a reason to start a blog
So I am finally writing my first post.
Though the inclination comes and goes in spurts, I have always committed myself to never starting a blog. I knew that for me it would become highly self-indulgent exercise. I knew that throughout the day I would find myself concocting witty anecdotes and quips to share with the predicted 1,000+/day audience members, who would rush home from work/school to see if I had posted anything, and then chuckle in relief when they found that I had. "Oh Katelyn," they would sigh collectively. "Your gentle and quirky humor never fails to astound us." And I knew that I would also rush home everyday to see if anyone from my fan base had posted a comment to remind me of this fact.
As you can see, this blog has already fulfilled what I expected would happen. But I now, finally, have a justifiable, concrete reason for starting this thing, aside from self-indulgence: I am in Oxford, England. I have been living here for two weeks now and will be studying at Oxford University until the middle of December. I am here with a Calvin-endorsed study abroad program called Best Semester studying theology in general, and more specifically, the works of neo-orthodox theologian Karl Barth, and philosophical aesthetics. In the word of the loveable George-Michael Bluth of Arrested Development, "Yipes." The work load will be astounding.
Several folks have asked why I have chosen to continue my studies, considering that I have already graduated from Calvin and don't need the credits, not to mention the continued academic strife. In many ways, all I can say in response is, "your guess is as good as mine." There's a part of me that wonders if this detour is not my subconscious scaredy-cat acting up at the thought of bucking up, buckling down, getting a job, deciding on a grad school, and basically avoiding my quarter life crisis before it comes. And I will heartily acknowledge that staying an extra semester for "intellectual enrichment and valuable life experience" has alot to do with being from one of the richest societies in the world in which the myth of traveling to Europe to "find yourself" is pervasive. Maybe I'm just towing the postmodern and grossly spoiled American college student line after all.
But then my instincts return and I remember that I have journeyed to Jolly Old for a distinct purpose. A while back, in the winter of 2005, I had the great privilege of interviewing and speaking with Fleming Rutledge, a renowned preacher and author who was at Calvin to give a lecture for the January Series. One of the first women ordained in the Episcopal Church, Rutledge stands at a unique ideological crossroads between the New York intellectual elite and orthodox Christianity, and is one of the most dynamic and soul-shaking preachers I have encountered. After hearing her preach and speaking with Rutledge myself, the loudest thought I had for several weeks after was, "I want to do that, too." I had realized since being at Calvin that it was deep in my bones, to think, write and talk about God - that it was my heart's "deepest gladness," as Frederick Buechner would say. And now I finally had somewhat of a Fleming-shaped blueprint for how I could make sense of that passion and spend the rest of my life pointing to the Kingdom with my spoken and written words.
Which brings me back to Oxford. I'm here to read alot, write alot, talk alot and essentially get my butt kicked academically, as a kind of precursor to going to graduate school and learning how to write and talk about God. Yes, it sounds a little vague, and no, the plan's not set in stone, but yes, it is still so worth it - to be in this quiet and hauntingly beautiful city, to have 8,000,000 books at my fingertips, and to be able to stand (though precariously) on the shoulders of some of the most brilliant Christian thinkers of our time who have been in this same place - I don't see how I could end up regretting it in the end.
Won't you join my fan base?
p.s. - Also, about 8 percent of the reason I am here is to go on my own English Ale Tasting Tour, which I am documenting on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. I am up to five new ones.
Though the inclination comes and goes in spurts, I have always committed myself to never starting a blog. I knew that for me it would become highly self-indulgent exercise. I knew that throughout the day I would find myself concocting witty anecdotes and quips to share with the predicted 1,000+/day audience members, who would rush home from work/school to see if I had posted anything, and then chuckle in relief when they found that I had. "Oh Katelyn," they would sigh collectively. "Your gentle and quirky humor never fails to astound us." And I knew that I would also rush home everyday to see if anyone from my fan base had posted a comment to remind me of this fact.
As you can see, this blog has already fulfilled what I expected would happen. But I now, finally, have a justifiable, concrete reason for starting this thing, aside from self-indulgence: I am in Oxford, England. I have been living here for two weeks now and will be studying at Oxford University until the middle of December. I am here with a Calvin-endorsed study abroad program called Best Semester studying theology in general, and more specifically, the works of neo-orthodox theologian Karl Barth, and philosophical aesthetics. In the word of the loveable George-Michael Bluth of Arrested Development, "Yipes." The work load will be astounding.
Several folks have asked why I have chosen to continue my studies, considering that I have already graduated from Calvin and don't need the credits, not to mention the continued academic strife. In many ways, all I can say in response is, "your guess is as good as mine." There's a part of me that wonders if this detour is not my subconscious scaredy-cat acting up at the thought of bucking up, buckling down, getting a job, deciding on a grad school, and basically avoiding my quarter life crisis before it comes. And I will heartily acknowledge that staying an extra semester for "intellectual enrichment and valuable life experience" has alot to do with being from one of the richest societies in the world in which the myth of traveling to Europe to "find yourself" is pervasive. Maybe I'm just towing the postmodern and grossly spoiled American college student line after all.
But then my instincts return and I remember that I have journeyed to Jolly Old for a distinct purpose. A while back, in the winter of 2005, I had the great privilege of interviewing and speaking with Fleming Rutledge, a renowned preacher and author who was at Calvin to give a lecture for the January Series. One of the first women ordained in the Episcopal Church, Rutledge stands at a unique ideological crossroads between the New York intellectual elite and orthodox Christianity, and is one of the most dynamic and soul-shaking preachers I have encountered. After hearing her preach and speaking with Rutledge myself, the loudest thought I had for several weeks after was, "I want to do that, too." I had realized since being at Calvin that it was deep in my bones, to think, write and talk about God - that it was my heart's "deepest gladness," as Frederick Buechner would say. And now I finally had somewhat of a Fleming-shaped blueprint for how I could make sense of that passion and spend the rest of my life pointing to the Kingdom with my spoken and written words.
Which brings me back to Oxford. I'm here to read alot, write alot, talk alot and essentially get my butt kicked academically, as a kind of precursor to going to graduate school and learning how to write and talk about God. Yes, it sounds a little vague, and no, the plan's not set in stone, but yes, it is still so worth it - to be in this quiet and hauntingly beautiful city, to have 8,000,000 books at my fingertips, and to be able to stand (though precariously) on the shoulders of some of the most brilliant Christian thinkers of our time who have been in this same place - I don't see how I could end up regretting it in the end.
Won't you join my fan base?
p.s. - Also, about 8 percent of the reason I am here is to go on my own English Ale Tasting Tour, which I am documenting on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. I am up to five new ones.
posted by Katelyn | 4:12 PM
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