2017.10.29: The end of the first block

The Swedish higher education system is a bit strange for me and my academic administration sensibilities. In the economies of scale, it is easier to have fewer terms to schedule and to process registration. Yet, here, we have 2 terms (like semesters, but semester here means vacation), and each term has two, 10-week blocks. And there are summer reading courses. So, basically, we have 5 quarters with 4 periods to schedule.

The first block is coming to an end this next week. I had one exam last Friday, for the first course on computer-aided biblical research where we learn Accordance software. Before this course, no one besides me owned a biblical research software program. Now, we’ve entered the 21st century! (But not yet on our academic learning management system. UGH!)

This week, I have more exams in Intro to the Old Testament and biblical Hebrew. However, in the Intro to the OT, there are 4 students who couldn’t make the mid-term, so they will take the mid-term and the final consecutively. Also, any students who did not pass sections from the first mid-term will retake those sections. Then, students who didn’t pass the exam last year can show up to take it. I have one who notified me, but I could end up with more. So, I have to give 3 different exams for 1 course. Each exam that is given has to be offered 3 times in the first 12 months! Students have 5 times to pass the exam (or portions of the exam connected to a course goal). If they don’t pass the 5th time, they can ask for another adjudicator to check their exam. If not earning a pass, then they have to take the course again. As tuition is free, they don’t have to pay again. So, there are lots of carrots but not a lot of sticks.

The challenges for me is that the exams are written in Swedish. So, I have to make 3 exams different and in Swedish. I’ll have to ask colleagues to proof them tomorrow for Tuesday’s exam.

Last week, the last session in Into to the OT was the book of Esther. So, we had some fun in a “competitive story telling” engagement of the book. I put the numbers of the 9 chapters on plastic bottle tops to pick randomly out of a basket. (With all my plastic tops, Anya said, “Sometimes I don’t know if you’re teaching college or kindergarten).  Then, pairs of students had 8 minutes to prepare their retelling (in Swedish, so I miss quite a bit of the humor). Everyone voted at the end for the best storytelling, and we had a tie. It is a good thing I had 2 bags of chocolates. And yes, they all shared. Here are some highlights.

It was a fun end of the lessons.

My former PhD advisor was in town that afternoon for a conference at the University. The Nordic Institute for Mission and Ecumenical research partnered with the exegetical theology departments. Knut read a paper. Not only was it great to be there and support him, I keep on learning and being inspired by his work–as were the others.

In the evening, we were all invited to a Chinese hot pot dinner that was paid by the university! I was fortunate to sit across from the senior statesman of the Old Testament department at Uppsala University. We had met before, but on this day, he invited me to give a seminar at the university. He heard that I had presented a seminary at Lunds University, which hopefully was for good reasons—not because I’m some sort of a loose cannon.

I presented part of what I gave at Lunds University to my colleagues at JTH on Wednesday. We have quarterly research seminars where faculty members share what they have been working on. It was good to share my theoretical framework for multi-epistemological exegesis. I learned more about the history of theological education in Sweden and what has influenced the continuation of traditional of historical-critical exegesis. My colleagues are very supportive of my perspective of trying to broaden the conversation, especially including Majority World voices. They said that it is probably easier to have an American do this than it would be for a Swede. So, perhaps I’m contributing to the scholarly conversation that may put a crack in the research milieu which does not currently allow for any theological interpretations.

This next week, Anya is on a fall break. She will be having a change of pace, but with only 3 weeks until exam week, she will be studying quite a bit. However, we have plans on Friday to go to Oslo. I’ll be presenting a paper as part of Knut’s Maasai and the Bible research group, so I’ll see Knut again. Anya and I will have two nights in Oslo, and providentially, we are booked into the same hotel as my former PhD student colleague, who is now teaching OT in Stavanger. She was the bright one of Knut’s students. She is teaching both Greek and Hebrew along with OT book courses.

I am teaching Hebrew, but I’m feeling a bit sorry for my students. I don’t think I am the best Hebrew teacher, and 6 weeks into the course, I realized that I need to prepare a Hebrew to Swedish vocabulary list each week. Oops. I haven’t found a Hebrew-Swedish lexicon in the library, so I’m slowly compiling an Excel spreadsheet from a Swedish Hebrew grammar book.

Today, I opened our apartment door for Anya and I to go to church (an hour later, because we just are adjusting to daylights savings this weekend), and we had a reminder that we are in student housing. There was a broken beer bottle just outside our door.

I swept it up for safety sake, and headed off to church.

A colleague from work who also attends that church asked me if I’d be interested in leading an English Alpha conversation group. For a university town, I’m a little surprised that this church doesn’t have other English ministries besides translation of the morning services into English. Perhaps we are a bit too far from the university (1.5 km), though we are not too far from student housing (.5 km). This seems like it would be a mutual blessing, so I said yes.

I also spent some of the day figuring out if I can go to Minnesota after the Society of Biblical Literature conference in Boston in mid-November. My mom’s health is deteriorating quickly. We did have a very nice week together last July, but I would also like to say goodbye and be there to support my Dad a bit. However, I haven’t been able to find an available flight back on the dates I need. I am flying British Airways, but all the economy, deluxe economy, and even all of the business seats that I checked were sold out. I’ll have to see if there are any options to make this work. I have my Christmas-New Year’s tickets set, and we’ll be in Duluth in the New Year, but my physician sister doesn’t believe my mom will last more than a month. So, say a quick prayer for my mom. We know she will be with Jesus. I’m just praying for a transition that is as gracious and painless as possible. There still is loss, but there is comfort knowing that she will be free at last.

So, we walk by faith, not by sight.

Beth