Blogs
Rethinking the Purpose of a Seminary Education
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 09/09/2017 - 09:06Thursday, I got into a wide ranging discussion which drifted over to question of how we welcome people who are different from ourselves. I brought up the book Radical Welcome by the Rev. Stephanie Spellers, which is on my seminary reading list. It has been a very important book to me which I expect to come back to often. In our discussion, we spoke a little bit about praying for President Trump as well as for Steve Bannon. We moved on to talking about what we need to do to truly welcome homeless people into our churches. It was a great discussion, and at the end, a friend commented to me that I needed to keep in mind was that the reading list is not for me, but for the communities I am part of.
To a certain extent, I feel a little selfish in my seminary studies. It is something I am enjoying greatly and I could easily fall into the idea that I’m doing it for myself, and my relationship with God. Yet we live in communities. My studies are also for the communities I’m part of, and not just in some future time when I become ordained or find more regular opportunities to preach, but right now.
So now, my mind is spinning with ideas about writing blog posts I might write, conversations I might have, this semester, right now, about ideas I am encountering. It is balanced with thoughts about the amount of reading and writing I have to get done for my classes. We shall see how much makes it to this blog. Stay tuned.
Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit - Starting Seminary Edition
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 09/01/2017 - 06:05Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit. A new month starts, and what a month. I am starting seminary and trying to fit my schedule around my new activities. I’ve shifted my start of the day from contemplative prayer to the online morning prayer at the seminary, and my evening Daily Examen to the online evening prayer. I’m still working out what I’ll be writing online and where I’ll be posting stuff. Some will be here in my blog, other writings will be in various sites related to my courses, some public, some private.
I’m looking at what my schedule is for doing class readings; there is a lot to read. For that matter, I’m still deciding if I should get physical text books, or read them online, and if I read them online, what software I should use.
But now, I need to eat breakfast, do more reading and a little social media activity. It will be interesting to see what this month brings.
Seminary Thoughts: What is acceptable?
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 08/31/2017 - 06:06This morning, I try to settle into a new pattern of being an online seminary student, a husband, father, and working full time. I read the online Morning Prayer that is shared by my classmates at CDSP as I start to connect with my community.
The opening verse is one of my favorites,
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my
redeemer. Psalm 19:14
It makes me think of a post I saw on Facebook yesterday,
just lost a friend over a post ,
unreal , doesn't anyone have thick skin ?
My Facebook friend has a coarse racism and misogynist streak in his posts, and I wondered if he lost the friend, not because lost friend had too thin a skin, but because my Facebook friend had too coarse a mouth. It felt to me like this Facebook friend was blaming the victim. All his other friends jumped in and called the lost friend all kinds of vile things. I decided that this was not a place to engage right now.
Another Facebook friend posted,
Apologies for the rant, but we just walked around our campground and witnessed a dad ripping into his wife and son. Yelling, swearing, pure short fuse anger issues. I don't know what happened earlier today, but I promise the most recent offense was incredibly mild, and dad's response was inappropriate. His wife was embarrassed that we heard, but nothing (at least in this scenario) was any ounce her fault. I was stuck explaining to my kid, again, how it's not right to treat ANYONE like that.
What is the role of media, whether it be social media or news media, in establishing social norms? How have our norms about acceptable speech shifted as a result of digital media?
For News and Religion class, I’ve been reading Readings on Religion as News, edited by Judith M. Buddenbaum and Debra L. Mason. The introduction talks about religion and journalism this way (page xvii)
from the Puritans to the Promise Keepers, religious people have left their mark on American culture and the continue to do so. And the press has been there, at every step along the way, spreading religious inspired beliefs and behaviors throughout the country and policing the boundary between “acceptable” and “unacceptable” forms of religiosity.
I think about the coverage in the news media of Houston, Hurricane Harvey, and Lakewood Church. I think of social media and how we share stories in acceptable or unacceptable ways.
In Women’s Bible Commentary by Carol Newsome, et al., there is a section on how we interpret the Bible and how interpretations shape us and shape other interpretations: (Page 34 of the Google Book version)
Regardless of the original intent of such passages, the history of their interpretation has included some very hurtful readings
The news media and social media can help us navigate the boundary between the “acceptable” and the “unacceptable”. It can also repeat hurtful interpretations and call us to challenge current understandings of what is acceptable in the Lord sight.
Starting Seminary
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 08/30/2017 - 06:59I have now spoken with my academic adviser and registered for two classes in the Fall Term at Church Divinity School of the Pacific. Classes officially start next Tuesday, but I’m trying to get a little bit of a head start by getting things set up and starting my readings early.
One class is Introduction to Old Testament, which is taught by my advisor and required for Masters of Divinity students. I’m currently in the Certificate of Theological Studies program, so it isn’t required, but I might become an M.Div or Master of Theological Studies student at some point.
I took Biblical Hebrew back in my undergraduate days as well as a few Old Testament classes, but that was years ago, and I’ve forgotten much of my Hebrew and I’m especially interested in looking at the Old Testament from perspectives other than the Old White European Male perspective that is so dominant.
The second class I’ve signed up for is News and Religion, offered by the Religious Freedom Center of the Newseum. I am taking it via Starr King which is another theological school in the Graduate Theological Union. I’m very interested in how journalism and religion have influenced one another in America.
I expect I’ll be writing a bit for both courses and hope my writing will improve. Some of my writing will be only for the classes, but some of it, I hope to share publicly, either here, or on other sites.
I also received an email about the Virtual Daily Office at CDSP. I switch around the daily offices I use and recently have been using a Celtic daily office. Currently, I plan on saying the Virtual Daily Office at CDSP as I become more active in their online community.
I also expect that I’ll be spending a lot of time reading. I’m trying to get a jump start on my readings, but I expect most of my free time will be spent reading and writing for seminary and I’ll probably be doing less other reading and writing, at least for the next few months.
Prayers for my studies and my journey are greatly appreciated.
Liminal
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 08/29/2017 - 05:28Last week, we were on vacation in Tennessee to watch the total eclipse of the sun. During that time, I had very limited internet connectivity and a lot of time when writing just wasn’t possible, so I set aside my Daily Examen blog posts. I had thought about writing up one giant post, a sort of vacation examen, but that hasn’t happened. Instead, I’m trying to dig out of everything that needs to be done.
Next week, classes start. I am getting my accounts set up in various learning management systems, student information systems, and so on. I am trying to get all the emails sorted out with permissions to take this course or that. I am reading syllabi and thinking out what my schedule will be for the next four months. This includes thinking about what I will be posting online, and where I will be posting it.
At work, I am digging out from being on vacation during a very busy period. In the larger scheme of things, there is the flooding in Houston. There is political discord in our country. There are tensions globally.
I try to focus, and get back into my daily schedule, feeling that on so many levels, I am standing at a threshold.
