Month: September 2017

I’ve been busy and haven’t made the time to write for quite a while. But today I had to share something a little bit exciting: an English language interface for my online banking! I chose my bank last year because it had English on its website. However, once a member, all the online banking was in Swedish, and most banking is online in Sweden and we rarely use cash. Today, when I went to pay my Swedish bills through my bank, there was a new interface. At first, I’m frustrated, because I’m trying to do the tasks I learned how to do with my limited Swedish, and my vocabulary does not have a lot a Swedish banking terms. Then, I found a little Union Jack British Flag and almost jumped out of my seat! Now I can do online banking in English! Yes, I won’t be needing to learn all those Swedish banking words, but when it is important transactions, like banking, I like to know what I’m doing.

I’ve been working most of my spare moments on a paper that I will be presenting at the University of Lund on Wednesday. I fly in and out the same day. Both the Old Testament and New Testament folks will be together for this seminar. I’m trying to graciously challenge the “science” paradigm that is required for all academic biblical studies. Then, I relay that this opens us up to merge different epistemologies (ways of knowing) that are able to engage the Majority World. I have quotes from three Society of Biblical Literature presidents spanning 30 years, so I know that I’m not alone in these concepts. But they don’t live in Sweden. I’m basically challenging the theoretical framework of the whole discipline! My call for multi-epiestemological exegesis not only allows authentic conversations with the Majority World, it also allows engagement with faith and supernatural aspects of Scripture that are downplayed or avoided in Swedish scholarship. I also think that my appropriation of Paul Hiebert’s “centered set” theory to evaluation of legitimate, valid, and plausible interpretations (using Daniel Patte’s terminology) is a contribution to the conversation. There are a couple students here who have heard of my pending presentation and have already started praying for me! How cool!

Then, when I was working on the paper last night, my “doctor father” (former PhD adviser) emailed with a question. I had been thinking that I would really appreciate some feedback on my draft, and so I replied that if he had time, I would welcome his critique, but I made it clear that he could easily say no with all of his busy life. He graciously and quickly gave feedback and encouragement. I am so blessed.

Tomorrow morning, I give a mid-term exam to my Intro to the Old Testament course. However, it has to be written in Swedish. I try my best to prepare a good version, and then I asked my colleague, Elin, to proof my Swedish. Wow, writing Swedish is humbling. Fortunately, Elin is a great help. (If only she could grade the essay questions too! But no!)

On the way to Elin’s apartment, I paused for a picture of some of the building in our neighborhood.

Here are some highlights of the last couple weeks.

A few quick notes about Anya. She has her countdown to test week outside her door. She is serious about her preparations with a plan for what to study each week. She was elected onto the CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) Council, and she is the coordinator of the tutoring program. With her focus on her studies and extra-curriculars to strengthen her university applications, she has decided not to continue with pole vaulting this year. It does make life less full. She bought a used knitting machine and is figuring it out. She makes great chocolate chip cookies!

Back to revising my paper with Knut’s recommendations.

With blessings,

Beth

The second Saturday of September is Culture Night in Uppsala. It actually is a full day of about 600 events with art, music, dance, fair food, and 175,000 people spread out through down town. It is also the day that the museums are free! I have visited some museums around here, mostly with visiting guests, but out of the 28 museums in Uppsala, there are a few that I have wanted to see. Today, I went out solo and saw 2 of them.

I made a bee-line to the cathedral to get one of the limited tickets for a free short tour of the cathedral treasury in English. With ticket in hand, I had about 40 minutes to eat at one of the food trucks by the cathedral. There was a Greek place, so I ordered a gyros. I should have been a little skeptical, when I saw the photo that showed that french fries replaced the lettuce and tomato. The meat, instead of rotisserie beef and/or lamb, was pork, to be exact, bacon.

The tour of the treasury was interesting. As you can expect, there were many gold communion chalices (the most ornate ones were war booty from Germany and Poland from the 30-years war) and old bishop chasubles and other liturgical vestments. The treasury also had the crowns and scepters that were originally buried with King Gustav Vasa (who was a victor in the 30-years war) and two of his three (consecutive) wives. (The third wife was only 18 years old when Gustav Vasa died.)

My favorite item was Nathan Söderblom’s Nobel Peace Prize.

There aren’t a lot of these in the world, and here is one before my eyes. He was awarded this for his work in the ecumenical church movement, as he is described as one of the founders of it. In light of changes in the world, I think this will not be another one awarded for a similar reason!

After the treasury, I wandered toward the river and decided to visit the Upplands Museum, which also is open and free today. The other benefit is that there are very few public toilets, but the museums (not in the cathedral) have free access. I am amazed that with and estimated 175,000 people, there aren’t rows of port-a-potties around. Perhaps, this a way to encourage everyone to pause for fika or lunch, and then take advantage of the restrooms.

The Upplands Museum had several exhibits related to the history of this area of Sweden, but especially Uppsala. This is the part I found most interesting. It included several maps over the time, with a miniature models of the city and a less miniature model of the cathedral.

Uppsala used to have a large bicycle factory that produced 300 bicycles a day. The first bicycle in Uppsala is on display, but the factory was later, producing the standard two same-sized wheeled bicycles.

I took a little walk through the main square and down the main walking street to check things out and pick up a few groceries. And then, I was ready to head home.

The events are still going on, but this was enough for me today, especially since rain was forecast for late afternoon, and I have things to do.

While I was away, Anya was with our German friend from church who teaches in the engineering department at the university. She had offered to meet with Anya and show here some things with Matlab (MATLAB [matrix laboratory] is a multi-paradigm numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language). This was what Anya wanted for her birthday, and she had been learning it, but with expert help, Anya was excited to develop a project for her school work. Cool!

I arrived home to an email from the editor managing my book production. The cover and inside printer’s pages are ready for proof.

This is the last step before going to the printing presses in Germany.

The other portions of the day included the morning work to confirm that I was one of the Equifax people with hacked information. It is harder to work on credit freezes and things from Sweden, as very few here have a landline to make a secure phone call.

I’ve got writing to do, so that’s planned for the rest of the evening.

With blessings,

Beth

Classes actually started on the 24th of August after 3 days of faculty and staff workshops, which was followed by the new student orientation and a concurrent “preaching week” for returning students. I think we ended up with more registered students than the two main University-based theological programs in Uppsala and Lund, but I’m not quite sure what the final results were as there are always several students who don’t show up. There is no deposit or tuition installment with a “free” (taxpayer funded) university education, so there aren’t any real firm numbers in Sweden, unless it is a highly selective medical school program and the like.

Here’s a glimpse of one of my classes. I have a few sessions on inductive methods for exegetical theology (“Keys,” for you LBI/Trinity folk). Here, my decoder glasses are an illustration of how the lenses we have influence what we see in the text. The red lenses reveal a message that is not very distinguishable otherwise.

I am doing a full year of teaching Old Testament to the Bible school students. So, I was part of last week’s day trip for a retreat. I can track the topics spoken (except the Bible school director talks really fast), and during the drive, I practiced some Swedish with a couple of the students and understood enough to stimulate some laughter (or perhaps they were just laughing at me). It was a beautiful day in with some nice places for walking and quiet time.

Thus, life has been full, and so, I’m a bit tired. I’m getting things done well, but I know they could be even better with some more time, especially more Swedish on my PowerPoint slides. The Swedish translation preparation takes quite a bit of work, and I can’t ever imagine being effective in the classroom in Swedish. Fortunately, most students seem to be willing to work with me, and even several have indicated that what I bring to their learning is worth engaging, even if the English adds a bit of challenge to the lessons.

Because most of my professional reading and writing is in English, most of my thinking is in English. So, I know it will be a longer, slower language development process. Much of the academic world in Sweden beyond the first 1 or 2 years in the undergraduate level is in English. In fact, today, I was invited to present my PhD research at a conference in Oslo in November, where the majority of the papers are in English (with my Norwegian PhD adviser being the only Norwegian presentations).

Tonight, I’m grateful for all those who encouraged me, supported, helped, and prayed for me through these past few years. It has been 7 years since Eric passed (30 Aug), and there were many who walked with me and Anya through the grieving, the PhD challenges, leaving Trinity, a major downsizing, and international move. Thank you!

With blessings,

Beth

Things have been a bit busy the last several weeks with the start of school and publishing deadlines. If by chance you would like to be notified of when a new blog has posted—rather than checking on occasion—just email me or add a note to this blog. I can add you to an automatic notification email, and you can unsubscribe easily whenever you want.

Today, I finished the indexes for my manuscript that is a revised copy of my  dissertation. I now know how to work with Microsoft Word indexing functions, and compiled both a subject index and a Scripture index.  Below i’s the summary of my 238 Scripture references, with only 4 from the New Testament! The 4 main texts were from Exodus 20, Exodus 34, Numbers 14, and Deuteronomy 5, so they are the most referenced.

Genesis	4
Exodus	67
Leviticus	3
Numbers	31
Deuteronomy	60
Joshua	2
1–2 Samuel	1
1–2 Kings	3
1–2 Chronicles	5
Nehemiah	2
Job	3
Psalms	19
Proverbs	4
Isaiah	5
Jeremiah	6
Lamentations	1
Ezekiel	7
Daniel	3
Hosea	1
Joel	1
Amos	2
Jonah	1
Nahum	2
Zechariah	1
John	1
Colossians	2
Revelation	1