You may have noticed this blog has been rather silent for a long time. The end of last spring’s term at Gallaudet was, as always, a busy one! Over the summer, I got wrapped up with other projects and ideas. And every time I went to clean out the inevitable spam comments, I would say to myself, “I should post something.” Unfortunately, that’s as far as it got. The fall term at Gallaudet was unexpectedly chaotic as well, I endured another kidney stone and had a number of travel events. That, of course, left me rushed to keep up with course development and teaching.
With a new year, I’m aiming to make weekly posts again and here’s some things I have in store.
I. A Deaf Ministry Together series of posts.
Part of of the motivation to begin this blog was a hope that Deaf theology and Deaf ministry topics could be shared and discussed. This series will begin next Friday and post every other week.
Planned topics include:
1. Clergy burnout and leadership overload
2. Laity leadership
3. Deaf ecclesiology or, just what is a Deaf church anyway?
4. Theological and Biblical literacy
5. Oppression, Liberation, and being Deaf in the 21st century
6. A dearth of resources, a hope for ecumenicism
7. Cultural worship and liturgy
II. A series of unfortunate posts
One of my earlier attempts at a blog had begun examining the moral agency of children in A Series of Unfortunate Events. Unfortunately, the whole iDisk system for blogging that Apple had created was discontinued before my series of posts reached its conclusion. So I’m going to port them over here and edit them. And seeing as Lemony Snicket has begun a whole new series revealing more about the mechanism of the VFD, we’ll see about branching into that as well! This series will run on the weeks that Deaf Ministry Together does not.
III. Ask a question, get an answer
I get asked questions. I guess it comes with the territory of being an assistant professor of religion, but people will occasionally say things like, “I hope you don’t think this is a dumb question, but…” Usually, they’re quite good questions! People get odd ideas about religion, theology, and life because of the general unwillingness of American culture to truly discuss and examine religion rather than simply teach doctrine or debate without listening. These posts will be an occasional feature when these questions pop up. And if you have a question, ask it! I’ll be pulling up questions from time to time that have been asked of me in the past that make good posts too. As always, my answers are simply one answer of many possible answers.
Anonymous says:
I look forward to reading the new stuff!
Regarding deaf ministry and the hope for ecumenicism, one thing I would love to see you address is what happens when deaf people switch denominations or religions not because of an actual change in belief, but simply so we can attend a house of worship where people sign. (I can’t be the only person who has done that, right?) For people in that situation, how can we respectfully participate in services when our theology is drastically different, and to what extent should we disclose our actual beliefs? And, other than pestering the rare tolerant individuals like you who are willing to answer even blasphemous-sounding questions, what’s the best way to deal with the frustration of not having a clue about some of the fundamentals of a religion even after attempting to read up on it?
Speaking of not having a clue about some of the fundamentals, here’s a question that might be suitable for “Ask a Question, Get an Answer”: Can you please explain exactly what is intended when a priest draws a cross on someone’s forehead, as in the case of either baptism or Ash Wednesday? I assume the intent is NOT to say “May you suffer the agony of crucifixion”, but what it IS supposed to signify isn’t clear to me. Obviously it has something to do with Jesus being crucified, but beyond that I haven’t been able to puzzle it out. I find it disturbing and bewildering.
Kirk VanGilder says:
The symbology of the cross is something I’ll get into around Good Friday/Easter time. (As I just mentioned in the Lent post!) You’re right (in my view) that it’s not about saying, “Welcome to suffering!” but rather something more like, “The suffering you will encounter is not the last word on the matter.”
As a sneak preview…the crucifixion doesn’t make sense at all without the resurrection. Yet, there’s something about the crucifixion that makes the resurrection comprehensible as well, so, theologically speaking, we can’t just do away with the presence of suffering in our lives either. Ignoring violence doesn’t make it stop happening.
And yeah, the ecumenicism in Deaf ministry is a multilayered topic. There’s a post from my old blog I’ll be incorporating into this at some point that adapts “Mona’s Law” from Armisted Maupin’s Tales of the City. Mona’s law states that between a hot job, a hot lover, and a hot place to live, one will only ever be able to have any two of them at the same time–but never all three. I’ve often felt that between a liberal openminded community, a deaf community, and a church community, I can find any two of the three, but never all three at once!
Anonymous says:
Thanks for explaining a bit about the symbology of the cross.
Based on what you wrote, I’m wondering if a big part of my problem with church in general and Lent in particular is that I don’t believe in resurrection. Do most Methodists genuinely believe in it as an actual, physical phenomenon? Obviously, I’m aware that the official church position is that Jesus’ resurrection really happened. However, I thought the official church position on resurrection was like the official church position on gay pastors that we recently discussed, i.e., something that OTHER Methodists may believe in, but that hardly anyone I know would take seriously.
If you believe in it yourself, could you please explain how it’s supposed to have worked? I can’t figure out how Jesus is supposed to have escaped the irreversible brain damage that usually occurs within 3 minutes of being without a heartbeat. The only people I can think of who have been resuscitated after much longer than that are people who have fallen through the ice on frozen ponds and drowned. Their brains survived because the cold preserved their brain cells, which doesn’t seem likely to have been true in Jesus’ case, given the climate in the Middle East. Is God supposed to have injected some kind of preservative into Jesus right before he died, or what?
Holding off on answering until around Good Friday/Easter would be fine. I realize I’m jumping ahead of the calendar here, and should still be focused on figuring out how to get through Lent.
I love Mona’s Law and your adaptation of it! It’s certainly been true in my life. I’m just grateful now to have a deaf-friendly church that I can attend (at least for approximately 38 weeks a year) without doing anything that directly conflicts with my beliefs. It seems like a reasonable compromise.
Kirk VanGilder says:
Well some religious things are simply considered to be mysteries. And the mystery of it can be turned over with a variety of scientific style explanations or hypotheses but they remain…a mystery. Or, as some say it, a miracle.
These mysteries and miracles are things that are ultimately beyond our understanding at this point. It doesn’t mean they forever will be, but that they remain there for now and perhaps can be left there. For many Christians, its not the ‘is it factually true and provably so’ sort of questions that determine the importance of a mystery or miracle. Instead, it’s somethng more like the character of Shepherd Book, from the sci-if series, Firefly says, “It’s not about making sense. It’s about believing in something. And letting that belief be real enough to change your life.” Which is just one of the more brilliant things that show, created by an avowed atheist, Joss Wheedon, has to say about religion and belief.
Anonymous says:
So, basically you’re saying that Jesus’ resurrection is like what’s written on the blackboard in this cartoon.
I can live with that, but I’d still love to know what percentage of local Methodists believe that Jesus’ resurrection was an actual, physical phenomenon. Is belief in that as rare as I’ve been assuming, or am I likely to encounter individuals who believe in a literal resurrection?