but one snag and I think the school administration is taking care of it for me, though it is taking awhile; it's now Thursday and I wanted to get registered and paid up on Monday so I could see this year's syllabus and order all the books I need from Amazon. The school bookstore (Lifeway) offers a discount of 20 percent which would help us, but they do not ship internationally. I thought about asking a Raleigh-based friend of mine to buy the books for me and ship them to me, but then realized that that would not really be fair, given that it would save only perhaps twenty or thirty dollars, and take him a couple of hours. No good.
A Frugal Wife:
However, that is exactly what my wife would do if she were to live in the U.S. while I were here. She cuts corners to save every penny. She sews my children's pants when they get torn, and given that we live in an upscale neighborhood (as dictated by my private teaching job), my children are the only ones with tattered clothing. We get a lot of free clothing from the South Korean equivalent of the Goodwill in the U.S. And that donated clothing is in great shape, different from that of the U.S., practically new in appearance and form. I believe the Lord has looked out for us here in so many ways that I could not enumerate them.
My Blessed Knees:
Even in the smallest ways, when I have an injury of sorts, God gives me just enough capacity to accomplish what I need. Right now both knees are bad, and the doctor said I needed surgery a couple of years ago, after a hit playing volleyball on one knee, and then this past summer from carrying my youngest son while hiking on the other knee. And I did nothing, even though surgery here is a small portion of the price for the same procedure in the U.S. And, lo and behold, I have gotten by these past two years just fine. I swim when I need exercise, and just make sure not to kick too vigorously, which brings pain in the knees.
The upshot is that I feel healthy as a pig and don't see any reason to get surgery, a procedure that while it may clean out some detritus and tie up loose ligaments, may actually reveal a need for a knee replacement. That's 8000 dollars and two operations six months apart here in South Korea, probably much more in the U.S.
Paradoxically, I feel closer to God with impaired knees. I depend more closely on Him, having seen with my own knees how I don't really need my body all that much, certainly not so much as I would have assumed in my youth.
And my father, a doctor, told me the same thing a few years ago, "Son, you don't need your leg to exercise." He was right. He died the next year, in a plane crash, but he understood God's sustenance and providence from his own life, I believe. And he was not loath to share that with me.
Waning Potential:
Through my life my potential for excitement has understandably waned with my ageing process. However, I have always been perhaps somewhat more excitable than is typical for my age. That may be related to my having remained a virgin in every respect regarding the sexual to such a very late age.
I hung out with writers in my college days, as I did a lot of writing. However, they lived a different lifestyle than I. They drank alcohol and coffee, and they got little if any exercise. I was into running, and did not want to pollute my body. They also had sexual relationships, and I never could understand why my male friends lost interest in their girlfriends, refused to commit to them in marriage. I never had a girlfriend until my wife so there was much I could not really understand, much that in retrospect seems clear.
I came to believe that my friends exhausted their capacity for excitement in their sexual profligacy. There is irony in this, and an unending sadness. They struggle with basic issues and miss out on joy, a joy that is so simple and undivided.
In Continence Therein:
I believe the only lasting sexual pleasure resides in raising children. The fullness of sexual pleasure is so much more than the fleeting sensation of a passing embrace. It involves gestation, nursing, walking about the house at night calming a baby, sitting beside children while they work on homework (We homeschool.), and learning to respect a wife's need to sleep in peace rather than engage in repetition of coital embrace, learning to be still and know who is who. This, too, is all a part of one's extended sexual pleasure. It may sound negative (and terribly dismal to all of my friends from college, the writer's group), but I see now how abstaining from sexual simulacra (activities using contraceptives, which do simulate coitus but which ultimately are designed to prevent fertilization) actually focuses the memory and one's mind on the beauty of one's growing children far better, or so it has been for me, and I find the greatest satisfaction in the embrace of my wife in continence.
Nonetheless, I find oddly that I am very excited now about studying Church History at SEBTS. I can't wait to get my textbooks. I ordered some of them from last year's syllabus, with the understanding that the requirements may have been changed a bit, such that one or two of the four books I ordered might be unnecessary purchases with respect to the course requirements, setting me up for a mild censure from my wife, who would probably rather I had waited to order once SEBTS administration got everything worked out on my SBC status, which they had changed without notification, surprising me with a much higher bill when I tried to register earlier this week, above a thousand dollars for but one course.
Southern Baptist Church Status:
When I went through the admissions process, the secretary in charge there sent me an e-mail assuring me that I would be regarded as an SBC student, and receive the lower rates of tuition, which was a critical factor for my wife and me, as the difference is considerable from our perspective.
I was raised Southern Baptist, in Taylorsville First Baptist Church. Then, when I did a graduate degree in Boone, North Carolina, I attended First Baptist Church of Boone, and even became an assistant to the youth director, Cathy Davis (from Duke Divinity). Even though I only planned to be in Boone two more years, I requested to have my membership changed, as that is where I was going to church full time.
A couple of years ago, when I was applying to SEBTS, however, when I tried to get a church recommendation form, I was told that First Baptist of Boone had no record of me. The entire staff (minister Stephen Carricker and others) had changed over the decade and a half. Too, given that I did not grow up in that church, older people did not remember me, either.
The director of admissions made an allowance for that, given my statement of intention to preach within the Southern Baptist tradition after graduation, and my assurance that I would join a Southern Baptist church when I return to the U.S. Now, however, that all is suddenly uncertain again. It may be that I must wait until I come to the U.S. to take this course. We will see. I cannot understand what is so uncertain about the assurance from the secretary, which I will post below, in blue.
I spoke with Shane and we will be able to consider you a SBC student. You will not need to submit a Church Recommendation form with your application.
This seemed very clear to me and I could not understand how anyone could read it any other way, than to recognize that it gives me the right to receive the lower SBC tuition rate. But, I am not an administrator, only a teacher and a student. So, there must surely be some things about administration which are beyond my ken, and I do believe this, like all things, is in God's hands. It will all play out for the best. [Update: It came out just fine; they respected their earlier decision. It just took some time, as people were out of the office during the vacation period.]
I am listening to Kevin Vanhoozer's Chapel message on drama, again. I heard it when it came out, and got so much out of it that I felt it appropriate to hear it again. I do that with other chapel messages, listen to them a few months later, and I believe I learn much more this way. I believe it would be good for all students to be required to take a test on the content of Chapel messages. We can learn very much from Chapel.
Vanhoozer says:
1. "If God is Lord, then everything that happens to us during the day is a kind of offer."
2. "Those who walk by faith have to learn to accept whatever comes as an offer from the Lord."
3. "Jesus fulfills God's promise, but in an unexpected way. There is creativity and there's fidelity because in Jesus Christ God is making good on his Word in surprising new ways."
4. "We need to be creative in new cultural contexts, but in ways that are nevertheless entirely in keeping with, faithful to, what went on before."
5. "To play our part[s] well, we need to play with others. We are members of an ensemble, the Body of Christ."
6. "I have been presenting theology as 'God-centered Biblical interpretation that issues in performance knowledge on the world stage to the glory of God.' To know how to display the mind of Christ in concrete situations is the sum of Christian Wisdom."
That final sentence above in #6 is a strong, if attractive, assertion, and I do not feel fully qualified to assess its accuracy. I admire this man for his contribution to theology, introducing the dramatic aspect. I much enjoy his emphasis on the difference between ad-libbing and true improvisation. I was a juggler on the Manic Expressions Juggling Troop from 1984 to 1990. I learned much about life by this dramatic experience, juggling on the streets in New York City, Charleston, Miami, Key West, New Orleans, Boulder, Aspen, and in IJA competitions.
The Power of Drama:
Everything Vanhoozen says hearkens me back to those days, and stands as a vivid clarification of the pulse of my more salient experiences and the knowledge I gleaned from those experiences. He truly understands drama. Much that I learned by experience in pleasing crowds and maintaining their rapt attention was haphazard and could probably have been learned more efficiently with formal training. All the formal training I ever had was Drama 35 at UNC-CH, back in 1979 or 80. But I greatly enjoyed that class. I only took it because I needed an elective, never thinking that more drama training might help me in my future life spreading God's word more effectively and with the fullness of God's power in me.
Question: Vanhoozer at 36:30 "Exegesis here takes us only so far. Biblical scholarship is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the understanding faith sees(what word is this?)
[Update: "...for the understanding faith seeks..." Hat tip thanks to Mr. Vanhoozen. I should have been able to discern this from the video. Now it makes perfect sense. Sometimes my pointy little head takes a long time to come around to some very basic understandings.]
"...for the understanding faith seeks..." - sorry about that.
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