Today, I went for a time to talk Swedish with my language tutor, Lennart. Things have been quite busy at the end of one term crashing into the next term with only a weekend in between, so I have not seen Lennart since November. After I got back from the USA in November, he was off to India. Then I was back in the USA for Christmas and New Years.
I wanted to hear about his trip to India, the land of his birth, his formative years growing up, and many years as a teacher of Greek and the New Testament. (He has taught Greek in 4 languages other than Swedish!) He had been invited to be the commencement speaker at Serampore College, the second oldest college and the oldest university in India. It was founded in 1818 by William Carey and a couple other missionaries. All 56 theological institutions are under the academic degree-granting charter of this institution. This year’s class included 1020 Bachelor of Divinity graduates!
Then there was a surprise! Lennart was given an honorary doctorate in acknowledgement of his 50 years of theological education in at least 4 countries: India, Thailand, Indonesia, and Sweden. I’ve seen at least 2 of the books he authored, one in Thai and one in Hindi. Wow!
I was so excited for him, which was a little gift from an American. The Swedes have the cultural practice of jantelagen. On Wikipedia, it is defined as:
Used generally in colloquial speech in the Nordic countries as a sociological term to describe a condescending attitude towards individuality and success, the term refers to a mentality that diminishes individual effort and places all emphasis on the collective, while simultaneously denigrating those who try to stand out as individual achievers.
So, Swedes often don’t know how to congratulate people, especially for academic achievement. There is no commencement-like ceremony at JTH, just a special chapel service for those who are completing their pastoral training. There is nothing for those completing a bachelor’s degree! There are no caps and gowns, as they would be too pretentious.
Last year, I initiated the first award in exegetical theology (biblical studies) for the outstanding bachelor’s thesis for the year–if one is of excellent quality. I explained to the faculty that without honors awards (all those cum lauds), it is hard to distinguish students for applications to graduate programs outside of Sweden. This was one award to put on an application.
Now, if it is sports or pop culture, especially music, there are prizes and glory in Sweden–in addition to the grand Nobel Prizes.
Today, I got to celebrate Lennart.
With blessings,
Beth