The word "sabbatical" comes from the word for "sabbath," implying rest. And so the irony is rich that on the first day of my sabbatical I was awoken with a phone call at 2:00 am from a neighbor letting me know that this had happened:
(Um, no...I did not park the car that way)
Yes, a drunk driver (a celebrating Seahawk fan, no doubt) decided to play a little pinball up and down our street, and managed to hit not only one, but both of our cars...and another car down the street...and a number of trash cans, before getting arrested. So instead of starting my sabbatical with a contemplative prayer, or a piping hot cup of coffee and profound theological meditation, I began Monday morning at my local auto body shop chatting with an insurance adjuster.
However, I am not to be dissuaded or discouraged! Tuesday I still trekked up to Philly for my first seminar. The class looks like it will be great--about 10 students in total in the class so we'll have lots of time for discussion and presentation. Even the commute was not so bad. It's true, I'm in the car for about 3 times as long as I am actually in the seminar, but I can also take the train sometimes and sleep/read/sleep. It's an early morning but one morning a week ain't so bad. Here's some pictures of the WTS campus:
There's also irony in the fact that I'm studying at Westminster, since WTS was actually a seminary founded by profs that broke off from Princeton Seminary, my alma mater, in the early 1930's. The history between these two institutions has not always been the friendliest, with PTS generally dismissing WTS as grouchy fundies, and WTS generally disdaining PTS as crazy liberals. As usual, the truth is more complicated than the labels.
There's lots of reasons why WTS is a great place to study the particular subject I'm interested in. For one thing, WTS is a place where John Calvin looms large and influential, and as one scholar has written that Calvin (all his caricatures notwithstanding) taught a message that, at its core, was "a gospel of adoption." Secondly, Westminster is named for and guided by the Westminster Standards, which are the first statements of faith in the history of the church to give the doctrine of adoption special attention. Thirdly, the professor I'm studying under is an expert on the topic, one of the few people in the country who has written on the theology of adoption on a scholarly level.
There's also irony in the fact that I'm studying at Westminster, since WTS was actually a seminary founded by profs that broke off from Princeton Seminary, my alma mater, in the early 1930's. The history between these two institutions has not always been the friendliest, with PTS generally dismissing WTS as grouchy fundies, and WTS generally disdaining PTS as crazy liberals. As usual, the truth is more complicated than the labels.
There's lots of reasons why WTS is a great place to study the particular subject I'm interested in. For one thing, WTS is a place where John Calvin looms large and influential, and as one scholar has written that Calvin (all his caricatures notwithstanding) taught a message that, at its core, was "a gospel of adoption." Secondly, Westminster is named for and guided by the Westminster Standards, which are the first statements of faith in the history of the church to give the doctrine of adoption special attention. Thirdly, the professor I'm studying under is an expert on the topic, one of the few people in the country who has written on the theology of adoption on a scholarly level.
As my studies are just starting to get underway, this is the question I'm reading and thinking about: if adoption is such an important theological concept, why are Calvin and the Westminster divines the only folks to have given it much thought? (And as one scholar I'm reading makes plain, the Reformed tradition influenced by these sources neglects it just as often as everyone else.)
Well, there was one other guy who thought a lot of the idea, and his name was the Apostle Paul. I'll blog more about how he used the idea later this week.
Well, there was one other guy who thought a lot of the idea, and his name was the Apostle Paul. I'll blog more about how he used the idea later this week.
