So this picture pretty well describes what Sameer has been doing for the past two months. Literally. He didn't have that beard when he sat down, and you can't see it here, but there is actually a bucket of food and a catheter under the desk. Yes, it's THAT important not to break the concentration. In all seriousness - for all you hangers-on who are still checking the site - we do apologize profusely for our negligence with the blogging.
School has kept Sameer very busy -- in addition to his classes, he's working on Ph.D. applications, all of which are due this semester. So there are papers to finish early, professors to impress, and a grand unifying theory encompassing all of reality to invent. Right now, he's particularly engrossed in Schleiermacher and Kant. The former is widely regarded as the precursor to modern liberal theology, but he is really too complex to be shoved into that category, and I (Sameer) am finding him to be an innovative and brilliant theologian, albeit methodologically misguided in my opinion. Kant, too is usually thought to be all about reducing religion to morality, but my views about him are changing too - I am becoming more convinced that he has not completely broken with his pietist roots, and that his attempts to do philosophical theology ("within the limits of reason alone") are not an attempt to either dismiss or encroach upon the task of the biblical theologian.
The issue which has been occuyping most of my theological reflection since I've arrived here is the intersection between religious experience and ecclesiology. How, precisely, does God make himself known through the corporate life of the Church? On first blush, it doesn't seem like all that complicated a question, but when we really think about it, we come to see that the "how" is a BIG question. When we understand what we *are* as the people of God and when we do whatever we *do* as a result of that, what should we expect it to look like for God to be in it, and outwardly *manifested* through it? We shouldn't confuse who we are and what we do with the presence of God which comes through those things - so what, for us, *is* that presence? This is crucial not just for our participation in Church, but also for how we think about our engagement with the world. How does the God who is for us make himself known as God to *them* through us? Schleiermacher spells out the manifestation of God in terms of religious feeling, whereas Kant stresses the experience of God as a practical postulate of the moral life...
Anyway, take a deep breath and pick your brain up off the floor...
Whitney has found a temporary full-time job at the Yale School of Management, which is in walking distance from our apartment (she walks a mile every morning - once the snow flies, we'll have to buy ice-skates). Anyway, I guess I should mention what she does there. She teaches advanced courses in corporate finance. Just kidding. Actually, she's doing Internet research and editing of reports that describe the compliance of 83 countries with international standards and codes. It's so great! That's just what she's always *wanted* to do! Anyway, she *does* get to be involved in Yale's contribution to globalization (look out, Thomas Friedman). So anyway, it's causing tension in our marriage. I jest - in reality it's harmless (unlike Thomas Friedman), and it's just for the paycheck. Which reminds me... she's been working for three weeks and hasn't GOTTEN one yet. We can't decide whether to chalk it up to the shabby mail system we've experienced here so far, or whether she accidentally accepted the position as volunteer work. She'd really rather be working at an animal shelter. Actually, she would like to find a permanent position at Yale somewhere closer to the liberal arts, in order to keep her job from draining the assets of her soul. Something in the music dept. would certainly keep it in the black...
We are thankful to have found Christ Presbyterian Church, where we have been regularly attending since school started. As members of the Deprived of Motor Vehicles club (DMV), we were very happy to find that the church was in walking distance from our apartment. Don't worry, proximity was not the deciding factor - we pass several OTHER churches on our way! ("Yeah, but the First Church of Zoroastrian Midget-Wrestlers is *right there!*" ...). Anyway, Christ Pres. seems to be a vibrant community of believers whose lives really are connected with one another, and we have enjoyed fellowship with a group of graduate and professional students. We have lunch every Sunday after church, and some relationships are beginning to develop. One of the girls is a harpist at the School of Music and she recently got us free tickets to a Yale Philharmonia concert at New Haven's Shubert Theatre. We enjoyed a Debussy piece and a Shostakovich symphony, but we were absolutely MESMERIZED by a Saint-Saens piano concerto featuring pianist Ryo Yanagitani.
In addition to our fellowship with the grad group, there are small groups that meet weekly and right now we're just trying to figure out which one we ought to attend. For those of you who are at Faith Community in Santa Clarita, our groups seem to be intended to accomplish much the same thing as the fellowship groups at Faith. Outreach also appears to be a priority. An example: they have weekly community dinners open to the public where some controversial social issue is posed as a topic for public discussion, with the intention of drawing unbelievers into relationships with us through issues they care about.
Whew! For those of you who are actually still reading this, the last thing we can tell you about is our 2nd anniversary, for which we took a fantastic weekend road trip (no, we didn't hitch-hike; we rented a car). It was utterly spontaneous, and quite refreshing, but don't worry, we shan't turn a long post into a novella. We'll let some pictures do the talking (along with some captions where...uh... we do the talking - again, I guess. Blast - that sounded better in my head).
Before leaving New Haven, we drove to the top of East Rock Park, where we surveyed our quaint city from on high. The leaves are just beginning to change here in what is locally called "foliage season." Note the road on the left - it's called "Whitney Ave." I like to call the river, "Sameer."
We drove an hour north to Mystic, CT. The pizza is much better than the movie. (Whitney: "I LIKE the movie" -- Sameer: "Ahem. The pizza is MUCH better than the movie").
Instead of springing for a chartered sailboat ride, we just took a picture of one.
We did, however, spring for a night at the Admiral Fitzroy Inn on Thames St. in the heart of Newport, RI - the first resort town in the U.S. We happened upon this place while wandering around the city looking at shops near the wharf. It was a very charming place with a lovely room and a delicious breakfast.
We took a jaunt along the "cliff-walk" in Newport, where we saw several mansions along the coastline. Built by wealthy southern plantation owners as "summer cottages" after the revolutionary war, these massive structures were only lived-in for about three months out of the year. Beautiful, but a bit disconcerting having spoken to a homeless person just the night before.
Penguins! These little guys are indigenous to Rhode Island, where they are contracted by the state to care for the above mentioned mansions. Their bid won out against the seals, probably because they showed up to the interview in tuxedos. Fooled you! On our way back down toward New Haven, we stopped at the aquarium in Mystic and were entertained by these fellows, along with some spectacularly trained sea-lions, who regaled us with what was practically a magic show.
To get a feel for what has been happening since then --- see the first picture and paragraph above.