Business

[mari4212]

Today was one of the days when I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. My college doesn't believe in taking Labor Day off, so we had classes. I did get to talk to an old teacher of mine, Dr. Ernsting. Great guy, and he said that as long as Parent's Weekend isn't over the 17th he'd be there. Mom and Dad want to meet him, considering how much I talked about him last year. About his only bad point is that he thinks that cats are evil and out to get you. The truth is that as long as you accept that the cat is the boss in your relationship, you have nothing to worry about. Anyway, in addition to classes, today was the organizational fair, the one held to let the freshmen know what kind of clubs are available at the school and to sign up for them if they so choose. I worked two shifts for Circle K, and then ran off for my Religion class.

And speaking of Religion class... so much fun! We read the introduction to a book of rabbinic midrashim, collated by a woman who's looking at them from a feminist perspective. We actually spent most of the class period establishing exactly what the rabbinic writings were about, and when they dated from. Doesn't sound as interesting here, but it was fun to talk about. Plus we get to read about Eve and Lillith for next week. I haven't heard much about Lillith, the legends about her aren't something that is really covered in the Episcopal church. Dr. Stein says that a lot of what we think about Eve comes from these early midrash, so it will be good to explore them.

And finally, don't let anyone ever tell you singing is not hard work. Our director for Women's Chorus is a great guy, but he really makes us work. It'll be worth it, the sound we produce when he gets us going correctly is phenominal, especially since most of us are untrained.

Comments

[ljmckay.livejournal.com]

Wow, you are a busy beaver!

I haven't heard much about Lillith

I'd never heard of Lilith until I saw "Darklight". I didn't know there really were legends about her, although I guess it makes sense. No point making up plot points when they already exist...

Let me know what you learn; it sounds fascinating.

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

What I know now is that she was supposedly Adam's first wife, and then when she refused to obey him Adam complained to God and God took her away and created Eve. It comes straight from Hebrew mythology, and I've never studied it in detail.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

Mmm, jealous of Religion class. I adored my Intro Old Testament class and really need to do more research on so many aspects on my own. So easy to get lazy when I'm not actually taking a class 'cause just reading novels I feel compelled to copy down interesting sections and share my thoughts with LiveJournal and so on, so non-fiction is a serious investment.

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

Hmm, haven't thought of copying fun/interesting sections from my reading before. I can see how that would mean your reading would slow down a bit then. The midrash might be good, as it gives you the short story format, but allows you to sink deeper into the text.

And yes, this is a really good religion class to be jealous of. It's an upper level one, so Dr. Stein expects us to think and debate a bit.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I constantly wanna refer back to neat snippets I've read or just share them with people, so I always use stuff like receipts as bookmarks so that I can jot down page numbers and then type them up next time I'm at my computer.

Midrash is neat, though I know few besides the Lilith one. My current project is to read the New Testament full through, along with assorted books whose recommendations I've culled from vaguely learned friends.

My church had a pretty weak Christian Education program, so for years now I've been feeling like I need to do some serious basic research on Christianity and figure out what I believe and where/if I fit and so on.

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

Guess I got lucky, my church has always had a pretty good Christian ed program.

If you want to understand Anglican theology, I'd suggest reading both Madeline L'Engle and C.S. Lewis. Lewis describes the more old fashioned, orthodox view which makes sense considering that he died years ago, but his books give you a solid introduction to a lot of Christian and Anglican tradition from an interested layman's perspective.

Madeline L'Engle is more modern, and she goes out a bit further. But she's wonderful at capturing the spirit of Anglicanism at its best, and some of her descriptions are wonderful for giving you that awe at the universe that is Christian mysticism at its height.

I'd recommend both authors because they write both fiction and nonfiction, and you can understand their religious views from both sources. They also both wrote reflections on Biblical texts from a layman's perspective, which is good because they'll tend to ask the same kinds of questions that you or I would.

The other suggestion I would give you on figuring out where you are and where you fit is to visit several churches where you live. Talk to the people, you'll figure out where you fit. I love the liturgy, and my ideas about God and the universe coincide with Anglican theology, so I'm Episcopalian.

And I think my reply is longer than my initial entry.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly solidly low church Protestant. [Assuming I do end up claiming Christianity at all] My instinct is that I don't fit *anywhere* (though of the churches I've been to, Congregational/UCC feel the closest). Which is of course the story of my life ever since I've started actually really thinking about issues. I get twitchy around liberals and feel radical around conservatives, etc. etc. etc. *stops self before launching into anything really long*

I've been meaning to reread L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time books and also read her Austin family series. I should probably check out her non-fiction as well.

I read some Lewis in a class last fall and he frustrates me a lot. Some of the logic for base premises in Mere Christianity just don't follow, and Surprised By Joy should never be called a conversion narrative as it cops out hardcore at the end. Though he's not as bad as Chesterton, whom he's obviously heavily influenced by and who makes me wanna shake/throttle.

Yay for long replies.

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

You might prefer reading A Grief Observed, which basically chronicles his working through his grief at the loss of his wife. I'd also recomend reading the Chronicles of Narnia, as that holds his basic concepts, but doesn't go as much into formal theology, or The Screwtape Letters, as it shows a conversion from the other side's viewpoint, and is supremely ironic at times.

I can see being frustrated by him at points. In Mere Christianity, you have to accept that his basic point is that without God, there can be no objective moral code. Nietche makes a similar point in some of his works. All of Lewis' points come from that one concept, and are then modified by later experiences. And Chesterton did influence him.

Oh, do read Madeline L'Engle. Her work is beautiful, like poetry made prose, and you get more out of it each time.

I'm rather liberal, and my church back home in Dayton is just as liberal, but I've found that Episcopal churches vary. Our uniting bond is that we worship together, but on every other subject we have to agree to disagree. One thing I am proud of, and that is that my home church took in a group of Catholics who wanted to be Catholic, but couldn't worship in a church community where gays weren't allowed in. They've set up an area in our church basement. The great thing about it is that this happened under our conservative former priest, who said that personal opinions aside, he was not going to forbid anyone from worshiping.

I think I need to stop pushing Episcopalianism. You'll figure out where you belong, it just might take a while.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I reread the Chronicles for that class and still enjoyed them and while it remained true that only 3 of the books really stuck with me (LLW, Magicians Nephew, and Last Battle) I found myself wondering what the specific allusions were in the other books. [I loathe what he did to Susan in The Last Battle, but that's a different conversation.]

We also read The Screwtape Letters, which were not unenjoyable.

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

I don't know, he planted the seeds for Susan's decision back Prince Caspian.

You do realize that my senior lit. crit. was on Biblical/Theological allusion in the Chronicles of Narnia? The three you mention are the ones that parallel specific books of the Bible, the others have references more to Christian ideas. For example, there's a passage in The Silver Chair where Eustace and Jill are trying to explain the sun and a lion to people who live underground. That's a reference to the fact that language for God is always metaphorical, stating that God is both like something and more than whatever God is compared to.

I could site a lot more, but my copies of the books are all at home, as they were falling apart and I didn't want to risk transporting them.

Screwtape was C.S. Lewis getting incredibly snarky and getting away with it. Part of it also seems to describe his conversion experience, especially the part where the initial euphoria wears off and he was confronted with the daily struggle of actually living out what being a Christian is about.

There's another book that I want to recommend to you, but I can't remember the author. I read it over the summer, and it's a series of essays/reflections on the language of faith, including all the words that scared her away at first. She had a religious background, but left the church while at college, and she returned later in life, so she has some interesting perspectives on a lot of things.

Kathleen Norris - Amazing Grace

[(Anonymous)]

Dad here again

The book is "Amazing Grace - a Lexicon of Faith", written by Kathleen Norris. Ms. Norris is a poet, who grew up in a church-going home in South Dakota. Unfortunately, her faith did not grow at the same rate, and she left the church by the time she went to college. Many years later, she and her husband returned to the church, moved back home to the same town in South Dakota, and rejoined the same church she grew up in, this time with an adult faith. She is a Lutheran, and also a lay member of a Roman Catholic Benedictine monastery. She has written several books, some biographical and some theological ("Dakota - a Theology of Place" and "A Cloister Walk"). "Amazing Grace" is a mixture. Some chapters deal with her own faith story and re-conversion. Most chapters are part of her lexicon. She believes that the Christian faith lived out makes excellent sense to adults, but that the language and words that Christians use can be barriers to non-believers. Each chapter in her book is a meditation on one of these "scary words". In most cases, she shows how eminently practical they are, but also shows that they are best understood as poetry and metaphor.

I personally like C. S. Lewis, but I prefer his fiction to his straight theology books. The theology appeals to my rational side, by showing that Christianity is reasonable and logical. But logical never warms a person's heart. Therefore, I would recommend Norris over lewis any day to anyone who is wrestling with what he or she believes.

Re: Kathleen Norris - Amazing Grace

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

Thanks Dad, I was planning on e-mailing you and asking about that.

[heylittleriver.livejournal.com]

Dang, you *are* busy. Hope you had a good night's sleep. :D

And finally, don't let anyone ever tell you singing is not hard work.

I can't believe people actually believe it isn't! All the proper breathing and posture and that's before you even actually sing!

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

Plus I'm first soprano. Up at the part of the vocal range where they tell you to forget the real vowels and mutate everything into the most open you can go because the human ear can't detect the difference at those notes. They take a lot of power and breath support.

[heylittleriver.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. That's great. I'm an alto if anything (though my range on a good day is closer to tenor) so I'm impressed by people who can sing so high. Especially because of all the breathing you need.