People are doing these theological confessions all over the place, so hey, why not?
I confess: I love Reinhold Niebuhr. I can’t say exactly what it is, but it’s probably what Hauerwas calls his “no bullshit style.” He just says what he means. If you ever want to read a book where you can know where you stand in relation to it, read Moral Man and Immoral Society. But please don’t stand in aggreement with it.
I confess: I hate the idea of a Bible college. If I had to work at one (and I hope I don’t ever have to), I’d much prefer my father’s job (Groundskeeper) to a professor’s job.
I confess: I wish I was still a Pentecostal. And not in the Danny Saunders “once a rabbi anywhere a rabbi” sense. I wish I could still lift my hands and speak in tongues.
I confess: I learned more theology in my Advanced Writing English class than I have in any theology course.
I confess: I was hell-bent on going to Portland Bible College for a long time.
I confess: Ever since I read The Catcher In The Rye I have had a hard time trusting/believing people who take themselves seriously. This includes most theologians. As a preparatory measure, I try very hard not to take myself seriously. This makes it difficult to see how I’ll ever make a decent theologian.
I’m sure I’ll think of some more soon.
I confess that I am shocked – shocked! – to hear that you learned more theology in advanced writing than in theology classes. Repent!
I blame my tutor.
No need to repent! First, Adam had Domani Pothen, who is a potent thinker – not only in literature and writing but in theology as well. Second, I came to theology via English literature. I was trained at Wheaton College under the tutelage of Roger Lundin. Yale Divinity School says that they look for English majors, and for good reason. Literature and writing majors know how to read and write, and these are the fundamental building blocks of good theology. (That sounds elementary, but it’s really important.)
You’re one of my favorite people, Mr. McInturf. This is a good exhibition of some reasons for that fact.
Ryan, you stole my old picture! That reminds me, I confess that if there were enough of it to keep me sufficiently occupied, I would probably read nothing but Raymond Carver for the rest of my life.
And David, I confess that I often wish I had been an English major (a 90 percent discount at Multnomah is real tough to see your way around though!). The most influential classes in my undergrad after Domani’s were without a doubt Doug Schaak’s two American lit classes (the only place I’ve ever come in contact with Jonathan Edwards, probably America’s greatest theologian).
I confess: I’ve watched 9 episodes of Lost season two in the past two days.
I confess: I hated 28 weeks later, which was a huge disappointment, since most of my worthwhile theological ideas have come in response to Zombie movies.
I confess: I both hate and am thrilled by the fact that I’m probably going to end up at Multnomah for seminary, which would make for at least 24 years living within a six block radius of the school.
I was most interested in your confession about wishing you were “still a Pentecostal.” I sort of hint at that here: http://faith-theology.blogspot.com/2007/05/encounters-with-tradition-1-from.html
thankyou for sharing adam. you’ve inspired me to blog a confession of my own
Aaron -
I read your post enthusiastically when it first went up, and left a comment. One of the things that was so bewildering for me towards the end of my stay at that church was the fact that the various charismata (specifically speaking in tongues) that had at first come to me as a gift, as something that I was yielding to, had become something that seemed entirely at my disposal, that I could just turn on and off like a faucet. And I had no idea of how to get back to that place of giftedness, since it wasn’t me that got me there in the first place. So I just decided to stop doing it, since it was turning into something like a spritual calisthenic, and I was sure that wasn’t the point.
Wait, why are you staying at Multnomah for grad work?
I suppose I’m a little different, but I always liked the Harper theology classes, but crazy enough, perhaps the best theology classes were in the history classes that were oddly enough, strictly history.
Hi Adam, Thanks for sharing this very personal expereince. Yes, it is hard to be “childlike” after being burned by Holy Ghost fire.
David –
You’re right, we’ve got to put Scalberg in there too. Reformation europe is a phenomenal class. And I’m with you on Harper – he’s great. But I think in class he is sadly constrained by the curriculum, so that he can’t really run on and say what he wants to. But I didn’t have him for ecclessiology and eschatology, and I hear that’s his baby.
As far as multnomah goes, there’s so many factors going into it. One of the biggest ones is that I want to stay at my church. And Multnomah’s seminary is just getting better. Of course there’s Metzger, but they’ve also just hired two new guys, one who did the semitics program at U.C.L.A. (where Sailhamer went), and one who got his Ph.D. in Historical Theology at Oxford. And they just merged with Western. And I get a 90% discount because of my dad. So yeah, even if it doesn’t carry the most clout carreerwise, who the hell wants a carreer?
Fuck careers!
Hey, Love the confession, and I feel a certain kinship; three of those I probably would have made myself. There are some experiences in life that I know to be genuinely true and want to get back to and others that are almost true, I hate the latter but I live in those more.
Pretense is a bitch…I liked your last confession, speaks to my hope that I will someday be truly humble and less afraid.