Twenty Centuries as Twenty Days

Greek at PLTS is very different from Greek at Fuller. At Fuller, the classes were structured as if the students were going on to get a PhD in Biblical Languages. I'm fairly certain that wasn't my track, so taking Greek at Fuller didn't last very long for various reasons (my right hand being in a cast for four months was one of the biggest reasons). I'm taking Greek again at PLTS, and it's a very different environment than Fuller. Greek here is much more laid back and taught as an application for ministry; if we're interested in learning more about the language, the professor is extremely helpful with resources to further advance our knowledge.

The professor at PLTS shared a poem with us the first day of class. It was written by Czeslaw Milosz in Berkeley in 1968. When he was in his 60s, he started learning Biblical Greek and Hebrew, and the following poem is about his experience.

You asked me what is the good of reading the Gospels in Greek.
I answer that it is proper that we move our finger
Along letters more enduring than those carved in stone,
And that, slowly pronouncing each syllable,
We discover the true dignity of speech.
Compelled to be attentive we shall think of that epoch
No more distant than yesterday, though the heads of caesars
On coins are different today. Yet still it is the same eon.
Fear and desire are the same, oil and wine
And bread mean the same. So does the fickleness of the throng
Avid for miracles as in the past. Even mores,
Wedding festivities, drugs, laments for the dead
Only seem to differ. Then, too, for example,
There were plenty of persons whom the text calls
Daimonizomenoi, that is, the demonized
Or, if you prefer, the bedeviled (as for "the possessed"
It's no more than the whim of a dictionary).
Convulsions, foam at the mouth, the gnashing of teeth
Were not considered signs of talent.
The demonized had no access to print and screens,
Rarely engaging in arts and literature.
But the Gospel parable remains in force:
That the spirit mastering them may enter swine,
Which, exasperated by such a sudden clash
Between two natures, theirs and the Luciferic,
Jump into water and drown (which occurs repeatedly).
And thus on every page a persistent reader
Sees twenty centuries as twenty days
In a world which one day will come to its end.

Old and New.

I've completed almost all of my classes this first week at PLTS. I'll admit, it felt (and still kind of feels) terrifying, but I'm also excited at the same time. I did appreciate my time studying at Fuller, but something was sort of off for three of the four quarters I was there. One of the biggest difficulties I had was being Lutheran. Don't get me wrong though, I do love being Lutheran, but it was actually kind of hard to be Lutheran at Fuller. In addition, I was (and still am) a new Lutheran, so I would ask off the wall and really naïve questions. My personal favorite was when I asked, "But aren't we all Christian?" during a philosophy study group. I can still hear the silence in my head... I talked a lot to one of the TAs my first quarter at Fuller, and he suggested I write a column for the school paper titled "The Lonely Lutheran." We came up with some funny article ideas, which I really wish I wrote down.

My last quarter at Fuller, things started to click. I had a regular group of friends I hung out with, and people I loved conversing and debating with. I also had friends that provided a safe space at Fuller, when I needed to verbalize why I was making such shifts in my life, and questioning if I was doing the right thing. I was really sad to leave my friends and those safe spaces.

Which brings me to PLTS. Wow, this is a crazy small community. The entering class is less than thirty students, so we've all had the chance to get to know one another. The second through fourth year students have been amazing guides in these first weeks of exploring campus and the surrounding areas. I've loved the opportunities for fellowship, prayer, conversation, and eating brownies and ice cream after Greek.

The seminary sits at the top of a hill, and the view cannot be described in words. I'm amazed with the view of the San Francisco Bay, San Francisco, the Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the hills south of San Francisco. It is absolutely breathtaking. The view never gets old. I hope it never will.