Stuck on a Velcro Wall

Last Friday, the seminary community held a little to-do in the common area surrounding the student housing. The main attraction was an enormous velcro wall, orginally made famous by David Letterman. I couldn't resist.

Moi Stuck on a Velcro Wall Originally uploaded by whatnext.

Seminary Updates

A couple of developments have transpired over the past few days:

• I received a passing grade on my first-ever seminary exam, a short-answer test on Church History. I missed one point because I failed to provide an orthodox response to Marcionism. I'm a bit frustrated about the mistake. I knew the answer, but was so concerned about the legibility of my handwriting that I forgot to double-check. Nonetheless, I'm thrilled with the result, because it gives me some hope that I still have some student left in me.
• Second, I'm now one of two newly-elected Student Senators representing the Junior (first-year) class. A fellow junior graciously asked if I would like to be nominated. I responded affirmatively, and I'm deeply honored to have been given this opportunity to serve such a wonderful community.

Now, back to Calvin.

The Natives are Getting Restless

Do date, I haven't yet disclosed my position on Ra^thergate. Opps, I think I just did. He's totally busted, along with Mapes, Joe Lockhart, and these rest of the CBS/DNC/Kerry Memogate axis.



Glenn Reynolds notes that these ads are running during the CBS nightly news in some markets. Enjoy.

Mark D. Roberts on Faith and Public Life

I was poking around Hugh Hewitt's blog today and read his post lauding the work of Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts. After perusing Mark's site, I enthusiastically link :: What Next? :: readers to his five-part series entitled "The Church and Politics in America."

Fantasyland?

Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Allawi visited Washington earlier this week to address Congress. On Thursday, he stood with President Bush in the Rose Garden for a joint press conference. Mr. Allawi was totally ignored by the press.



After the Bush/Allawi press conference, John Kerry was actually asked the following question by a reporter accompanying him in Ohio:



"Allawi told Congress today democracy was taking hold in Iraq and the terrorists were there on the defense. Is he living in the same fantasy land as the president?"



I no longer use the term "unbelievable" to describe such questions from our "unbiased," "professional" mainstream media. Coming from them, this type of question is utterly believable, and will become increasingly so as the major news outlets come to terms with an increasingly certain Bush victory in November.



Mark Steyn, meanwhile, will have none of this:

It would be nice to think this was a somewhat crude attempt at irony, but given America's Ratherized media this seems unlikely. Just for the record, Allawi is not living in a fantasyland. He's living in Iraq, and he begins his day with a dangerous commute across Baghdad's ''Green Zone.'' John Kerry's regular commute, by contrast, is from his wife's beach compound at Nantucket to his wife's 15th century English barn reconstructed as a ski lodge in Idaho. Nonetheless, he's the expert on Iraq and the guy living there 24/7 is the fantasist, and he's happy to assure us the prime minister doesn't know what he's talking about. It's all going to hell, forget about those January elections, etc.

For my part, the press has a lowsy record reporting on the successes in Iraq. The talking heads concluded that a transition from the CPA to an interim Iraqi government would have to be delayed. Instead, the transition happened early. Now these same doom-sayers are predicting a delayed election. On these and most other major events in Iraq, the press have got it wrong.

Ping Pong Matrix Revolution

Amazing!



(Hat tip: Jonah Goldberg at The Corner)

Fortnight Reflections

Classes started on September 7th, and after two weeks

of lecture and sections, I think I've seen enough to draw a few

conclusions about my new life here at Seminary.



But before I begin, I have to tell you, dear friends, that my short

time here has already resulted in tremendous sense of confirmation,

both for my choice of school, and for this new life that lies ahead.



Now, the recap.



The Classes



There are four classes all new students take here at the seminary -- Systematic Theology I (Theology), History of the Old Testament (OT), Introduction to the History of the Christian Church (History), and The Church as a Worshipping Community (Worship). All are subjects I thoroughly enjoy, and all are being taught by excellent scholars. If I had one wish for this semester, it would be that we had more time to delve deeper into particular course topics. This is especially true for the Church History class, where the professor has had to place an emphasis on rote memorization of dates, people, and places because of the historical expanse we must cover.



History of Old Testament (OT) class was a real mind-blower for me, and our theology professor is, in a word, astonishing. We're already diving into Barth, Calvin, Migliore, and others.



My favorite class at this point is Worship. Here we examine what we as Christians do. What is this thing we call worship? Why do we do it? Who, in fact, is doing the worshipping? By its very nature, the class weaves together history, ritual, tradition, theology, and music.



We pray before every lecture. Our Worship professor always precedes his prayers with the traditional invitation "The Lord be with you."



"And also with you," we respond. That little couplet means so much to me.



Chapel services are held every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at 11:00 a.m. The regular pauses for prayer and worship provide much-needed spiritual refreshment during the course of the day. To encourage students to find a local church, Chapel services are not held on Sundays.



The People



The faculty and students here are wonderful. The collegiality of the faculty was one of my key considerations when choosing Austin. And the students! They come from everywhere, with an amazing portfolio of experience. We're already establishing study groups and social adventures. I'm a member of the seminary's "Polity Bowl" flag football team. We've already begun scrimmages in parparation of taking back the Polity Bowl crown from the Episcopalian seminarians down the street.



That's it for now. Back to reading. The Lord be with you.