theo|digital

My textbooks are numerous, expensive, but (for the most part) promise to be fascinating. The first five arrived this morning at 11:46am from UPS.

ps – I haven’t been posting because I’m so EXHAUSTED. The first week has been kicking my butt. Hopefully recovery some over this long weekend.

Oh Monday. Did I mention that my new life as a grad student includes four straight 8 o’clock-in- the-morning classes each week?

My body is tired (bedtime, what?). My brain is tired (3hrs15mins of classroom time). And I won’t be remembering any more names for approximately two years (seminary chapel, seminary info/activity fair, university bookstore).

Away to the dark, quiet, welcome land of the Sleep.

I went for a run this evening in my new neighborhood. Apparently my neighborhood is (or has been) listed as one of the most ethnically diverse zip codes in America. My apartment is technically in Albany Park, but when I walk over the short bridge spanning the north branch of the Chicago River on the way to class, I walk into North Park.

And it’s true that I didn’t hear English conversation once while I jogged, despite running by mothers and strollers, outdoor bbqs, volleyball tournaments, and couples hand-in-hand. But what I noticed most was the river and its guardian trees. They overwhelm this part of the city… absorbing the grease and sirens and catcalls into a greenscape all it’s own – clearly of the city, but organic and beautiful all the same.

Jay Phelan is president of North Park Theological Seminary, and he gave a short address to a still somewhat bleary-eyed room at 9am in the morning. But his topic was the four pedagogies of theological education. Approaching the various disciplines within theological study, we must keep in mind:

1. Interpretation – we interpret the Text and we interpret the world around us.
2. Formation – self-awareness is foundational to spiritual formation.
3. Contextualization – learning to balance rude assertion vs. limp accommodation (here he quoted some Leslie Newbigin).
4. Performance/Praxis – the church is not simply about what we believe, but what we do.

Okay, I said recently that I planned to stay more on “what it’s like to head to a seminary after leaving ministry” focus, but I’m slacking.

Today was my third and last day of un-encumbered “moving-in” activities. This has been tougher than I thought. I like the grad apartment I’m assigned (and subsidized prices are essential and wonderful). But the space I have is still significantly less than what I had before. For instance, both of my large bookshelves won’t fit in my room – so sorting through “which books stay in here and which go to the living room” is an arduous process. Also been living on craigslist to find a lofted bed or bunk/futon combo.

This evening I completed a required course from North Park on their Blackboard system “eLearning: Prepare for Success.” They said it would take 5-6 hours to complete, and that if it was not finished satisfactorily, my registration would be dropped.

Thank goodness it took only three hours. The course was a tutorial on the use a web browser, file attachments, and discussion boards. bummer. Is it out-of-step for me to feel like this is remedial stuff in 2007? Nice as a resource… but mandatory for incoming students? I sorta wish my time had been respected a bit more to let me try to finish moving in. :-7 Or try for the 2nd time to get a University parking sticker (first visit – the office guy said he wasn’t sure how to do it, and asked me kindly to return).

Ah, logistics.

“Live” in-person orientation (10 hours of it) starts tomorrow morning at 8:30am. And while I’m not looking forward to endless talking heads there, it doesn’t mean I’m not happy to be here: I was reading my syllabus this evening on my New Testament class with Klyne Snodgrass, and just the required reading list made me excited.

Nathan P Brown – former I-Lifer turned genius advertising producer – just finished producing a video short for World Vision about their athletic team program running for 6000 children that are orphaned daily due to AIDS.

…is one of my new roommates here. And it’s his birthday today. Happy Birthday Mark. You can check out his blog or his flickr.

Welp. it’s about 2ft by 4ft, but I think I’ve managed to fit at least some of my old furniture in. No word on where I’ll store the rest. I really like the view out the back windows though – big trees, and the water flowing through the small banks of the north branch of the Chicago River.

 

 

Though my stuff is sitting in chaos around me, it’s sitting here in Chicago. My first night. More later.

I’m surrounded by corrugated cardboard (which incidentally, although invented around the turn of the century, was made popular in part by Herman Krannert, the businessman who’s money financed Illinois’ Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Krannert Art Museum, and the Krannert School of Management at Purdue). It smells like cardboard always does… and the the sound the tape really confirms that I’m moving.

Less emotions today and yesterday, although the sadness was at it’s peak near the beginning of the week. But these days it’s business-busy mode to get stuff done.

Tonight’s my last night in the DawgHaus.