Look! An Update!

Hey there,

Time keeps on ticking right along, and I figured it was time for an update. First off, happy Memorial Day to those of you reading from the States. It is truly a day to be thankful and to remember why America is 'the land of the free and the home of the brave.' Freedom does not come, nor remain, without a cost. Here is a song that helps me reflect on Memorial Day: Find the Cost of Freedom

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

In terms of an update I have a few points of interest to share with you. To start, I was recently elected President of the MCR at my college. MCR stands for Middle Common Room which is Oxonian for graduate student council. I am excited to be serving in this capacity for the rest of the Spring and then again in the Fall. I may be back for all three terms next year, but I am not sure yet - more on that another time. In other news, I am working on two new papers. The first is on Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Biblical interpretation in his work Discipleship. I completed my undergraduate thesis on Bonhoeffer, so it is nice to be working on his thought once again. It has been interesting to look at the field of Biblical hermeneutics to see how the Bible has been interpreted throughout history. The other paper will be an analysis of sociological methods for studying the Holy Spirit in congregations. I will be sifting through various studies on Charismatic churches, religious experiences, spiritual phenomena, and the methods themselves and recommending the best approach for future studies. This paper is of great interest to me because I plan to conduct my own sociological study of the Holy Spirit next year for my thesis. My plan is to compare the role of the Holy Spirit in different denominations, and I am particularly interested in the role of the Holy Spirit in conversion and initiation experiences.

It is incredible to me that nearly an entire academic year has passed by. I will be flying back home for the Summer in just a few short weeks, and I am looking forward to being back - even though I hear its been 95˚F! Enjoy the last day of the month and the new month ahead!

Tim

Trinity Term Begins

Hi folks,

It's been a while. I hope you are doing well. I am back in Oxford for the final term of the academic year - Trinity Term. A time when most students are preparing for exams and preparing dissertations, yet I am still going along at the usual pace. I do have a substantial 7,000 word essay due in a week, but before I get to that I have some travels to tell you about!

Adam, my good friend, or as he might say, bro, made the trip across the Atlantic with me and stayed for a brief yet memorable week of adventures. After getting some sleep after the flight to overcome the jetlag (which we never did quite overcome) we made a trip to London. We saw the large clock there, the Queen's house, and some very nice museums - the Victoria and Albert Museum was particularly nice - and we walked a lot. We probably walked about seven miles or so, maybe more, in the rain...heavy rain. But, hey, it's England - part of the experience. Anyway, we went back to London again a couple days later and we walked just as much...but this time it was sunny! We ended up going to three church services, and Adam was able to meet Nicky Gumbel, the creator of the Alpha Course. Finally, for Adam's last full day here we made a trip to Stonehenge (waiting for Adam to post pictures on facebook, hint hint). The stones were nice, but I think I liked the sheep even more!

Inside of the Oratory of St Philip Neri,
Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Victoria and Albert Museum

Now that Adam has made it back home safely, I am back to the old academic grind. The paper that is due next week is for the Doctrine, Context, and Practice section of my program. My essay is called Recovering the Initial Christian Experience: A Critical Exploration of the Doctrine of Conversion in a Catholic Context. I didn't want to title to be so long, but I had to be specific with the doctrine and the context so that's what I have. At any rate, I have really enjoyed doing the research for and writing this paper. It is all about exploring the doctrine of conversion from a few different lenses and then applying those lenses to different aspects of Catholicism. Over the years, I have found there to be a gap in the Catholic Church between doctrine and experience. This paper has given me a chance to look at how the that gap may begin to be filled.

Well, I think that's enough for now. Enjoy the day, and I'll try to be back in touch soon.

Truly,

Tim

Half Way Point

Hello there!

It's been too long - sorry for the delay. Half of the term, and, for that matter, half of the academic year has passed by already. I guess time flies when you're studying applied theology! At any rate, here's a bit of what I have been up to:

I have been working on an essay about Christian conversion. The texts I am most closely working with are A Charismatic Theology: Initiation in the Spirit (1978) by Heribert Muhlen, and Christian Conversion (1920) by Arthur Guttery. Muhlen, who passed away in 2006, was a German Roman Catholic priest and systematic theologian who sought to inspire a greater emphasis on the Holy Spirit in Catholicism, while Guttery was a Primitive Methodist minister in the early 20th century. My aim is to recover the importance of Christian conversion as a necessity and also to unpack the practical implications of such a view. Therefore, my research question is: Why is conversion so important to Christianity and how can/should this importance impact a Christian's daily life?

Here's an interesting quote from Muhlen: 

"[T]he question arises first of all: how do you come to be a Christian? In the countries where Christianity is indigenous, more than 95 percent of the inhabitants are Christians, mostly because they were first baptized as children and then given Christian education and instruction. What happened in your case? Probably you were baptized as a small child and then given a Christian education in the family and in school. You learnt certain dogmas, practiced hymns and prayers, received sacraments. But, in addition to infant-baptism and education, did you take that decisive first step of a real personal conversion to God in the power of Christ which changes your life, the personal decision for Christ?"

And here's a snippet from Guttery:

“Conversion is more than a luxury, it is the primary necessity of our race. It is more than a cry; it is a conquest...We must have conversions or we perish, because the world has no use for us apart from conversion. Revival is the only antidote of death."

Some thought-provoking stuff, huh?!



In other news, things are going well with my a cappella group, The Oxford Commas. We have a few gigs coming up at the end of the term. We're singing some Simon and Garfunkel, David Bowie, and Stevie Wonder. I am still involved with a few churches in the city, and I have been singing with my college chapel choir. It's really quite a nice routine I've settled into. I very much hope you are also enjoying this swiftly passing new year. As always, please comment if you are curious about anything in particular, and I will make sure to write about it. Otherwise, I'll probably write more about Christian conversion because that's what's going through my head for most of the day!

I'll close with England's most popular word - Cheers!

Tim