Finally a post about classes!

Posted on October 13th, 2009 under Uncategorized

Classes are in full swing here at St. Andrews and I find myself in a unique position to survey the full spectrum of lectures and tutorials from first year to forth year.  This semester I’m taking two classes, Mind and Reality; and the Revelation of John, Greek Text.

Mind and Reality is a first year philosophy class.  The lectures are in one of the lecture theatres in the Astronomy-Physics building.  I like to think it’s because whoever was organizing the class schedules thought it would be a good idea to put physics and metaphysics in the same place.   The less inventive reason is because the lecture theatres in this building are one of the few places big enough to hold the 160 person class.  Because of the number of students, there is only a minimal amount of class participation during any given lecture.   However, students have the opportunity to discuss the material during tutorials.   The tutorials are smaller discussion groups that meet once a week, usually lead by a graduate student.  There are six of us in my tutorial which means that all of us can contribute during these smaller discussions.

In contrast, my class on the book of Revelation is a four thousand level module, equivalent more or less to a fourth year class in the United States.  There are less than twenty students in the class from my rough estimation.   As opposed to the introductory level at which the philosophy class is taught, this course presupposes greater level of understanding of biblical studies and theology.  This module explores the theological themes, socio-historical background and history of interpretation of Revelation.  I also opted to take this class with the Greek text.  Once a week, several other students and myself sit down with our lecturer to read aloud, study and interpret select passages of the Greek text of Revelation.

I remember when I was younger being scared of Revelation.  I thought it was full of secret codes you needed to survive the apocalypse and get into heaven.  Of course I had no idea what was going on in the book, complete with trumpets and bowls of wrath poured out on the world, so I just hoped none of that stuff would happen in my lifetime because I obviously couldn’t decipher the code.  Now, as I’m learning about Revelation, I’m starting to see much grander themes appear through the once baffling images.

Academic Gowns

Posted on October 6th, 2009 under Uncategorized

Academic gowns have been worn by St. Andrews students since 1672.  Tradition has it that students started wearing gowns so the townsfolk would be able to make sure the students didn’t get drunk!  Since then, the gowns have found a comfortable place among St. Andrews many colorful traditions (no pun intended, well actually….)

Over the four years, students gradually shed their gowns as they get closer to graduation.  First year students, known here as Bejantines or more informally as Frehers, wear their gown on both shoulders.  Second years, semis, allow their gown to slide off the edges of their shoulders.  Tertians wear it off one shoulder, off the right for Faculty of the Sciences and left for the Faculty of Arts.  Interestingly, Divinity students get to choose which shoulder they want to wear the gown on.  The reason for this option is that originally Divinity students were always graduate students, and therefore wore a different, black gown.  And finally, fourth year students, magistrands wear their gown down in the crooks of their elbows.  It is for this reason that your gown should only come down to your calves, because you don’t want it to drag on the ground as a fourth year.

I was unsure how I should wear mine, since I am a bejantine-tertian hybrid.  I opted for the third year off the shoulder approach, reserving the right to switch shoulders at will.  This Sunday University Hall took a building picture out on the quad.  We met at in the foyer of Uni Hall and processed through the town to quad.

Up until quite recently, three students in their gowns formed a procession and could legally stop traffic.  Together we formed a column of red winding its way through the quiet Sunday streets of the town.  After the picture, I joined up with some friends and we headed over the castle ruins to take some pictures.  One of the perks of wearing your gown is that it gets you into the castle for free.  Many thanks to S and J for letting me post their lovely pictures.  I’ll post more of their pictures as soon as I can figure out how to re-size them.

The Finite, the Infinite and the Image of God

Posted on October 1st, 2009 under Uncategorized

Every once in a while I like to dabble in art, to pick up a pencil and paintbrush and try my hand at making a likeness.  When I see the blank sheet in front of me, there is always a pregnant sense of expectation.  Perhaps this piece will be beautiful.  Perhaps this drawing will reveal something of the subject.  But my drawings never live up to my expectations.  I see trees and flowers and dogs and want to represent them, but always fail.  I can never fully express through art what my imagination has planned.

A dog exists in time.  He is alive for a while, he can run and hunt and chase squirrels.  But even if I could draw the most life-like dog in the world, my dog would never breathe.  My image would never bark.  My image is removed from the subject, though it always aspires back to the subject, always trying to get closer to the real thing.  The more life-like my dog, the closer I am on my way to being an artist.  But though I may improve and improve, I will always be approaching the asymptote.  I will always get closer and never arrive.  My dog will still never breather.

As I pondered this I wondered at the relationship between man and God.  God created man in his image.  But like my poor drawings that will never bark, man will never be God.  Man made in the image of God longs for God.  Man longs for the infinite qualities of God that he can never have himself.   And I wondered why God would put man in such a precarious situation, to be always longing for that which he could never have.   What kind of God would put in a finite man the desire for infinity, in a mortal man the desire for immortality?

What a shame that now our most prominent expression of infinite desire is greed.  Greed reflects a bent in man, though at the heart of greed is an infinite desire, and even the knowledge that this infinite desire will never be satisfied.  We pour ourselves into this infinity, trying always to reach the end of the asymptote.

When infinite desire is expressed through greed, the rightful place of infinite desire is lost.  Consumerism and consumption replace humility and love.  When the best things are at stake, the worst things are possible.  Corruptio optima pessima.  Consumerism and consumption drive man to always wanting more at the expense of other resources, taking and eating and destroying, condemning other lives of animals and people to resources and input.  As Buber would put it, exchanging I and Thou for the word pair I and it.  This misdirection of infinity dehumanizes man, for what is at stake in the battle for the infinite is freedom itself through the knowledge of what it means to be human.

What does it mean to be human?  If being human means living out the image of God within us, then how is it possible for a finite man to embrace the infinite?  God himself is infinite, but we are finite.  How can we as finite beings live as the image of an infinite God?

At this crossroads I found the cross.   It surprised me to find that here Jesus becomes what we are so that we can embrace what he is.  Jesus is the mediator of the infinite to the finite, the bridge that connects us to the infinite God.  Within himself he becomes for us a model of what the image can be of the subject.  We cannot become God, but we can become like Christ.  It is through Christ that we can have access to holy infinite that we so dearly hunger for.  In Christ we can be lost in a sea of love and hunger for more, never being satisfied but hungry with a hunger that grows as love itself grows.    Consumerism dehumanizes, but holy infinitude reconnects us to what it means to be human.  Christ grants us access to that makes us human by granting us access to that which makes us free.

I have been becoming more and more convinced lately that freedom is ultimately the expression of what it means to be human and being human is living in the image of God.  An image will always be removed from what it represents, just as we will always be removed from God.  But through Christ we have bridge and a model of what being an image of God means.  We have access through Christ into the holy infinite of the love of God, and when we find ourselves within this love we find that we are free and in this freedom made human.

St. Andrews Cathedral

Posted on October 1st, 2009 under Travel