This post lacks a witty Subject line.

[hermionesviolin]

Reading more Brueggemann is bad for my blood pressure. We're starting prophecy on Monday in Joel's class, so i'm really tempted to ask him what his take on Brueggemann is, because my impression thus far from Brueggemann's book is that he and Joel have very different interpretations of, oh, everything.

In one of her e-mails during our correspondence re: the Brueggemann lecture, e.carr mentioned "Brueggemann's focus on mystery and the immensity of God" and wrote:

What I did like about Brueggemann's talk was his focus on the "thick text or narrative," as well as on the words of the liturgy; and urging us to truly enter into them, take them seriously, and let them transform and embolden us and our world. What I also like about his book PROPHETIC IMAGINATION is his focusing on suffering and his belief that God weeps (I agree) and his lamenting the fact that we as a culture do far too little weeping over suffering and injustice. Perhaps we can't even weep. Along that line, I like the essay "The Courage to Pray" by German theologian Johannes Metz. In it, Metz talks about the need for us to bring our honest feelings to prayer, be they feelings of anger, rage, sorrow, or whatever passion. This essay is found in a little book with the same name, and contains two essays: this one and one by Karl Rahner, entitled I believe, "Why Pray to the Saints?"

I like those ideas (and given my issues with intercessors, i'm interested to read the Rahner essay) but i'm not seeing them in the book so far, and what i am seeing is a lot of reading stuff out of context and also some bad Marxism. But maybe that's just me.

Work today was even slower than work on Monday. I got much praise, nonetheless.

Illinois' most recent e-mail was still less than helpful, but i filled out the forms anyway so i could finally drop off packets with my recommenders. Skarda was actually in her office, so i ended up there for 45 minutes. I had forgotten how defensive/inferior she can make me feel. But she's writing me letters of recommendation and they will be solid ones.

Bugger UCSD. "E-mails requesting online letters of recommendation will be sent to your recommenders when you submit the application." That makes me wanna finish their application first, though it actually has the latest of the deadlines -- February 18. UC-Davis and U-Iowa are due Dec. 1, so i really should do those first. UPenn and Rochester are Dec. 15, so given the hell that will be my life after Thanksgiving what with final papers and all, i would really like to get those apps done before Thanksgiving as well.

In news of no consequence:

A very "special" dictionary. by lily22
Look up:
Definition:	Junk mail; the sender of such mail.
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Comments

given my issues with intercessors

[onwingsofeagles.livejournal.com]

Mine as well -- I was having dinner with Alison (age 5) the other night and she had gotten a package in the mail for her birthday (this month). Her mother has a friend, Sister Sadie, who is a nun somewhere who has been a spiritual friend/guide, whatever, and does beautiful caligraphy which I've seen around the house. Anyway, the Sister sent Alison a small icon of the Mother of Perpetual Help (I think that's correct), and a card. I read the card to Alison, at her request, and Sister told Alison that when she felt bad inside she could talk to the Blessed Mother and she would comfort her (or something along those lines.) Since Tina (the mom) was home, I was doing my imitation of background, but is was very entertaining to watch Tina struggle -- cuz how the heck do you explain these things to a 5 year old? Alison said, "will she talk to me?" And Tina said, no, but then tried to think of how to explain it and Alison wandered back to me, having retrieved her beloved Blanky along the way. I wrapped Alison in the blanket and told her that when she felt bad she sought comfort from her blanky, and would feel better, and that if she felt bad when she didn't have blanky, she could pray to Mother Mary, and Mary would comfort her inside, sort of like that, because Mary was always watching over her. I sort of choked because while I have come to value Mary, it is in a very mystical way, and I would never, of my own accord being having that conversation. I would say the same thing, but about God. That's the whole point of Yahweh, in my mind, one can rage and argue and struggle with God, as opposed to the Eastern view where "God" is something very much not a person. And of course, I believe that God is much bigger than anything we can get our imagination around -- but, hey, for a 5 year old, I'm willing to simplify! Anyway, I was kind of proud of myself for finding a metaphor she could understand.
In a "it's cosmic" aside, the book I gave her (in the spirit of Phyllis) is Old Turtle, which is a tale about religious tolerance. Kind of made me smile.

[hedy.livejournal.com]

One of the Obnoxious Americians current living with me teaches at UCSD's med school

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

That's unfortunate. The guy i hung out with who's finishing up UCSD's Communication program (the program i wanna do) seemed very cool.