Romantic Scribbles

Today I’m on campus getting signatures for my Dissertation Prospectus.  For those not familiar with the inner bowels of the academic institution, a prospectus is a short document (mine is about 10 pages) that presents your idea and planned chapters for a dissertation.  It’s kind of weird that I’m this close to the end of my degree, and yet I feel that it is still so far away.  That said I’m excited that all my professors seem to like my idea, and are on board with my proposed topic.

For those curious as to what I’m writing on, here’s a summary:

Wordsworth, British Romanticism, and Theories of Secularization.

For those of you who want a little more:

Basically for the past two hundred years we have operated as a Western society under a certain accepted idea of secularization.  Following the Enlightenment and the rise of science there was a general belief held by many that religion was on the decline, was no longer necessary, and was therefore losing its position of power in the West.  It’s a teleological argument with a clear beginning (the Enlightenment or Reformation or Renaissance), and it has a clear end (some point in the future in which religion finally dies.)  This argument lends itself to finding markers that fit along the path toward religion’s death.  So things like Darwin, Freud, Hitler (basically insert whatever) can be seen to fit into this slow march of history.  Literary movements like Romanticism would fit in here as well.  (M. H. Abrams makes a pretty compelling argument that demonstrates this.)

However, there is a new movement afoot in various academic disciplines that challenges this narrative of secularization.  Philosophers, literary critics, and historians of ideas are beginning to point out that the narrative doesn’t seem so compelling anymore.  It just doesn’t explain the modern world.  Surely religion has changed in some degrees in regards to its position in society or culture, but yet it doesn’t seem to be dying.  Therefore, new models of secularization are emerging.

My argument is that if the models of secularization change, then so to should our readings of various points along the path such as Romanticism.  Or to say it in another way, if what we believe about secularization changes, then perhaps we should reconsider what we thought we knew about previous points along the path toward secularization.  If the foundation for the timeline shifts, so to must our understanding of the specific markers.

So that’s what I’m up to.  (I hope this made sense I typed it in the 15 minutes I had between meetings.)

Here some more pictures, but first an update.  Jude and Mom are still doing good.  They’ve both been checked out by their doctors and they said everything is looking great.  Erica’s been up and about a little, taking a shower and then we took a short walk as a family.  Jude sleeps a lot, unfortunately it’s not always in his crib.  (He prefers  a warm cuddly chest it would appear.)  With that being the case Mom and Dad are very tired, but good.  And now for what you came for.

Today at 1:51 Jude Michael Grant was born into this world.  Jude weighs 8 pounds and 4 ounces, and came in at just over 20 inches long.  Mom and baby are doing fine.  Here are some pictures for your enjoyment:

I’ve had several titles in my life, but only one name.  To my parents, friends, wife, and extended family I have always been Shawn.  Even to my students I am typically called by my Christian name, and to be honest I have always liked it that way.  No pretense…simple, pure, the same no matter the situation.

Tomorrow, however, I get a new name. Dad.  It’s three letters, one syllable, it easily rolls off the tongue, and yet it carries a weight a signification that I have never considered before tonight.  I’ve never really thought of myself as a Dad.  After all I’m Shawn, or so the people in my life continually remind me.

I know it may sound silly, but in my life the name Dad has only ever belonged to one person.  His real name is Michael or Mike, but I never knew him by that name.  To me he was always and ever will be Dad.  It’s hard to believe that tomorrow there is someone who will look at me the way that I have looked at him.

To be honest I’m not sure I’m ready for such a change, and while I recognize that the name is freely given I hope that I can earn the right to deserve it.

I just went to see Pirate Radio, and as movies goes it’s a fine experience.  It’s neither great or bad, it’s just ok.  (For most I’d say wait for the DVD, but for those who just like movies it might be worth the price of a matinee.)  Watching this film, however, got me thinking about music in general.

There seems to be this myth that music is this mystical, salvific experience.  Now I know this is true for some.  I know people who without music would cease to survive, or at the very least their quality of life would be greatly reduced.  But this narrative of the omnipotence of music, which is often presented as universal, has never really connected with me.

I like music.  I appreciate its emotive properties, but music never saved me my soul.  There are no songs that have changed my life, and no albums that list among my most significant influences.  Again I like music, I just don’t understand the starry-eyed worship of so many.

But then again this is how I feel about a good story.  Stories, whether in books or movies, have the power to transport me to another place.  In my youth I may never have really deeply immersed myself in the world of music, but from the well of story I have often drunk deeply.  To this creative output I am deeply indebted, and I would defend the power of the written word as many defend music.

While I may not get the music devotion of so many, I get the power of creativity to move us.  I’m thankful that the creations of others have the power to speak to us on a deep and real level.

I know this may seem random, but I celebrate the power of creativity even if those creative expressions don’t always reach me.  If you have the power to create, I think you should.  It’s good for the soul, even if that soul isn’t mine.

So I have been feeling under the weather for about a week and a half.  For the first five days I was uncomfortable, but able to get my stuff done.  Then for five days I felt miserable pretty much all day.  Now I oscillate between moments of pretty intense craptitude and moments of seeming relief.

This week I’ve been holed up in my house almost exclusively.  I feel slightly like a cat who is able to control the television.  I sleep for about 14 hours a day, and in my waking moments eat, bathe, and of course watch television.  I wish all this lying about led to having something profound to say, some insight on life, but alas it has not.

I just wanted to let everyone know I am still alive.  For the curious few I saw the doctor again today, and after prescribing me 4 new medicines and deciding that I did in fact have some sort of sinus infection and bronchitis. (On Tuesday they thought I had seasonal flu, which apparently I may have had as well.)  In any case she said I should feel better in a few days, but if not she invited me back for another appointment on Monday.

So I’m alive and living high on antibiotics, OJ, and cough syrup with codeine.  Here’s to Western medicine.

So some of you might be asking where I’ve been lately.  Well it seems I have been drowning in a sea of crap.  Not bad crap, important crap, but crap nonetheless.  let me explain.

About a month or so ago I got back from an amazing week in Haiti.  Awesome times, spiritually uplifting times, life-changing evaluate the world times.  But then I got back and the world has hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks.  At Church we were moving to a new location, at home we are preparing for a baby. at school there are 80 students eagerly expecting me to have something to say, and then, of course, there is the looming albatross of my dissertation.

Now I’m not saying I have been overworked, for the most part all parties have been understanding and resourceful in helping me balance my responsibilities.  (Thanks Erica for being the best ever.)  Despite their understanding, however, the anxiety of so much responsibility/change starts to weigh down on me.  Interestingly what I have noticed in these times is that when this happens I start engaging in self-destructive behavior.  Here’s the list of what I do:

1. I turn inward and cut of the people who can help me.

2. I put down my Bible and distance myself from God.

3. I stop going to the gym and start eating like crap.

4. I look for escapes through books, movies, cleaning, unimportant projects, whatever distracts me from what i need to do.

5. Shop therapy.  Forget living simply–it’s time to buy some junk.

Put these all together and you have a life that is rapidly spiraling in the opposite of my desired direction.  Don’t get me wrong this happens to a greater or lesser degree all the time, but for the past month I have been a drastically reduced version of me.

Luckily I feel as if I can breathe again.  This is in part to positive steps on my part to stop engaging in self-destruction, but also thanks to a good friend who took the time to ask me what’s been up lately.  Truth be told I have tried to hide my feelings of frustration and crapitude, but it’s nice to know that when I take a downward spin I have others there to politely point me back in a positive direction.

So here I am interwebs, it’s nice to see you again.

So this one is a little off the topic we have been talking about regarding simplicity, but I found it interesting and I thought I would share.

I came across an article that dealt with the use of technology in the classroom, and despite the general acclaim to which technology usually gets this article argued  for stripping down classrooms and using a low-tech approach.  In short it says professors use technology as a crutch, and a very boring crutch at that.  Here’s an excerpt:

More than any thing else, Mr. Bowen wants to discourage professors from using PowerPoint, because they often lean on the slide-display program as a crutch rather using it as a creative tool. Class time should be reserved for discussion, he contends, especially now that students can download lectures online and find libraries of information on the Web. When students reflect on their college years later in life, they’re going to remember challenging debates and talks with their professors. Lively interactions are what teaching is all about, he says, but those give-and-takes are discouraged by preset collections of slides.

My experience mirrors this to some degree.  My best class sessions aren’t the ones when I work through a prearranged set of slides, and my best memories of college and professors often had little to do with technology.  In fact my best professors utilized a very low tech approach.  For my own part  I’m passionate about teaching, I got into graduate school because that is what I love to do.  If simplicity helps raise the level of teaching I’m all for it, but then again if you don’t care about students or if you can’t teach it may not matter how much or how little technology you use.

Again if you’re interested you should check out the article.

PS.  I think the same thing is true about preaching.  Technology can enhance a sermon, but all the technology in the world can’t make a bad sermon good.  Graphics, slides, video elements can all be great, but if more time goes into them than into the message I’m willing to bet it won’t matter.

As I admitted earlier I struggle with simplicity, so I decided to do a little experiment regarding simplicity in my own home.  Here is the video that resulted from this endeavor:

Simplicity Experiment from Shawn Grant on Vimeo.

Also a big thank you goes out to Dan Cole, David Cauble, Alicia Esque, Jordan Michael, and the people at Mt. Moriah for their help on this one.

As part of our attempt to explore the discipline of simplicity we offered an invitation to experience simplicity this week.

(I stole this idea in part from CIY:MOVE, although there challenges to students extended throughout the year and seemed to be much more difficult.  I talked about this over at our Crossbridge Students Blog if you want to read more.  By the way I was especially challenged by one girl from Billy Babbino’s youth group who got a challenge to not buy any new clothes for the next year and donate the money she would have spent to charity.  I have told several adults about it, and the thing that makes me laugh is every time they try to come up for ways she can et around it.  Like shopping at a thrift store, or having stuff given to her as gifts.  It just strikes me as odd that she is committed to doing it, but all the adults I meet want to help her out of it.  Girl–where ever you are–please know that I think your awesome, and I’m praying that you make it through this next year.  What an amazing story you’ll have to tell!)

Anyway as a staff we came up with 10 challenges for our people.  We tried to think of the things that most distract us from God or from serving others and then come up with a challenge to try and help us practice simplicity in that area.  The goal for every challenge was that you simplify your life in some way to either serve others, or connect with God.  Every person picked a card at random that allowed them to do their own simplicity experiment this week.

Here are the challenges:

1) Social Networking
Change your Facebook status, or email everyone you know, asking “What do you need?” and find a way over the next month to meet the top five needs.

2) Spring Cleaning
Clean out your house/closet/garage this month and donate the items to Mt. Moriah.

3) Consumer
Identify one thing you’ve been wanting to buy for yourself and buy it and give it away to someone who needs it.

4)  TV Evangelists
Take 3 days off from all entertainment and read through the Gospel of John.  Journal your experience and share it with someone you know.

5) Dinner Out
Identify someone who is lonely or suffering, and take them out to dinner.

6) Will Fast for Charity
Fast every Wed. for the next month and give the money you would’ve used for food and donate it to a charity.

7) Simple Pleasures
Take a night off or take a half day from work. Get together with some friends and family for a picnic at the park.

Everything Must GO
Have a free garage sale.

9) Unplugged
Turn off your internet after work this week.  Take that time to have a family game night, or have some people over for dinner and games.

10) 1 Step Program
ID your addiction.  Take a week off.  Find a friend to help hold you accountable.

There’s no doubt that some of these are more challenging than others, but then again to each person the challenge is different.  Again it’s not some sort of legalistic attempt to demonstrate your moral superiority.  Living simply is about living with less to serve others and to connect to God.

If you got one of these we’d love to hear your story.  Leave a comment, visit the forum, or drop me an email at shawn@crossbridgechristian.com.