Some things I've learned

Hey everybody,
I'm working on my final paper for Systematic Theology class. It's called, How My Mind Has Changed. So, here's some brainstorming style thoughts that I've learned this year.

The names matthew, mark, luke, and john were put on the Gospels 2oo years after they were written. Call me dense, but I never considered that.

I have power, even when I don't mean to. I have power as a man, as a white man, and as a preacher. Even when I'm trying to be empowering, this power travels with me.

Augustine said on his death bed that everything he ever said was garbage.

St. Julian of Norwich, who wrote about the beauty of God's creation and treating others as children of God, locked her self in a cell with only one servant companion for the last 40 years of her life. She was also kinda crazy, praying for and recieving an illness that almost killed her.

Karl Barth was a smart guy. He wrote a 13 volume theology called Church Dogmatics. The word volume is misleading however, since some of the volume are actually 6 books long!!!! He died before he could finish his masterpiece. The part he never finished: Redemption. God's funny.

Apparently, the New Zealand accent is so strong that living and working in the US for 16 years cannot stop its power.

There were at least four letters to the Corinthians. What happened to the others?

The sect of Jesus followers, sort of, that lived in Qumran (the dead sea scroll place) thought that Habbakkuk was the most important book since sliced manna. HABBAKKUK!! (AC-there's nothing in Malachai)

Atonement is the least creative word in history. It's meaning: at-one-ment. The opposite of atonement, you ask? gotohellment.

And finally, people who raise their hands to ask questions in seminary, apparently, don't have to actually ask any questions. They can just illumine us all with the beacon of light that is their brilliance.

Ah, the wonders of higher education.

~B