September 2008 Archives

Anna Fink

Dr. Mark Schuler

Honors

29 September 2008

Coming to It

It is especially now, before the elections, that talk of the war seems everywhere. I was able to see some various opinions on the issue protesting each other. On Labor Day this fall hundreds of people gathered outside St. Paul's capital and protested the war. People held signs that shouted, "Make out, not war," and the like. Just down the street another group rallied; their signs read, "Let our troops win." These different opinions both revolved around the issue Maya Angelou brings light to in her poem, "A Brave and Startling Truth."

We have been told in our honors class this year that there are four different types of truths: subjective, relative, objective, and absolute. Subjective truths change for each individual person. They can be summed up in the phrase, "It's true for you," and have close ties to postmodernism. Relative truths only exist when there is another object to compare it to. Objective truths are testable. Absolute truths hold true no matter what the situation is. A list a basic truths has been made, evaluated, and mentioned over and over again in this class. These basic truths fit into the absolute truth. They are true universally.

While I was reading the poem, it became apparent that Maya Angelo wanted her startling truth to be listed as one that fits into the absolute category. I believe she was referring to the universal "love." Love for what? She urges love for others. She begs for peace. "When we let the rifles fall from our shoulders, and children dress their dolls in flags of truce," this is when we come to love. This is when love becomes apparent n the world.

I do not completely agree. To have a truth we learned it must correspond to reality, and just my eighteen years here have taught me that there will never be peace. Sin taints this world, but does that mean that there is no love? Her universal truth is correct. Love is a brave and startling truth, but she is trying to say that we can only come to love once the world is at peace. There will never be a global overtake of love where everyone puts others first, but love can happen to individuals. Maya Angelo's dream is wonderful, but not realistic.

Anna Fink           

Dr. Schuler

Honors

26 September 2008

The Value in Words

                Black and white are opposites. Traditionally black has been thought of as the bad, in contrast, white has been thought of as the good. When these two colors are mixed, they become gray. Who's to say that gray is right or wrong, good or bad? In the 20^th century, a remarkable thing is happening; people are viewing life in terms of gray. No longer are there direct right and wrong situations, instead, there is a gray zone. Vanessa Carlton sings, "Who's to say...Who are they anyway?" This is a model for those of the postmodern generation. This is a time of questioning.

There are basic rules an English sentence must follow. There must be two basic parts, a subject and a predicate. In the sentence "This sentence serves no logical purpose," there definitely is a subject and a predicate. The word "sentence" is the subject which the entire sentence focuses on. "What is the sentence doing?" is the question a teacher would bring up next. "It is serving," the student would reply. "The sentences serves the purpose." Most educated Americans would easily dissect this sentence in this way. So why does this particular sentence pose such difficulty to those who read it?

This sentence is essentially a paradox. A paradox is, "mode of writing that enables the portrayal of the contradictory human experience through a more complex and truthful expression" (Taylor 271). Ultimately, it contradicts itself. A sentence that says nothing of value holds no value even though it is grammatically correct. Another could view this sentence as full of insight and truth. "Anything goes with anything, and besides, a clash is just as good as a resolution" (Donoghue 3). It is this that reflects postmodernism.

Postmodernism, in itself, cannot be truly defined.  The best definition that the Encyclopedia of Postmodernism could give says postmodernism refers to a "period label ascribed to cultural products that manifest or display reflexivity irony" (Taylor 304). This means that postmodernism is reflected in the objects that contradict themselves. Examples of this new way of thinking include: the rebellious citizen who hates the government yet expects them to take care of him or her, architecture and art that defies traditional rules, or any medium or person found questioning the traditional rules of modernism.

Dr. Mark Schuler presented his class at Concordia University with the essential points of postmodernism. Each belief is relatable to this sentence in one way or another. This is the fascinating point of postmodernism. It can be manipulated to prove one's point in any way he or she wants it to. One could argue the opposite as well, that this is the downfall of postmodernism. If there is no set right, how can the world work? The first tenet is the emphasis on the question "How?" instead of "What?" How does the sentence stated earlier work in one's mind? This rule shows the unimportance of the details, and this sentence is the perfect example, since there are no details to analyze. The second tenet is a movement away from the third person voice traditionally used for a research paper. A true example of a postmodern writer would be E.E. Cummings. He was known for rarely using punctuation or capitalization.  The postmodern approach, in alignment with the second tenet, would be to ask "Who says that that sentence serves no logical purpose? Why should there be one omniscient voice that people are expected to listen to and believe?" The next rule says that there is a blurring between groups. Does this sentence show favor to postmodernism or mock it? It is hard to tell. There is no clear opinion put forth by this sentence. The forth belief is, "An emphasis on fragmented forms, discontinuous narratives and random-seeming collages of different materials" (Schuler). A sentence that makes no logical sense feels empty. Without a clear purpose it gives the impression that there must be more and therefore it feels like a fragment. (Yet another might argue that this emptiness gives room for interpretation.) To fit criteria of number five, it must have reflexivity. "This sentence serves no logical purpose." The sentence is so self aware that it revolves around itself. The sixth rule states that post modernity is in favor of minimalism. This sentence could not become any less. It is down to the smallest amount while still being able to prove its point. The last tenet wants to get away from the culturally accepted "high" and "low." This sentence has no bias.

This paper serves no logical purpose. That very issue could be argued in the eyes of postmodernism. The entire paper focused around one unimportant little sentence. Would not time have been better spent elsewhere? Perhaps protesting some unruly treatment toward the down trodden. Who's to say that this had any real importance? Black and white are no longer apparent. All things can be argued and changed to show whatever point is desired. Postmodernism is gray.

Work Cited

Denis Donoghue. "The Promiscuous Cool of Postmodernism :The Cool of Postmodernism. " New York Times (1857-Current file)  [New York, N.Y.] 22  Jun 1986,pp 1-3. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2005). ProQuest.  Concordia Univeristy CLICnet, St. Paul, MN.  24 Sep. 2008 <http://www.proquest.com/> 

Schuler, Mark. "Post Modernism, Social Constructions and Relativism." Honors. Concordia University, St. Paul. 22 Sept. 2008.

Taylor, Victor E. and Winquist, Charles E. Encyclopedia of Postmodernism. London: New York Routledge, 2002.  

Notes on Music in Class

                Elizabeth looks over the ocean where her love has just sailed away. The dawn is breaking and the mood in the air calming, but she is filled with loneliness. The city tries to call her back. It tries to kindly remind her of the joy she felt there, and comforts her as she realizes her love is gone, and will never come back.  The city starts to wake. The shopkeeper walks to his store and opens the door, leaving her alone again. A light goes on in a nearby house. Another man in the distance walks outside to feed the dogs. She remembers her puppy, her childhood. She sits at the fountain in the center of her town and stares into the water. Her reflection looks miserable she thinks to herself. How could she feel so much for a man who would never feel for her? She had sat at that very fountain for days and watched his every move. The way he would talk to the other girls. She memorized that look in his eye. And at this very moment she hated it. Why would she do this to herself? How could he do this to her? Did he really not know? The first morning birds begin to sing. The shopkeeper flips his sign to open. More people start to walk about. The smells from the bakery fill the air. But Elizabeth cannot get over her love. Her hatred rises. She stands on the fountain and those about stare at her as she lets out a giant scream. "Theodore!!"Her hands clench and her rage boils, until it overflows to tears. She subdues herself and manages to hold in emotions as she marches back to the ocean. Those awake in the town are too surprised to approach her. She starts to run. She runs until she collapses at the edge of the beach. Knee deep in water, she lets the waves comfort her as she morns the loss of her love.

Anna Fink

Dr. Schuler

Honors

12 September 2008

                Theology is a big word. Webster defines it as "The study of religious faith, practice, and experience; especially: the study of God and of God's relation to the world." Most churchgoers shy away from this word and instead focus only on what they feel their role as church members are. They attend church regularly, sing songs, make an offering, and go about their daily routines. They would rather not study their faith but leave that up to those in power. The pastor and directors of outreach should be the ones to worry over these matters. Theology is not the affair of the common laymen of the church in many minds.  

                Theology is frightening for so many since it is so deep and sometimes seemingly dangerous. N.T. Wright uses the metaphor "staring into the sun" to describe the study of theology. This metaphor seems to be quite appropriate. The human race needs the sun to live. It gives light. Without it food would not be able to grow. All people would be lost. God's word is a light for His people. "Your word is a lamp to `my feet and a light for my path" (Psalm 119:105). The study of God's word is the basis from which one's faith can grow.  "Speaking of God in anything like the Christian sense is like staring into the sun. It's dazzling. It's easier, actually, to look away from the sun itself and to enjoy the fact that, once it's well and truly risen, you can see everything else clearly" (56).

                Digging deep into God's word is an intense experience. God's wisdom is beyond human understanding. How is anyone in this life supposed to grasp him? 1 Corinthians 2:7 says "We speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began." This is what humans cannot grasp, His "secret wisdom," and they are not meant to until they reach glory; this means until they are in heaven.  Another biblical example lies in Job 37:5. "God's voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding."

                Any new or struggling Christian would have been lost by almost the entirety of chapters six and seven. Their retina's burned by the sun's rays. All this talk of the recurring exodus and returning of Israel would make heads spin. The idea that Jesus was bringing God's kingdom yet not making a kingdom for God here is awfully confusing. These readers would most likely feel a lot like the Israelites felt at the time. When people do not see the whole picture, they never quite understand.  No believer, no matter how much theology they study, will see the whole picture until they are with God, glorified in heaven. It is when they understand that they cannot completely comprehend the Bible that their faith can truly grow by God's light.

                It is this reason that this metaphor cannot be taken as law. People should not be scared off by N.T. Wright's wording.  Many Christians are familiar with the term "child-like faith." This refers to how a child will often blindly trust, without questioning if what was said is true or not. If everyone had this "child-like faith" studying the bible would not be as difficult as it is sometimes made out to be. The last section of part two is called "Living by the Spirit."  This is really what being Christian is about. Wright writes, "As Jesus addressed God by the Aramaic family word Abba, Father, so Christians are encouraged to do the same: to come to know God in the way in which, in the best sort of family, the child knows the parent" (137). This should not be a strenuous relationship.

                Wright's book can intrigue the curiosity of its readers. It may start the desire for many to investigate the Bible more. In particular, one Concordia University St. Paul freshman read a selection from pages 67 and 68 of Wright's book multiple times, to multiple friends. "When they [the Israelites] came to the word YHWH, they would say ADONAI (which means "my Lord") instead. As a way of reminding themselves that this was what they had to do, they would sometimes write the consonants of YHWH with the vowels of ADONAI. This confused some later readers, who tried to say the two words together... they created the hybrid JEHOVAH." The student was stunned. Even though she had attended eight years of Christian day school and four years of Christian high school, she had never heard this before. This made her wonder what other mysteries were contained in the history of the church.

                "And it is when we understand Jesus, I shall suggest, that we begin to recognize the voice whose echoes we have heard in the longing for justice, the hunger for spirituality and relationship, and the delight in beauty" (69). This is probably the best connection that N.T. Wright makes to join the points from the first section Echoes of a Voice and the second Staring into the Sun. It pushes the point that the answers to life's questions are found in God's inspired word. Exploring the Bible, and studying theology would better answer the questions that every human feels.

Work Cited

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2008.Merriam-Webster Online. 10 September 2008 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/theology