Sci-fi
Alien? War of the Worlds? Blade Runner? How about a nice tasty Ubik snack? Or Ubik cleanser to make your kitchen counters nice and shiny (safe when used as directed).
Can you imagine using this material to raise questions for your church?
Today began with a disputatio (debate in fancy words) in which I was called on to argue the case "are fallen human beings truly free without Christ?" This in itself was interesting. I wanted to say yes, but in the Christian narrative the meaning of freedom is different and every yes I came up with received a resounding no from me as well. But for those of you who are curious, this is not referring to Hell, and death, this is referring to the restoration of humanity to their full nature--i.e. the ability to achieve one's end. In the Christian narrative that's God, and humanity created a barrier when we ate from that damn tree so Christ came and removed the barrier of death and we can achieve our telos again.
But don't let me get too off track here, I was talking about my day, actually I was talking about Sci -fi. I got through the disputatio as nerve wracking as that was and then moved into further discussions of Aquinas and a gratifying acknowledgment that humanity does have a right to ask God "what gives with the whole tree of knowledge thing? Why put it there?"
Then I rushed over to chapel to be a torch with my senior friend who'd never known that the torches are monsters to carry (who ever heard of the torches weighing more than the cross?). Following this I raced across town to meet with my spiritual director with whom I shared the latest details of my effort to extract myself from the process of ordination. I realized I have a real problem with particular priests who use the pulpit to spit venom on their congregation because they have issues and are too selfish to get therapy and leave the pulpit for those who actually give a damn about the word of God. She then shared about the troubles she's having which are a struggle unto themselves. After praying together, I shot back across town, failed to get lunch and sat down to watch Alien for the first time in my sci-fi and theology class.
There really isn't much, other than the concept that the only thing worth salvaging to the unknown corporation is the one thing that will kill them all--all human life expendible. I mean, talk about a twisted society.
Then I went home, finally had lunch (at 5:30) and decided my bird could fly around the apartment while I'm out because she hasn't been out all day. Got back on campus and am now sitting at a desk where the phone never rings so I can put out snacks for someone else's class that just happens to get the lucky hand of food in the evening.
And tomorrow, I'm going to show the number of ways I can act like a 1960's commercial spokes woman selling Ubik products to an unsuspecting crowd. Teaching about the idea that advertisements play on the idea of needing to be in or out. And in the mean time I'll be looking at the different (and yes they are different) accounts of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and what that says about the communities that spawned Matthew, Mark and Luke. And why I can live with that.
As tired as I am, I really do love this stuff. I look forward to the break from school next year but this is a great finale to a rather topsy turvy year of discernment. I'll get to see what chaplaincy is like and then the job hunting begins. And then I'll really be sitting down to decide what I'm really supposed to be doing.
Sci-fi rocks by the way. It's such a refreshing throw-in to an incredibly academic look at God. And it really does tell you something about society and what people are going through. Helpful, by all accounts. I can't disown it, whatever a ministerial life may hold.
Can you imagine using this material to raise questions for your church?
Today began with a disputatio (debate in fancy words) in which I was called on to argue the case "are fallen human beings truly free without Christ?" This in itself was interesting. I wanted to say yes, but in the Christian narrative the meaning of freedom is different and every yes I came up with received a resounding no from me as well. But for those of you who are curious, this is not referring to Hell, and death, this is referring to the restoration of humanity to their full nature--i.e. the ability to achieve one's end. In the Christian narrative that's God, and humanity created a barrier when we ate from that damn tree so Christ came and removed the barrier of death and we can achieve our telos again.
But don't let me get too off track here, I was talking about my day, actually I was talking about Sci -fi. I got through the disputatio as nerve wracking as that was and then moved into further discussions of Aquinas and a gratifying acknowledgment that humanity does have a right to ask God "what gives with the whole tree of knowledge thing? Why put it there?"
Then I rushed over to chapel to be a torch with my senior friend who'd never known that the torches are monsters to carry (who ever heard of the torches weighing more than the cross?). Following this I raced across town to meet with my spiritual director with whom I shared the latest details of my effort to extract myself from the process of ordination. I realized I have a real problem with particular priests who use the pulpit to spit venom on their congregation because they have issues and are too selfish to get therapy and leave the pulpit for those who actually give a damn about the word of God. She then shared about the troubles she's having which are a struggle unto themselves. After praying together, I shot back across town, failed to get lunch and sat down to watch Alien for the first time in my sci-fi and theology class.
There really isn't much, other than the concept that the only thing worth salvaging to the unknown corporation is the one thing that will kill them all--all human life expendible. I mean, talk about a twisted society.
Then I went home, finally had lunch (at 5:30) and decided my bird could fly around the apartment while I'm out because she hasn't been out all day. Got back on campus and am now sitting at a desk where the phone never rings so I can put out snacks for someone else's class that just happens to get the lucky hand of food in the evening.
And tomorrow, I'm going to show the number of ways I can act like a 1960's commercial spokes woman selling Ubik products to an unsuspecting crowd. Teaching about the idea that advertisements play on the idea of needing to be in or out. And in the mean time I'll be looking at the different (and yes they are different) accounts of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and what that says about the communities that spawned Matthew, Mark and Luke. And why I can live with that.
As tired as I am, I really do love this stuff. I look forward to the break from school next year but this is a great finale to a rather topsy turvy year of discernment. I'll get to see what chaplaincy is like and then the job hunting begins. And then I'll really be sitting down to decide what I'm really supposed to be doing.
Sci-fi rocks by the way. It's such a refreshing throw-in to an incredibly academic look at God. And it really does tell you something about society and what people are going through. Helpful, by all accounts. I can't disown it, whatever a ministerial life may hold.
