Anya wasn’t feeling well, so she stayed home to rest, and when feeling better, to work on her online English course. She got a bit behind with our travels to Sweden.
I bused to MHS. I’m happy to have figured out a way to walk down the hill in the morning and take the #3 bus to Stavanger. It means switching buses at the bus station, but as long as it is not rainy or too cold, it can work slick. Today, I had a little run to catch the #2 bus at the next stop about 100 feet away. Yesterday, it meant waiting for 15 minutes.
Today was the dissertation defense of Steffan. He is the philosophy lecturer that is at Johannelund Seminary (which I visited earlier in the week), filling in for 1 year while their regular prof is on sabbatical. The defense is quite a formal occasion, including a procession of the candidate, the three “opponents,” and the rector (translated as principal by some–but think on the university level). This is a valuable experience for me to observe in order to see what my future will hold and to learn how to respond in an optimal fashion to difficult questions.
After the formal introduction and description of the process, Steffan gave a 10 minute overview of his research. His dissertation is entitled, De Incarnatione Filij Dei: Jerome Zanchi (1516-90) and the Analysis of Reformed Scholastic Christology. Then for 45 minutes (which seemed longer–perhaps because this is highly technical theological philosophy) the first opponent brought challenges for discussion. This was followed by a 45 minute break (Whew! time for tea.), and then there were 2 opponents from the audience. This is a public defense, so anyone can challenge the defender through a formal request process. They get 10 minutes. The second opponent then had her 45 minutes of challenges and conversation.
I was impressed by the caliber of the opponents. The first is a professor emeritus, with a teaching career that included Regent College in Vancouver. I studied there twice in intensive courses over the summer and one extension course in Seattle. So, later I introduced myself and talked a bit with him. The second opponent is a Pfizer Award winner!!! The Pfizer Award is awarded annually by the History of Science Society “in recognition of an outstanding book dealing with the history of science.” The 2010 winner was Maria Rosa Antognazza, for her book Leibniz: An Intellectual Biography (Cambridge University Press, 2009). She is a Professor and Head of the Philosophy Department from King’s College London. I can’t imagine being a PhD candidate and learning that one of your opponents is a Pfizer Award winner! (Fortunately, this won’t be possible for me!)
As you can tell by her name, she is Italian. So, all except one of the participants in the defense were communicating in there second (or third?) language.
It ended up that I was able to have lunch with this group, invited by Steffan. Unfortunately, Maria Rosa was at the other end of the table, so I didn’t have a personal connection with her. However, I sat across from LarsOlof, the Professor of OT at Johannelund, where I visited earlier this week. So, it was nice to have a collegial colleague to talk with.
After lunch, I walked with LarsOlof to the bus terminal for him to catch a bus to the airport, and I grabbed the #3 bus home in rush hour traffic. Then, I came home and read the Wikipedia article on Leibniz to put him into a fuller context. I knew he was the one who coined the term “theodicy” but I didn’t know that he is considered to be an developer of calculus independent of Newton’s development.
I’m mentally and socially exhausted, so I’m glad to be home and resting. Anya is doing better.