2017.02.14: Tuesday morning presentation in Pentateuch course

I wasn’t originally scheduled to give a presentation in the Pentateuch course, but when the professor, who is also the principal, heard I was and Old Testament teacher with a dissertation on generational curses, he welcomed me to his class. The 22 people in the room were engaged. I’ve discovered that generational curses are a hot topic in the church here. To put it in perspective, I asked Staffan how much of the evangelical Ethiopian church (everything that isn’t Eastern Orthodox) is charismatic or Pentecostal. He replied, “100 percent.” There were many insightful questions that thoughtfully engaged my presentation, such as clarifying the Maasai words for curse and how they related to the biblical text. The discussion was lively for the second half of the 2-hour time frame. Generational curses are of theological importance for the life of the church! (I’ll have more on this in Thursday’s posting.)

We joined in the weekly lunch for employees and guests.

The Swede from Uppsala, Erik, was there also, the one we had lunch with on Sunday. Erik and I had a great conversation about cross-cultural theological education not just theological education done cross-culturally. He said we should continue the conversation in Uppsala and invited me to lunch at the Church House. (Cool!)

I spent the afternoon with email, checking the reality TV-show of American political news, preparing for my Wednesday evening presentation—the one originally scheduled for me to present my PhD research and a second part on “other ways of knowing.” Because people were invited to hear my PhD research, I had to figure out how to not just repeat the previous presentation for the students who would be in both classes or decide to join the other session (due to some references I mentioned in the morning class which would be addressed in the Wednesday evening session).

Staffan dropped me off at the guest house, and he went back for his evening class sessions. The power went out, so I read by candlelight and prepared dinner with the basics in the kitchen. I also decided to take a shower while there was still hot water in the water heater, as one never knows when the power will come back on. It is important to strategize around access to electricity and warm water.

With blessings,

Beth