Thesis Presentation

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May 16 0
  • Life

I closed a chapter in my life on Wednesday.  My senior thesis, which I proposed in spring 2008 (but which I started planning in spring 2007), is now done!  

The thesis has three components: propose a topic at the end of the 2nd year, research and write it while taking a class in the winter quarter of 3rd year, and do a public presentation during the spring quarter of 3rd year.  I wish I could say that I (or many of my classmates) could follow that schedule, but the process was never that simple.

I planned to write how the process of engaging with images can be a sacramental encounter.  During the fall I read a bunch of sacramental theologians – especially Karl Rahner – and was primed to start writing.  I had also read several image theorists, including James Elkins, W.J.T. Mitchell, Susan Sontag, David Freedberg and David Morgan.  With four weeks left in the winter quarter colloquium, my classmates and professors/advisors told me that Rahner was not helping me.  I was using too broad of a definition of sacrament, even for Rahner.  So I switched theologians mid-course and started reading everything I could find from Paul Tillich on symbol and art (two very different things in his usage).

Three weeks ago, I was putting the finishing touches on the thesis when I had my wife Heidi edit it for me.  As she said, my ending “jumped the shark.”  And it did.  So, after another two days of revision, it was ready.  It felt SO good to hand in.  Here it is:

PDF of Thesis

MDiv senior thesis University of Chicago Divinity School

After handing in the paper, I had to rush to get the presentation finished.  The three days leading up to the thesis were the most hectic. My content was there, but it wasn’t organized and the graphics weren’t even close to ready.  I spent at least a day trying to see how to visibly show Paul Tillich’s characteristics of “symbols”.  I went to a stock graphic to show the crucifixion:

The Crucifixion

The Crucifixion

But there was a problem.  In the Bible, the crucifixion contained women!  But in this image, they were missing!  A couple of swift fixes and this image was salvaged from being theological blasphemy.

Inclusive Crucifixion

Inclusive Crucifixion

Then came the time to visualize Tillich’s framework.  Here’s what took me a day to create (although most of the work was making the graphics interactive … something that’s too complicated to go on the blog):

Tillich Symbol

 A symbol:

  • points beyond itself to something else;
  • participates in that to which it points;
  • opens up levels of reality which otherwise are closed for us;
  • unlocks dimensions and elements of our own soul which correspond to the dimensions and elements of reality;
  • cannot be produced intentionally (it must grow out of and be accepted by the unconscious dimension of our being);
  • grows and dies (they grow when the situation is ripe for them and they die when the situation changes)

My presentation was fun.  It was well attended and the questions were deep — so deep, that at times, I didn’t know what my friends were asking.  I was even lucky enough for my parents to drive over from Iowa for the night.  But what one thing would you expect me not to forget?  To take a picture, right?

I had the flashes and camera set up.  But unfortunately, I completely spaced out getting a group picture once the presentation was underway.  Alas, here’s the empty room before my friends came and set it up:

IMG_4488.jpg

I’ll post video and audio (and maybe even my slides) once I have them imported.  Don’t hold your breath … it’ll probably be at least two weeks while I finish my last Div. School papers.  (YAY!!!)

I’m a highly functional addict!

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Feb 22 3
  • Church of the Holy Nativity, Clarendon Hills, IL

In Practicum last week we talked about a bizarre pastoral situation where one of our classmates had a congregation member make one of his addictions obvious to the entire congregation. I can’t go into specifics, but it brought up the discussion in class of “how should churches practice radical hospitality? Can it ever be completely open and accepting?” As a class, we didn’t come up with many universal statements; for most of us, this case study was a nightmare we were thankful to dodge in our field placements.

It brought the class to full discussion on what to do with people we know are alcoholics. Most of the time it’s not possible to tell when the people sitting in the back seats of the sanctuary are drunk – but sometimes it is. What’s the best pastoral move? Do you confront the person then? Do you let them know you know and then plan a different conversation to help care for them long-term? Do you ignore it as long as you know they’re not causing problems for other people? What, especially, do you do when they’re highly functional alcoholics?

That discussion made me think about how most people have addictions of many kinds. There’s a fine line on whether something is an addiction or just a habit. Will Ferrell’s morning ritual in Stranger than Fiction is a great example; addiction or habit depends on perspective. The Practicum discussion made me re-examine some of my own addictions. One of my newest is coffee. I can certainly go for days without it … but ever since this summer when I started drinking, mornings never seem as good without it.

This really isn’t anything new for me. I’ve been a caffeine addict much of my life. But now the drug has shifted from gallonous gulps of Diet Pepsi to quick sips of coffee. I’m not even that picky about my coffee. McDonald’s is just as good as Seattle’s Best for me. But at what point does my addiction become destructive? I can tell when my body has had too much caffeine; it’s usually with three cups of coffee within two hours. My hands twitch, my muscles ache (I think from dehydration), and I can no longer concentrate.

This Thursday I had one of my most productive days in memory. And I give all the credit to the coffee … so I guess I’m a highly functional addict! The whole day was full of productions. I made it out to Church of the Holy Nativity for a super two hours of work. I was so efficient. I was setting dates for the Eucharist course I’m teaching at three Episcopal churches. Aimée and I set our goals and timeline for the U2Charist service at CHN in May. I did some more work on our MDG curriculum for the CHN Adult Eduction series. It seemed like I couldn’t get any more efficient, even though I had to if I was to make it through the rest of the day.

That evening we had our Ministry Banquet at the Divinity School. Once I drove back to Hyde Park, I had to create a costume transforming me into David Tracy (and digitally film scenes and practice with my group). The mysterious trip to Joliet on Tuesday was for those costume materials. For our annual night of hilarity, each of the MDiv classes and our professors create skits parodying our life at the Divinity School. Last year my class caught a bunch of flack for making fun of students in our skit. Apparently we were too mean and self-absorbed for the class older than us. So this year, we decided to intensify the unofficial competition by doing a full-out musical instead of a just a normal skit.

Professor Margaret Mitchell (played by Vince Amlin) used her time-traveling Harper Collins Study Bible to take three students (Ben, Beau and Bethany) back in time to find the “Historical Jesus Christ Superstar”. It hadn’t been fully tested, so they ended up in a bizarro creation story where God (David Tracy, played by me) sang a version of “Razzle Dazzle” before the students and Mitchell transported again, only this time to the 16th century with Susan Schreiner (played by Lindsey Braun) singing a version of “One” trying to court Martin Luther (played by Alex Kindred).

After learning that Schreiner had discovered the time-traveling secret by torturing Rick Rosengarten, the students and Mitchell try to rush back to their own time. However, they end up at Wednesday Lunch at the Divinity School in 2003. In this alternate history, Kathryn Tanner (played by John Edgerton) explains to Kevin Boyd (played by himself) and the rest of the audience how to make a ham and cheese sandwich! Clark Gilpin (played by Matthew Robinson) proclaims that this is way too boring and so he breaks into a self-adulating rap with background music from the Nintendo Mario Brothers game.

The students and Mitchell find a KJV Bible under the table and try once again to return to their own time. They instead transport to a finale worthy of the Wizard of Oz. David Tracy (as a movie on a laptop) commands them to stay away. After they pull him out from behind the laptop, he admits he can’t let them go back in time to find his Historical Son. They still want to return home, however, and so he gives them the book they need — his recently finished autobiography on “God.” He then breaks into the tune adapted from Annie, “My book will come out Tomorrow.” Once the Pope (played by Adriene Zedick) joins him at the end of the song and the students and Mitchell transport back to their own time, the entire cast returns to sing “Oh the Div School!” based on the iconic “Oklahoma!” anthem. Through the entire musical, the second-years were led by piano player Erin Bouman.

The entire day and night were awesome!

Oh musicians, will you ever learn?

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Jan 26 0

Yesterday at the Divinity School, our Lilly Foundation-sponsored “Border Crossings” program held a conference on Music in American Religious Experience. The conference consumed the last half of my week with planning and running the technology for the event. We brought in two authors (Phil Bohlman and Edith Blumhofer) who wrote a book with the same name as the conference. We also had two separate panel discussions that included performances by the University’s Motet choir and a gospel rap artist named Brother Love.

I almost always cringe when I hear I’m doing tech. support for musicians. It’s rarely enjoyable. This event was no exception. Brother Love, the artist who had the most technical needs was actually the friendliest and the easiest to help. He was very patient as we tested his backup CD with the rest of the system. He was great. Then, in the midst of tearing down his speakers and equipment, came the choir. Like a swarm of ants, they quickly moved into the space, dislodged all that was there before, and remained oblivious to the event they were invading. Even though they sounded beautiful, they had the egos of musicians – which were only amplified by the mob factor.

Here’s another gripe (and I promise my last of the post): for a music conference, I should have had to work as hard as I did to get the presenters to use the microphones! Next time I’m going to rent wireless lapel systems for each of the keynoters and then individual table mics for each panelist. They should know better. Brother Love did. In his panel, he was putting the microphone within six inches of his mouth (GREAT!); on the other side of the table, the panelist had his yellow notepad rubbing against the stand and quickly decided that he needed the microphone further away from him in order to get less feedback. It was just hopeless. :(

The conference did have an unexpected obstacle. Halfway through Edith Blumhofer’s portion of the keynote, the fire alarm went off. I wouldn’t have thought it nearly as funny had Dan Sack not turned right around, look at me, raise his shoulders and then the entire room collectively realizing that we’d have to leave the building. With sub-freezing temperatures, many people thought to bring their coats, but some didn’t. It was a moment when the intellectual hierarchy at the UofC was flattened: people with PhDs forgot their coats while students were bundled to the brim. Luckily it wasn’t all a disaster: the building didn’t have a fire (somehow the explanation was, “a bird landed on a wire”) and someone had the quick-thinking reaction to have everyone gather in the neighboring Bond Chapel where the keynoters held a Question and Answer session.

One unexpected gift from the fire alarm was to get great pictures of Clark Gilpin, Cynthia Lindner, and Dan Sack. They are notoriously difficult subjects for me to get good, smiling, crisp pictures. While holding open the doors to Bond Chapel, both Gilpin and Cynthia were in a smiling mood. Inside, Dan was making the best out of that mishap and could still manage a smile.

For the second half of the conference, I revolved between my Practicum (Field Education class) and the conference, since I was still doing the tech support while my class was in session. Hopefully the rest of the conference went well. I’ll know soon once I finish editing the audio and video so the Divinity School can make it available in the Ministry Program’s podcast.

The day wasn’t over with the conference, however. Heidi came to Hyde Park and we went with several other members of my class to a surprise party for one of the 2nd-years: Vince Amlin. No fancy words man; congrats on 27! Click through to the gallery and notice at the end that Vince becomes a flasher with my extra Speedlite. Hilarious!

From Vince Amlin 2…

Eucharistic Euphoria

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Oct 22 0

For those who I haven’t told: I’m taking a course at the Catholic Theological Union (www.ctu.edu NOT www.tcu.edu) called “Sacraments II: Eucharist and Sacramental Theology.” Why on earth would a Disciples seminarian be taking a Catholic Eucharist course? That’s been my challenge from the beginning. Part of the reasoning is that I need a fuller picture of the understanding spectrum around communion; another answer is that, as Cynthia Lindner claims, “[I] have an inner Catholic side of me.” It’s probably the Disciples’ ecumenical spirit that drives me to explore more … that, and I’m always curious on why other people practice their faith differently. Here’s where the euphoria comes in …

My course doesn’t require any papers, just an annotated bibliography (handed in twice during the semester) and an oral examination at the end of the term. As it turns out, there’s more work and more reading required with the annotated bibliography. So it’s due tomorrow, and I’m filling in some blanks additional reading. One of the “recommended” readings (the professor expects a couple of these per week) is a seemingly obscure text about the ancient Assyrian ritual: the Anaphora of Addai and Mari. This article addresses the question of whether there can be a valid Mass (from a Catholic perspective) and Eucharist ritual that doesn’t contain the Institution words (namely: “This is my Body. This is my Blood.”) The Catholic church decided in 2001 that IT IS a valid understanding of the Eucharist … even without an official consecration.

For me, this is fascinating! A hidden reason for taking this course, that I’ve only recently been able to admit to myself, is that I want to justify a Disciples’ understanding of communion in Catholic terms. I’m working at an Episcopal parish this year; I’m dating an Episcopalian; I’m friends with tons of Catholics and others from traditions who are fully into transubstantiation; and I want, with terms not solely my own, to explain how Disciples celebrate communion in a way in which Christ is fully present. That’s my sub-text.

So this article on the Anaphora of Addai and Mari will probably be key to unlocking the next stage of my preparation for ministry. My M.Div. (Master of Divinity) program at the University of Chicago Divinity School requires a third-year “Ministry Project.” The project is the particular student’s own interest of study linked to ministry and its strange spectrum of practicality and abstractness. Up until now, I thought for sure I’d want to do a biblical studies (probably New Testament) project. Now, however, after all this foreign Catholic liturgy, I want to study how Disciples congregations structure their worship. It will require me to visit several congregations – a good cross-section with ministers trained at a variety of places; it will require me to read through the history of Disciples’ thought on worship; it’s going to be fun and great! Now … to get a grant that lets me do several trips in 2008-2009 to visit these congregations and synthesize like crazy!

Oh yeah … and work more on my Eucharist bibliography!

-A

PS – World Bank and China on poverty – hmmm, in response to the German minister’s statement to the G-8: I wonder where the Chinese learned the wolfish practice?!?; at least there’s hope!