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Seatbelt Blue

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Posts posted by Seatbelt Blue

    Interview went well; can I divine a decision?

    in Interviews and Visits

    Posted

    I'm told you don't get an interview unless you're a strong candidate. BC invited me for a skype interview last week, and told me it would be about 20 minutes long and mostly about what I wanted out of grad school and what I wanted to do with my education. That's exactly what it was.

     

    Are interviews usually more intensive? I was expecting a bit more of a grilling, if you will. It felt pretty pro forma and I thought it went very well.

     

    And at the end, I was told I'd have a decision in a couple of weeks.

     

    Is it possible to tease out if this was a formality or what?

    Career plans?

    in Religion

    Posted

    @Seatbelt Blue and @Body Politics: I just could not agree more with you that this gap between the Church and the Academy has to be closed. I am applying to study literature and theology so that I can teach at the college level, but I also really feel called to develop deeper and more accessible Christian adult education programs. I think the arts have a unique ability to enhance Christian discipleship training, and so my long-term goal is to some day teach at a Christian college while developing and teaching adult education programs in churches that utilize the arts as a means of engaging meaningful theological inquiry. 

     

    I also think the Church has a general responsibility (and opportunity) to be a force of education within society. For example, churches often can (and therefore should) provide literacy and basic budgeting courses for those who might benefit from such instruction. I think something I have been realizing over the past few years is that I would like to use my degree to empower others in the Church to share their own intellectual resources to benefit the community. 

    Awesome! We should all keep in touch as we move forward in our educations. This might be a bit of a burgeoning network.

    Boston College Interview tomorrow!

    in Religion

    Posted · Edited by Seatbelt Blue

    Thanks. He told me what you've been telling me all along -- that my GRE and seminary grads far outweigh my poor undergrad performance. The entire thing took about 20 minutes, and felt a little pro forma. All we did was discuss what I wanted out of graduate school, why I wanted to attend BC specifically and study for the MTS specifically, and what I want to do with my degree in a ministerial sense, considering their emphasis on real-world practical application. 

     

    I asked a few practical questions about research possibilities, publishing by students, and accommodation for my autism, which he seemed to think would be pretty easy to work out.

    Career plans?

    in Religion

    Posted

    @Seatbelt Blue -

    I would love to do something like that with Saturday classes or week intensives. There's such a terrible gap between the academy and the church (even the ministers!) and, while I think MDivs help bridge that a bit, it would be even better to offer some sort of free or low-cost opportunity to provide good, life-long learning for people in the ministry, as well as those who are simply interested.

    Yeah, that's more or less my plan. I think people need to be able to own their faith instead of just winging it. I'm not expecting everyone to be a scholar, but there has to be more than a basic understanding in this day and age. I'm looking at this from a Catholic perspective, where our catechesis is pisspoor and most of my fellow Catholics couldn't begin to tell you what we believe or why we believe it. But I'm looking for something beyond just "fix our catechesis;" I want to be able to make understanding the faith part of the patrimony of the regular believer. It shouldn't be locked away in a tower.

    Career plans?

    in Religion

    Posted

    I want to be a research professor, but I have this zany idea to start an ecumenical people's seminary. Basically, we'd offer ultra-low-cost courses at multiple levels for people who can't afford or aren't interested in full time schooling in Christian scripture and theology. It would also include free childcare during classes and free tutoring for kids, so it's a ministry on a few different levels.

    What's your dream degree? Anywhere, anyone...

    in Religion

    Posted

    Yeah, Benedict never had a whole lot of experience as a pastor, and was always much more the academic theologian. He's always been in positions where his job has been the articulation of ideas, and once he became pope, much more was asked of him. He did his best, and I think he's going to go down as, say, a Lyndon Johnson of the papacy. Grand ambitions beyond his reach, a good man who made questionable decisions, but who always sought after the good.

    What's your dream degree? Anywhere, anyone...

    in Religion

    Posted

    I doubt it's Alzheimer's, but it could be. I deeply suspect it's because it's a job he never wanted which he didn't expect to hold for so long; he picked his name in large part because he expected a relatively brief papacy, and has no interest in being pope until he's 93. At this point, he'll have been pope just under eight years, which is about the length of the last Pope Benedict's papacy.

     

    This is a guy who tried to resign from active life when John Paul II was still kickin', and wanted to retire in 2005 and go write books for the rest of his life. And then they went and made him pope. And God dammit, he gave it his all, and now he's 85, tired, using a wheelchair on occasion, missing major liturgies now and then, and I think he just wants to go home. 

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