classes
One week of school down, umpteen to go... I'm really excited about my classes this semester. They all look amazing and the professors are all really accessible, friendly people that I'll actually get to know! It's a nice change from my 80 person New Testament class. I've got two lectures and two seminars, except the lectures are both small groups, so they're almost seminar like and I have no sections. That thrills me to no end. The downside of picking four amazing classes that I loved is that I have class every day... but only for 50 or 80 minutes. So, it's a lot of back and forth on the bus for not so much class time. I'm hoping that it spurs me to a) go to the gym, b) sit in the library and do work and c) be more social. We shall see. No tests, four research papers and weekly reflections for each class... but no midterms or finals on top of research papers. AND everything will be done and turned in before I go have surgery (cause it has to be.. it's all due beforehand) so no stressing about work or incompletes while I'm recovering.
My courses:
Feminist Cross-cultural Perspectives on Belief and Practice with Susan Abraham - Susan was my undergrad advisor back at Bonaventure and I'm so thrilled that she's here. The class looks great, the people in it are terrific and I'm really looking forward to seeing where it goes.
Introduction to Christian Worship with Matthew Myer Boulton - I was pretty active in various roles in the catholic liturgy from about fourth grade through college, so I'm looking forward to finally being able to put some theology of worship alongside those experiences. Plus, we're watching parts of movies and he's just a fun, great guy.
Public Christianity: Poverty, AIDS and Criminal Justice: Seminar also with Matthew Myer Boulton - Beyond having a really awesome syllabus, this course is really pressing the role and responsibility of Christianity, both in creating and alleviating these "crises" as MMB is calling them. It was insanely popular, with 35 people or so showing up and presumably all applying to get in. He took 16 or so. There's also a little strategizing going on on my part. In the spring MMB is teaching a seminar I would absolutely love to be in, so I'm hoping to establish a relationship of some sort and express my interest in that seminar early on. Plus, none of my professors from last year really know me all that well, so I'm really looking to build relationships that will be fruitful for PhD applications and letters of recommendations.
Gender, Sexuality and Human Rights: Seminar with Monica Maher - 36 people showed up to shop this 12 person seminar with Prof. Maher who is a Women's Studies in Religion Program visiting scholar from Union Theological Seminary. Again, the syllabus is really exciting and she had Leslie Feinberg, Justin Tanis and Virginia Mollenkott on the recommended reading list for the first class.
Now, to the reading!
My courses:
Feminist Cross-cultural Perspectives on Belief and Practice with Susan Abraham - Susan was my undergrad advisor back at Bonaventure and I'm so thrilled that she's here. The class looks great, the people in it are terrific and I'm really looking forward to seeing where it goes.
Introduction to Christian Worship with Matthew Myer Boulton - I was pretty active in various roles in the catholic liturgy from about fourth grade through college, so I'm looking forward to finally being able to put some theology of worship alongside those experiences. Plus, we're watching parts of movies and he's just a fun, great guy.
Public Christianity: Poverty, AIDS and Criminal Justice: Seminar also with Matthew Myer Boulton - Beyond having a really awesome syllabus, this course is really pressing the role and responsibility of Christianity, both in creating and alleviating these "crises" as MMB is calling them. It was insanely popular, with 35 people or so showing up and presumably all applying to get in. He took 16 or so. There's also a little strategizing going on on my part. In the spring MMB is teaching a seminar I would absolutely love to be in, so I'm hoping to establish a relationship of some sort and express my interest in that seminar early on. Plus, none of my professors from last year really know me all that well, so I'm really looking to build relationships that will be fruitful for PhD applications and letters of recommendations.
Gender, Sexuality and Human Rights: Seminar with Monica Maher - 36 people showed up to shop this 12 person seminar with Prof. Maher who is a Women's Studies in Religion Program visiting scholar from Union Theological Seminary. Again, the syllabus is really exciting and she had Leslie Feinberg, Justin Tanis and Virginia Mollenkott on the recommended reading list for the first class.
Now, to the reading!