A Postmodern Seminary Vocabulary

This song has gone viral at PLTS, and I have to share the lyrics with you...

"A Postmodern Seminary Vocabulary" written by Matthew Black

When I came to seminary, I thought it would be neat
But I couldn't eat in the cafeteria; it's called the refectory
And I couldn't interpret the Pentateuch, cause exegesis is best
And they don't read the Bible here, they just call it the text

Cause here at seminary we love our vocabulary.
Don't try to say anything unless you have a dictionary.
It takes words you haven't heard to talk about these things.
For example, we all say "postmodern" but we don't know what it means.

Syncretism, papal schisms, and speaking of ecumenism,
The Trinitarian modalism of Iranaeus is an anachronism.
Let's deconstruct the Decalogue through redaction criticism.
And that would be postmodern, but I'm not sure what I mean.

Here at seminary we love our vocabulary.
Don't try to say anything unless you have a dictionary.
It takes words you haven't heard to talk about these things.
And we all say "postmodern" but we don't know what it means.

Don't call me "neo-orthodox" or I'll punch you in the mouth.
Defining terminology is all we fight about.
Conservative and liberal, multi- and cross-cultural.
Let's consider contextualization and be more pedagogical.

Here at seminary we love our vocabulary.
Don't try to say anything unless you have a dictionary.
It takes words you haven't heard to talk about these things.
And I keep saying "postmodern" but I don't know what it means.

Preach to me your homiletics and polity so you can use it.
Don't postpone my ordination cause I still can't spell "hermeneutic!"

J, P, E, D, Q. Deutero-Isaiah, too.
At least we get lots of free food, but is anyone else sick of soup?
Intertextuality might alter my pneumatology,
But so might being postmodern, and who knows what that means?

Here at seminary we love our vocabulary.
Don't try to say anything unless you have a dictionary.
It takes words you haven't heard to talk about these things.
And we all say "postmodern" but we don't know what it means

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.

Dreamland is coming to a close.

I think I'm finally coming to the realization that the husband and I are not on a very long vacation. We were living a very unsettled life for the first two weeks in northern California. We were surrounded by boxes, packing peanuts, bubble wrap, and all of our earthly possessions.

Most of the boxes have been unpacked and collapsed. The blank canvas that we entered three weeks ago is starting to feel like "home."

Even though the house is feeling more and more like ours, I'm still in a type of dreamland. I've been very thankful for this time off, otherwise the house would be in a complete disarray and the husband and I would probably go some kind of bonkers. The dreamland, though, is starting to wear off in a series of small events. The first small event was my online student loan counseling. The second was an email from the dean of students. The third was an email from my student advisor, asking me out to coffee next week.

Another funny sign of my eroding dreamland status: trying to figure out how to get to campus. It looks like bicycling is out of the question, especially after reading this link. Interesting to know the route to school is known as "Death Climb 1." Looks like I'll be bicycling to the North Berkeley BART station, then catching the Martin Looper to campus.

The Rhythm is gonna get ya

The husband and I had a very comfortable rhythm while we were living in Glendale. We normally woke up together, sat on the sofa, drank a cup of coffee and talked about the plans we had for that day. We would go our separate ways, the husband to the office and I would go to school. We would meet up again around 6:30PM, have dinner together, then have an open evening.

One of the hardest yet most exciting things about relocating is trying to find a new sense of rhythm. I probably won't find mine until I start school. In the meantime, I've been unpacking the house, and I have been grateful for this time. It's been interesting seeing how our old lives will transform into new lives in a new place. While there are still boxes around the new place, it's not as overwhelming as it was the day the movers showed up will all of our stuff. Each day, more and more of the boxes are being unpacked and collapsed. The contents of those boxes are finding new places to live. One of the more exciting unpacking adventures involved wedding china, crystal, and flatware. The husband and I have been married for five years, yet our full wedding china set never left the gift boxes. Trying to piece together what pieces we had was kind of fun. We placed the china, crystal, and flatware into a lovely built-in china cabinet in our kitchen. We plan to break in the fine china with pizza from Amici's; hopefully the same Amici's where we had dinner for our first wedding anniversary.

The adventure continues.

New beginning

I'm sitting on the floor of our new house typing this post. Our possessions are currently en route. It's actually been nice to live without our stuff for a few days. Living without our possessions is making the husband and me realize that we don't need "stuff." The arrival of our stuff seems like an end to our adventure. Our new lives and new experiences are going to hit us head on.

So much has happened since my last post. The husband and I traveled to Berkeley to find a new place to live. We were blessed when we found a house less than three miles from PLTS. Alas, the drawback is that the husband will have to commute quite a ways to the peninsula. This will be a change from his 15 minute bicycle commute he had in Glendale. But we're hopeful that we'll find our new rhythm and new routines before long.

I preached my first sermon, which was an incredible experience. It was an experience I got to share with so many people from such different phases of my life. Annie, my friend since the 7th grade, flew in from Denver. Karl's family was also there. So were many of my friends from Clemson. And friends from Fuller. New friends the husband and I made while living in Glendale. Leigh was there too; she's the catalyst that started this adventure.

I turned 30. Funny though, I don't feel 30. I feel like I'm 18, getting ready to go to college and preparing to start a new adventure. It was fun to celebrate with so many friends and family.

Then we packed up all of our possessions and moved north. It was really difficult for us to leave Glendale. Our last Sunday at Salem Lutheran was very emotional. The husband and I said our goodbyes to our church family. I missed UniLu when we moved from SC, but this move and detachment was emotional on a different level. The husband and I didn't want to leave. We did a lot of second guessing our last week in Glendale. It was hard to close the door to our apartment the last time, leaving what was once our home for three and a half years as an empty canvas.

Which brings me to the empty canvas the husband and I will be calling home for awhile...

Homiletics Crash Course

1. Spending the morning at church talking to Pastor about my upcoming sermon. Lots to think about. I then met with Matt to talk about VBS activities. I'm looking forward to this year's program, which is "Paul and the Underground Church of Rome."

2. Speaking of sermons, I had a crash course in homiletics today. Clay was so kind to take time out of his day to give me a VERY condensed version of his class.

3. Talking to Pastor Marcus. I cannot wait to see him on Friday evening!

4. Making dinner with a recipe from "The Art of Simple Food." I made plain and simple pork chops with a ridiculously simple pan sauce.

5. More leads on rentals in Berkeley. We'll see how it goes starting tomorrow! Eep!