First, join me in prayer for my sister-in-law, Barbara, who is starting treatment for recurring non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, along with her care-givers, her husband, and daughter. Lord, have mercy.
It was the 3.25 hour faculty meeting today. I’m tracking a bit better with the Swedish, but I’m still not good enough to feel good about understanding enough. So, faculty meetings still are a low point each month. I’m coping by not working at home tonight after a full day.
I do need to correct my understanding on my previous post about a student with about a year’s worth of unfulfilled courses. I guess I was mistaken to think that students actually need to complete courses. Yes, there are a few key courses, like the bachelor’s thesis. But if one isn’t pursuing the priest training with the Church of Sweden, then basically, you just need to complete a certain number of credits–with the bachelor’s thesis. It doesn’t matter that you leave a year’s worth of credits undone (which would be Fs or incompletes that turn into Fs within 6 months at my prior institution–and absolutely destroy a GPA). This is mind boggling to me.
My hermeneutics course has only 6 hours of lessons, so some students were interested in meeting to discuss more on the reading, especially on Hans-Georg Gadamer’s Truth and Method. So, a few of us met today. There are some highly motivated students who are eager to understand Gadamer, which is quite a challenge. But it was wonderful to see the concepts coming together. We have 50 pages of primary source material and some secondary source explanation. The students have to develop a 4-5 page essay on the tension of modernity and post-modernity in Gadamer’s thought. So, it is a good framework to enter into some difficult hermeneutical philosophy, providing an appropriate struggle within a delimited scope (at least that’s the assessment I hoped to create).
I ended the conversation confessing to students why I appreciate Gadamer; he challenges some of the issues in Swedish higher education that I don’t appreciate, like the expectation that biblical studies in an academic course must be “scientific.” (However, Gadamer does not discuss the fact that one doesn’t have to complete courses or pay the GPA piper).
Last Thursday, Donna and Lennart invited me to walk around Uppsala on the first night of a light festival. There were 10 art installations that incorporated lights. Here are three of my favorites:
This building (formerly a mill, I think) is now a museum. I think part of Fanny and Alexander was filmed inside, so they artists were putting the film back inside but seen from the outside!
This one was cool! The illumination of variegated colored string with black lights in the darkness of night was surreal!
On Saturday, I actually went back through the walking tour of light exhibits with my former colleague, Marie, her husband, and daughter. (I didn’t tell her I had done the walk, so it was enjoyed again like a first time. Then they could make their own path, and I could enjoy being led.) Marie just left JTH after 28 years, and I will miss her as a coworker. She invited me to a concert before our walk. There was a concert of Gabriel Faurê’s Requiem as part of All Saints weekend at the cathedral. The solos were sung by two of Sweden’s famous opera singers. It is a beautiful requiem.
On Sunday, Marie sang in the Cathedral Ensemble for a special celebration of the 50th anniversary of the World Council of Churches meeting in Uppsala in 1968. There were a few people who were youth in attendance and returned for the special ecumenical worship service. The executive council of the WCC participated.
The preacher said that Martin Luther King, Jr. was scheduled to preach at the conference in 1968, but he was assassinated a few months prior.
The worship service was in English!!! Yea! Though there were songs in Latin and in Swedish.
On my way home, I saw this:
So, things have been busy with work. I’ve averaged over 51 hours these past two weeks, and I still have grading that will keep me busy on the weekend. At least there have been some social things for a bit of renewal. I do miss Anya, but am happy for her. She went with a classmate, Mary, to visit Bristol, a touristy city on the coast. She seems to be doing well.
With blessings,
Beth
Do greet Donna and Lennart for us! Such gracious folks, we remember them well. Loved the light exhibit photos!!