Adam Frieberg » » Senior Ministry Project http://blog.adamfrieberg.com Minister, Photographer, Computer Programmer Thu, 27 Feb 2014 01:29:36 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.3.2 Thesis Presentation http://blog.adamfrieberg.com/2009/05/16/thesis-presentation/ http://blog.adamfrieberg.com/2009/05/16/thesis-presentation/#respond Sun, 17 May 2009 03:10:19 +0000 http://www.adamfrieberg.com/?p=447 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!!!)

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Eucharistic Euphoria http://blog.adamfrieberg.com/2007/10/22/eucharistic-euphoria/ http://blog.adamfrieberg.com/2007/10/22/eucharistic-euphoria/#respond Mon, 22 Oct 2007 03:01:24 +0000 http://adamfrieberg.wordpress.com/2007/10/22/eucharistic-euphoria/ 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!

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