Life in the GST
So I'm in what is known as the GST--the Graduate School of Theology. It's a community of sorts, with most of the members living within 3 miles of campus. Not only do we live close to campus, though, we also hover around it like gnats. At the library, the Bible building, the crazy new statue in front on the east side of campus--I'm constantly running into fellow GSTers. Considering there are over 100 of us, that's not too surprising. So the GST is a major part of my life these days (though not all of it), and yet most of you, my loyal reader(s), are completely unfamiliar with the GST. So here are some interesting factoids about the GST to give you a little glimpse into this major facet of my life.
1) One of the buzz words around the GST is "theological reflection." It's everywhere! I hear it constantly--every professor, every class. Sometimes I even dream I am Tom Cruise's character from "A Few Good Men," interrogating a Jack Nicholson-esque Bible professor. He says, "And then I want you to do some reflection on that." I ask, "Theological reflection?" He replies: "Is there another kind?"
2) It's a man's world. There just aren't many females in the GST, for obvious reasons; they're outnumbered something like 5 to 1. But the ladies we do have are dynamic, spiritual, smart, and interesting--so they do all right. And they really make it a nicer place to be. God knew what He was doing when He made Eve.
3) One of my favorite places on campus/earth (the two seem remarkably identical the longer the semester goes on) is the "Theological Reading Room" on the 2nd/3rd story of the library. At any given moment during library operating hours (and sometimes even when it's closed), a person can find at least one fellow grad student hanging out in the theology section of the library. It may be the single most important non-being in the creation of community among the members of the GST. Sometimes we even see professors up here!
4) More importantly, sometimes we see professors emeritus up here too. Most notably, I'm thinking of my college's legend of a professor, guy by the name of Ferguson, who "wrote the book" on just about every subject. Literally. In fact, he wrote the textbook that I read every week for my history class. Pretty impressive stuff, really. I mean, sheesh, if I knew as much as him, I wouldn't even have to take the class. We keep daring each other, on those rare and thrilling moments when he strolls by, to walk up and ask him to sign our books. Whew, what a thrill that would be... I'll definitely keep you posted on that one.
5) It's a staging ground. When I was in undergrad, I sometimes got the feeling that college was primarily an end in itself--a journey all its own, meant to go on indefinitely. That is of course pure fantasy, even for an 8-year-track person, but a powerful and pervasive fantasy it was too. Not so of the GST: Although it's a community with established, committed, very "there" people, I have yet to catch the faintest scent of the old lie. The GST is a staging ground, a place of preparation and peace, but one that looks beyond itself to the world beyond and to the One beyond, to the God who transcends all of our schemes and thoughts and dreams, and who has prepared for us things which "eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it entered into the hearts of men*."
*I couldn't use this kind of language in a paper for the GST because it's "gender-specific," an offense expressly condemned. There's a point to that kind of thinking, but sometimes it's just too much of a hassle, both in terms of energy and style. "People" or "persons" just don't have the right ring, and the whole "s/he" nonsense is anathema as far as I'm concerned. Thus, the occasional "man" is, in my book, a venial offense, if any offense even need be taken at all. That's my little isolated critique of political correctness. God bless!
1) One of the buzz words around the GST is "theological reflection." It's everywhere! I hear it constantly--every professor, every class. Sometimes I even dream I am Tom Cruise's character from "A Few Good Men," interrogating a Jack Nicholson-esque Bible professor. He says, "And then I want you to do some reflection on that." I ask, "Theological reflection?" He replies: "Is there another kind?"
2) It's a man's world. There just aren't many females in the GST, for obvious reasons; they're outnumbered something like 5 to 1. But the ladies we do have are dynamic, spiritual, smart, and interesting--so they do all right. And they really make it a nicer place to be. God knew what He was doing when He made Eve.
3) One of my favorite places on campus/earth (the two seem remarkably identical the longer the semester goes on) is the "Theological Reading Room" on the 2nd/3rd story of the library. At any given moment during library operating hours (and sometimes even when it's closed), a person can find at least one fellow grad student hanging out in the theology section of the library. It may be the single most important non-being in the creation of community among the members of the GST. Sometimes we even see professors up here!
4) More importantly, sometimes we see professors emeritus up here too. Most notably, I'm thinking of my college's legend of a professor, guy by the name of Ferguson, who "wrote the book" on just about every subject. Literally. In fact, he wrote the textbook that I read every week for my history class. Pretty impressive stuff, really. I mean, sheesh, if I knew as much as him, I wouldn't even have to take the class. We keep daring each other, on those rare and thrilling moments when he strolls by, to walk up and ask him to sign our books. Whew, what a thrill that would be... I'll definitely keep you posted on that one.
5) It's a staging ground. When I was in undergrad, I sometimes got the feeling that college was primarily an end in itself--a journey all its own, meant to go on indefinitely. That is of course pure fantasy, even for an 8-year-track person, but a powerful and pervasive fantasy it was too. Not so of the GST: Although it's a community with established, committed, very "there" people, I have yet to catch the faintest scent of the old lie. The GST is a staging ground, a place of preparation and peace, but one that looks beyond itself to the world beyond and to the One beyond, to the God who transcends all of our schemes and thoughts and dreams, and who has prepared for us things which "eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it entered into the hearts of men*."
*I couldn't use this kind of language in a paper for the GST because it's "gender-specific," an offense expressly condemned. There's a point to that kind of thinking, but sometimes it's just too much of a hassle, both in terms of energy and style. "People" or "persons" just don't have the right ring, and the whole "s/he" nonsense is anathema as far as I'm concerned. Thus, the occasional "man" is, in my book, a venial offense, if any offense even need be taken at all. That's my little isolated critique of political correctness. God bless!
posted by Peter Rice at 7:00 PM
6 Comments:
Do you remember that man who went to court to try to remove "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance? I saw him interviewed sometime after that incident, and his new cause was introducing a gender-neutral pronoun: "re." Maybe it's the answer to your stylistic woes.
thats ridiculous. re is far too commonly used as a prefix to be a pronoun too. he should have at least picked something less confusing: like ve or ke. if it was me i would have picked something that no one would be sure how to pronounce: like xe. that way it would never actually stick in spoken language. then when all the gender-sensitive numbskulls insist that we start referring to God as xe, even his pronoun would have that enigma of being unpronouncable. theologians could write books about it, and thousands of years later theology grads would spend countless hours in libraries trying to discover its etymology and intonation and accents and all that stuff.
well good luck peter. hope god is blessing you there.
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At Harding Grad we usually write our papers in Courier New becuase most of the teachers have read themselves to near blindness and can appreciate the large font. That said, I find the genders sensitive "men AND WOMEN" or "he AND SHE" etc. to be a little space consuming. Even the thirty page papers sometime don't give enough space. Not opposed to gender expressive language sometimes, but man it can eat away space in a Courier New paper.
Also, I have discovered recently a tad bit of pride in the male species recently. Yesterday, I was jogging through one of the neighborhoods near our apartment taking my time and enjoying the fall foliage. However, I turned a corner and met up with a female runner. The funny thing was, in that moment, all I could think of is, "I cannot let this GIRL pass me." She was about my age and I see her jogging all the time (which means she's way better at it than me). So, forget fall foliage, it was now all about not letting a girl pass me. I almost had a cornary staying ahead but I accomlished my task. Maybe next time, I'll just pretend my shoe lace is untied and kindly let the girl pass by as I take care or a potential hazard in stopping to tie it.
Glad you're enjoying Grad School.
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