Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Scattered Wednesday Thoughts

Taking a page from QG:
  • My day started with a trip to a Pittsburgh Toyota dealer, brought on by a scraping squealing crunching noise in the brake system last night.  Nothing major wrong, but all the minors will add up to major bucks. Have to take care of it; don't want to drive the 135 miles home tomorrow night feeling like the car is on the brink of collapse.
  • Spent the rest of the morning working on my final very last ever paper on Miroslav Volf's views on memory and forgetting.  Personally meaningful due to encounters and dialogue with my Jewish students of years past and my own recent history.  I have now reached the happy point where you realize somewhere in the middle of a project that you have absolutely no idea what you're doing.  Except that I think I have come around to his theory that we will in the new life ahead forget all the bad stuff and that that will be a good thing. Our loss of memory will not destroy our identities but will create us as new beings.  What do you think?
  • Brightened up at seeing a friend at lunch but the presence of other not-well-known folks at the table constrained conversation considerably.
  • Went to my last Hauerwas class, which I am auditing, so got to listen to other people present their ongoing papers.  The professor passed around Hauerwas' new autobiography and noted a couple of hours later that I had become completely absorbed in it.  Oops.  Well, Hauerwas is an engaging writer and I appreciate very much his ecclesial promiscuity.
  • Now I am going for a long walk in what has become a gorgeous day, and then I guess it will be Volf till midnight.  Look for me taking FB breaks!

8 comments:

  1. Um "ecclesiastical promiscuity"? Great great phrase!

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  2. "Ecclesiastical promiscuity" is my new favorite phrase-- thanks for that!

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  3. QG's comment sent me to the dictionary, and after I had already had so much trouble spelling ecclesial! Anyway, it turns out that the meanings of ecclesial and ecclesiastical are similar, so I'm letting the post stand as written. The term itself is not mine -- it might belong to Hauerwas, but I think it was actually a remark made by someone in my class. And it's quite accurate as well as entertaining.

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  4. Wishing you many inspiring thoughts and good study breaks until it's finished!
    XO

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  5. Just thinking about the idea of losing our memories and I don't think I like that. I've earned these memories like scars on a boxers body, if you know what I mean. I want to have the full circle resolution of them, to validate their purpose so everything makes absolutely perfect sense and they don't hurt anymore. I really don't like the idea that this story I'm living isn't important enough to retain. But that's just me, and others may want to wipe away every painful thought. Understandable.

    PS--You're nearing the finish line and bravo for your perseverance.

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  6. have a great last night of paper writing...may the Spirit bless you.

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  7. Oh, there are several more nights before the last one!

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  8. The goal line is in sight. (Sorry the sports metaphor.) So very proud of you, Robin.

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