Skip to main content

Texas, Here I Come


Oh boy! Only a few more days, and the group leaves for Big Bend National Park! We may encounter some black bears, poisonous snakes, or scorpions. Ugh, I hate bugs. I wouldn't mind the bears and snakes so much, but scorpions really freak me out.

Well, I've finished Mrs. Dalloway since my last post, in addition to William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. Both are written with stream-of-consciousness style, however Faulkner's is much more difficult to understand. Both are excellent novels, worth reading (you'll have to really concentrate on Faulkner's, though).

We've also read sections of Augustine's Confessions, which, I must admit, I didn't really enjoy. Now in another class we're reading Pascal's Pensees, which I also don't like. I cannot justify Pascal's reasoning. I cannot accept some of his presuppositions.

On the other hand, I'm reading Beowulf (Seamus Heaney's translation), which is even better this time around than the first time I read it. In my Novel class, we're reading a postmodernist novel by Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49. I'll be sure and bring it to Texas with me if I haven't finished it by Monday.

Finally, I have my advisory appointment tomorrow, so I should have next year planned out. Woo-hoo! I'm hopefully moving into a single room next semester. It's only 120 dollars more per semester, and there is quite a bit more room in them.

Good times, friends, good times.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Many Will Enter Heaven?

Check out this quote I found online: "[C]onsider this fact: fewer than 20% of people actually think they are going to hell. And yet, in answering that question, Jesus says in Matthew 7 that FEW pass through the gate that leads to eternal life. 80% doesn't sound like few to me... do some of us have the wrong idea?" There are a number of problems with this quote. First of all, you it is assuming that "few" refers to the current ratio of professing Christians to non-Christians. What's to say that Jesus isn't referring to the entire population of all the earth over all time? In that case, it's entirely plausible that 80% of people now are really Christians, as long as there are still few total Christians when all is said and done. Maybe it applies only to the people in the crowd listening to Jesus. Or, it could refer to something else entirely (as I believe). Jesus was talking to a specific people living in a specific time. We cannot decontextualize his ...
11 comments
Older Posts »

Sunny California

I'm settled into a church family's house here in Valencia, and boy is it great. I like listening to my pastor talk about theology. He is also a wonderful counselor, and has been helping me work with some of my personal problems (yes, I know it's hard to believe, but I do have problems). Here is his blog site, if anybody is interested: The Craw . Also, here is the website of my church, along with its blog: Saint Andrew's Community Church , The Chronicles of Saint Andrews . In the meantime, I have been reading The Shape of Sola Scriptura by Mathison, who also wrote Given For You . Both of these books have had an enourmous impact on me, and I strongly encourage all of you to get out and read The Shape of Sola Scriptura , particularly if you've ever struggled with the authority of the Bible, and how it squares away with church tradition. The thesis is that most evangelicals treat the issue of the Bible and tradition wrongly, particularly those in radically reformed chu...
9 comments
Older Posts »

On the Biblical Mandate to Respect Authority

The SC choir chaplain brought up a passage in 1 Peter at the beginning of this week regarding submission to authority. It led to interesting conversation, and I'd like to reiterate part of that conversation here. 1) It is important to remember that the early churches who passed around these letters had a very practical use for them. The early church could have easily been stomped out had the early Christians been too anti-government. True, the church was persecuted. True, the church did get into trouble with the government. However, remember that the persecution happened for short bursts of time (historically speaking) and only in isolated areas. It was by no means universal persecution. Additionally, when you look at other early Christian documents, you see more injunctions to work with the rulers. And why not? The early church needed all the support it could get, while not compromising, of course. If they were all outspoken government radicals, they would not have lasted long. 2)...
8 comments
Older Posts »