Anthropologist Theologian

这个部落格 一直都在书签里面
且 他旁边都是我很常使用的连结
过去 他也曾经是我每天会打开的东西
如今 一年多了 甚至 两年多了～～

重拾伊甸園的誓言：「罪」及其代價
 
經課：創世紀三1-24

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Reno: Best Schools for Theology
Aug 30, 2006
R.R. Reno
U.S. New & World Report has just published its annual rankings of higher education. In addition to calling the horse race for No. 1 university, the magazine also puts out rankings of graduate programs. By their reckoning, the best place to study political theory is Harvard. Harvard is tied with Cal-Berkeley for No. 1 in medieval and renaissance literature, and Michigan is tops in behavioral neuroscience.
The ratings game got me thinking. The magazine has nothing to say about theology (or religious studies, as it is called at many universities). So I thought I might throw out some observations about the best places to pursue a doctoral degree in the sorts of fields I study—theology and ethics. I haven't developed any objective method of analysis, but this is not the first time I have thought about graduate programs. Students often ask me for advice, so over the years I have formed some impressions about how the programs compare to one another. Here are the best schools, to my mind, followed by some comments about the also-rans.
At the top of my list is Duke. Richard Hays and Ellen Davis are leading a strong cohort of biblical scholars toward the recovery of a theological voice in biblical interpretation. Add to that the creative mind of Stanley Hauerwas, the rigorous mind of Reinhard Huetter, the learned mind of Geoffrey Wainwright, and the outspoken voice of David Steinmetz, as well as some excellent younger faculty (Amy Laura Hall, Warren Smith, Steve Chapman, and others), and you have a program firing on all cylinders. Three cheers for the Dean, Gregory Jones. He has done wonders in bucking the trends toward the banality and post-Christian distraction that afflict other mainline institutions. It isn't perfect, but it's as good as we have now in the United States.
In the No. 2 spot, I put Notre Dame's Department of Theology. It's not firing on all cylinders. The biblical scholars pretty much follow the tired old distinction between "what it meant for them" and "what it means for us." This guarantees their marginal relevance to the study of theology. Most of the systematic theologians are still living in the 1970s and 1980s. But this is a huge department with some great people. Notre Dame is the best place to study the Church Fathers (Brian Daley, John Cavadini, Robin Darling Young). Gary Anderson and Cyril O'Regan are first-rate Christian intellectuals capable of inspiring a wide range of doctoral students toward genuine vocations in theology rather than careers of expertise. Jean Porter and Jennifer Herdt have creative things to say in moral theology. It's a strong program, and it is getting better every year.
Duke and Notre Dame are clearly top choices. I'm less sure as I move down the list. Other choices involve compromises and limitations. At No. 3 and No. 4, and in something of a tie between two very different options, I put Princeton and Boston College.
If you are interested in "the problem of faith in the modern world," then Princeton University's Department of Religion is a good place to be. Eric Gregory and Jeffrey Stout are occupied with the role of Christian faith and Christian churches in a liberal democratic society, and Leora Batnitzky has interesting things to say about Judaism's engagement with modernity. Another positive is the fact that the department has a stellar reputation of supporting and forming graduate students. The negatives are two-fold. First, this is not a place with strong resources for study of theology in either its historical or systematic forms. Second, the historians of ancient Christianity, which includes New Testament studies, are pretty antagonistic to the idea that what the Church has taught over the centuries is, in some important and legitimate way, to be found in the Scriptures. Overall, then, Princeton has nothing like the depth of Christian scholarship that you can find at Duke and Notre Dame.
Boston College has depth. Like so many Catholic schools, required theology courses for the undergraduates guarantees a big faculty. Moreover, Boston College has money, and they support their graduate students well. The problem is that the faculty is solid but not stellar. BC is a good place to study, and certainly a graduate student will learn the Christian theological tradition well. But unlike Duke and Notre Dame (and Princeton in its own, more limited way), I don't think Boston College is pushing theological questions forward in interesting ways.
I'm going to cheat and put three schools in the No. 5 spot: Catholic University, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Trinity Evangelical Seminary. These are radically different places. Catholic University has lots of problems, but it's not a place where the liberal-revisionist Jesuits have hired an anti-magisterial majority. PTS and Trinity Evangelical are primarily places for training ministers, but both offer doctoral programs as well. PTS has living and breathing Protestant dogmatic theologians who know the Reformed tradition thoroughly—and Karl Barth especially. Trinity Evangelical has Kevin Vanhoozer, a creative mind committed to thinking through an ecumenically minded and biblically sophisticated evangelical theology. I'm not sure I would want to be a Presbyterian at Catholic University, or a Catholic at Princeton Seminary, and I think Trinity Evangelical is probably best for someone whose theological vocation is in the evangelical movement. But all three have the advantage of being very engaged in the reality of the Church.
You may have noticed that I've left some of the famous schools off the list. In doctoral study, it's the professors and fellow grad students who make the program, not the general reputation of the university. Take Harvard, for example. If you want to study theology at Harvard, then you need to do a Th.D. at Harvard Divinity School. There are some good minds there who are interested in thinking about the living form of faith in our time (Ron Thiemann, Sarah Coakley, and Jon Levinson), but the overall atmosphere of HDS is aggressively post-Christian. I'm all for challenging intellectual environments, but its just foolish to try to swim upstream all the time.
Most of the old-line, mainline divinity schools suffer from this problem. Vanderbilt, Emory, and Yale have seen a decline in serious intellectual life brought on by the intensely ideological agendas of Christian feminism, gay and lesbian liberation, as well as recycled versions of liberal Protestantism. Again, some great folks teach at these places. Lewis Ayers at Emory is one of the most exciting scholars working in patristic theology. I cannot say enough good things about Gene Outka, my mentor, who teaches ethics at Yale, and Miroslav Volk has a fine mind. But, again, the larger currents of these schools are flowing in the direction of post-Christian "theology."
The Divinity School at the University of Chicago has problems as well. It has some famous names on staff, but some recent graduate students have told me that the professors are never around. Choosing the right program is very important. Doctoral study is all about intellectual formation, and that cannot be done by faculty who live hundreds of miles away or who are always out lecturing elsewhere.
The Catholic world has it own set of difficulties. Historically, the Jesuits have dominated graduate study in the United States, and I don't think I am revealing any secrets when I tell you that the Society of Jesus has committed itself and its institutions to a liberal-revisionist agenda. In the 1970s and 1980s, this may have seemed cutting-edge, but these days it's pretty tired, and tiresome.
This complacent liberalism has hurt Jesuit graduate programs even at Boston College, and it has badly injured places like Marquette, Fordham, and St. Louis University. Rahnerians, feminists, liberationists—these places carry some serious ballast. In my experience, intellectual life is too easily perverted into postures of protest and a quixotic quest against the long dead Catholic ghetto. Again, some excellent faculty teach at these places: Ralph Del Colle, Michel Barnes, and Susan Wood, for example, are at Marquette. But because it is a Jesuit program, the 1970s is still going strong.
I have painted some negative pictures, and I may not be winning popularity contests anytime soon. I'm not saying that a person cannot obtain a serious theological education at Harvard, Yale, Emory, and Chicago, or, for that matter, Marquette and Fordham. But prospective students should know they will have a harder row to hoe.
As I thought about this casual assessment of programs and the quick drop-off from the top two programs to a list of less-than-ideal choices, I was struck by the fact that three individuals whom I would very much like to send my best students to study with are largely out of the picture.
When Bruce Marshall published Trinity and Truth, I wrote a positive review. After teaching and rereading the closely argued book a couple of times, I have come to see that his analysis of theology and truth is as fundamental and revolutionary as Karl Barth's strange and difficult discussion of Anselm, published in the 1930s. Unfortunately, Marshall teaches at Perkins School of Theology (at Southern Methodist University), a school apparently locked in a liberal Protestant death-spiral. You can't take all your classes with Marshall, and most of the rest of the program will leave you swimming upstream against a hard current.
Ephraim Radner's extraordinary book The End of the Church is the most creative, erudite, and important book of historical theology since Henri de Lubac's Surnaturel. David Hart's The Beauty of the Infinite is a bold (and to my mind brilliantly successful) theological campaign that carries the fight for truth into the deepest reaches of our sad, failing, postmodern academic culture.
These two remarkable theological minds are not just in less-than-ideal places for an aspiring, adventuresome graduate student interested in serious theology in the service of the Church, as is the case with Marshall. Radner and Hart are totally inaccessible. Radner is a parish priest in an Episcopal church in Pueblo, Colorado. Hart has a temporary, one-year appointment at Providence College. For all intents and purposes, both have been excluded from academia. It is a sign of the times. The United States, a wealthy country with vibrant churches, has only two graduate programs in theology that get even a relatively strong thumbs up.
(Access contributors' biographies by clicking here.)

Top Universities in UK for Theology and Religious Studies Degree Courses 2009
Rank University
1 Cambridge University
2 Oxford University
3 The University of Durham
4 University of St Andrews
5 The University of Edinburgh
6 The University of Sheffield
7 The University of Nottingham
8 Cardiff University
9 The University of Aberdeen
10 Lancaster University
11 University of Leeds
12 University of Exeter
13 The University of Manchester
14 School of Oriental and African Studies
15 The University of Hull
16 University of Glasgow
17 King's College London
18 University of Bristol
19 Bangor University
=19 The University of Stirling
21 St Mary's College
22 University of Gloucestershire
23 Bath Spa University
24 University of Chester
25 York St John University
26 The University of Wales, Lampeter
27 The University of Birmingham
28 The University of Kent
29 Queen's University Belfast
30 The University of Winchester
31 Oxford Brookes University
32 Roehampton University
33 University of Newcastle
34 Canterbury Christ Church University
35 University of Cumbria

2010TIMES神学及宗教研究（Theology and Religious Studies）专业排名

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這次出田野 發生很多事情
大概是歷年田野課最精彩的吧？
相較之下 去年感覺很乏味
可能因為我也都在忙我自己的研究和訪談吧
不過 「喝醉」這件事情
我第一次覺得那麼嚴重
且破壞了一些同學之間的感情
且 這次的田野告訴我們
田野工作會讓人成長....
好好日本人學會潑水、丟鞋子、和男朋友吵架
再次證明 念人類學的並不好欺負
尤其是女生
哈哈～～～
不過 念人類學 真的會讓人獨立
因為要面對各種問題
孤獨（真的見識過）
挫折
獨立
反應
雖然我不喜歡把田野工作當成人類學訓練的成年禮
但是 好像也不為過
PS.我覺得如果人類學沒有經過田野訓練
根本就不能算是念人類學
而不是說 成年不成年的問題
另外 我們助教鐵三角
也莫名地成為好朋友 哈哈哈
沒想到我們三個會這樣湊成一堆
且彼此那麼信任 愛講話 那麼愛吃
along說 他每次進到助教寢 都是看到我們在吃東西
也的確啦....
我們後半段時間吃的零食 一堆是在霧社買的
大概買了六、七百元吧
....前半是從山下帶上去的
另外 我們也刺激部落經濟
狂吃炸雞翅、機排 買飲料、泡麵
哈哈哈 真的很恐怖
十天下來都是亂吃！！
不過 神總是施行恩惠ORZ
我下山居然瘦了兩公斤
如果說因為有運動所以瘦 真的我自己都不願意相信
我每天的事情只有 走出棉被、走進棉被
下樓吃東西 上樓睡覺、宅經濟
真的很心虛～～
此外 在田野裡面 和很多學弟妹也有進一步的認識
彼此更多瞭解對方
也包括aLong、春佳.....
原來每一個人 都有自己的故事
且 我深深覺得 大家都需要神....
我想我們只能陪大家走過這一小段路
但是 神會陪伴大家走過這一輩子 直到進天家
真的好多好多故事
神也透過....不同人的生命故事 跟我說話
在春陽他們最近還辦了一個青年特會
真的很嗨 很LLC
讓我很熟悉、親切
也因為詩歌我都很熟 我頓時變成「詩歌點唱機」
因為 幾乎每一首我都會唱ORZ
在特會裡面....
神也讓杜丁領受方言 被聖靈充滿
做長老會調查的學妹 也在聚會中
被神感動、激勵 甚至他們自己都很驚訝
好像上帝讓他們親身感受到一樣....
（突然好像又在講春陽與靈修）
（我分兩篇文章 就是希望可以區分開）
（不過好像分不開 因為太多事情看到神在做工）
既然說到這邊
我就必須說....
那天杜丁的外婆身體有點病危
讓他一度想下山回家準備見親人的最後一面
我們一起為他外婆禱告
沒想到 神醫治了他的外婆
雖然不是完全康復 但是居然當天很快就出院
心情、精神、身體都好很多 舒服很多
當然並非完全得醫治
但是 這也很值得感恩...
PS.至少到現在 都還沒有發生什麼事情！
春陽的這幾天 真的數算不盡上帝的恩典
真的很多、很多、很多

從春陽的十天田野實習
學生去做調查實習 我是當助教在實習
哈哈 怎麼教訪談、怎麼做研究
希望以後可以當好老師
不過 這十天也很特別
原本我一心期待 可以在春陽...
像是靈修營一樣的 每天規律生活
然後住在教會裡面 可以在教堂裡面祈禱
PS.這種感覺一定很不錯
臺北的基督徒生活 實在很脫離教會
並不是想去教會就可以去
教會也不是為信徒大門打開
況且 我家離教會還有一點距離
所以 我一直心裡有一個「期待」
我想我的靈修是這樣度過的吧
結果 沒想到 完全不是這樣的！！
完全沒有辦法每天一大早爬起來
必須承認 一部份是我自己的問題啦
另外一部份 哈哈 因為我們三個助教玩得太開心
好聽的說 晚上跟同學、學生聊的太開心
糟糕的說 就是玩得不亦樂乎 忘記要睡覺
所以 每天都亂遭遭 哈哈哈
不知道是過了幾天
我真的覺悟了 我也跟杜丁覺悟了
哈哈 我們就一起相約到教堂一起讀經靈修禱告
因為 我們有各自的信仰生活
我們決定各自讀經 然後稍稍分享後 一起禱告
PS.且 要延續我們在洞洞館的禱告會
 也為另外的人一起禱告
結果 真是好巧 上帝好奇妙
那天 我們一起用了馬太福音14章靈修
.....耶穌行走在水面的故事
我們也各自看到了不同的東西
一切靈修與經歷 就從那天開始（回到軌道）
這階段 我是用古倫神父的「活像耶穌」當作靈修的指引
古倫神父用五十個角度、篇章 來談耶穌
如果有經文 我就翻開經文
如果沒有經文 我就看他的文章默想和禱告
先看到了「幽靈鬼魅般」的耶穌
在馬太14:27耶穌說 「你們放心，是我，不要怕！」
神親自對門徒說「是我」
是他親自的啟示....
這讓我感受很多！
另外 耶穌沒有在門徒的船上 門徒很害怕
我也省思了 耶穌有沒有在我的船上
還是我只是自己一個人 努力在划船
後來 又看到了耶穌是「性格的男人」
耶穌面對法利賽人的魄力！
還有「猶太人的耶穌」
耶穌作為一個具有猶太傳統的人
如果將耶穌看成拉比 我和他的關係會有什麼改變
當時面對這問題 我有點不知道該怎麼辦
因為 我頓時發現....
「耶穌在我眼中 不曾是拉比」
而對於上帝的律法也進到一個麻木的光景
好像什麼事情都知道、也瞭解
或許也能說的頭頭是道
但是 如果律法是叫人知罪 我到底知道什麼、察覺什麼
那一天我在春陽長老教會門口
我有點挫折感......
突然覺得信仰進入瓶頸
感謝當天和杜丁的談話
他說了一些讓我也很痛的話 不過 我也有點醒過來
接著 耶穌是外邦人
撒瑪利亞人在包紮我的傷口
把油和酒 澆到我的傷口上
油象徵耶穌醫治的力量
酒象徵他的愛
......再一次回到與上帝之間的關係
耶穌是糧食、生命之水
耶穌是光....
約翰福音9章 耶穌把唾液丟到土裡 和起來抹到瞎子眼上
最後進到西羅亞池 讓瞎眼得看見
泥巴在眼上讓他看見...
意謂「你是土做的 只有接受自己土性本質、內在的髒 你才能難得到」
傲慢、拒絕看到根本的人 就是瞎子
而西羅亞 原意「使者」
上帝更進一步跟我說話 讓我醒過來
耶穌是好牧人、是門、是葡萄樹
葡萄樹的故事 除了連結的意象之外
還有酒的意涵
如果耶穌是「整腸健胃的洋甘菊茶
我們會覺得是苦行、只想到自己和自己的健康、謹慎小心」
但是 耶穌卻將自己比喻成葡萄酒
這是喜樂、甜蜜和風味之泉
耶穌要給我們喜樂和愛的味道 而不是平淡乏味的小心
耶穌是道路、真理、生命
耶穌是復活
耶穌是小孩的朋友
受試探的耶穌
哭泣的耶穌
那天剛好緋利牧師在佈道會也講到一樣的經文
拉撒路的死 耶穌在哭
哭泣的耶穌邀請你釋放你的淚水並信任他
讓淚水帶領你穿越悲痛 找到新生命
從春陽回來
靈修的生活跟我想像的不一樣
但是 卻莫名的引爆我和神新的親密關係
上帝時時與我說話 也透過古倫神父的書
讓我更多看見不一樣的耶穌、更多認識他自己
最近又開始找到靈修讀經的熱誠
跟初信者一樣～

期末的默默....
之前還一直在哀嚎...
我這學期寫了一個我人生寫報告以來
最難寫 寫完之後最不敢面對的報告
我從12/24寫到...1/17
將近一個月的賽跑～～～
我還一直覺得 很痛苦
明明就該放假 我居然還在寫報告
且 我有生以來 修過最少課的一學期
結果 報告寫最久ORZ
星期天下午 在教會瘋狂寫了一些
因為 在等朋友要去一下B&Q
後來 跟牧師到醫院探望我阿嬤
晚上回到家裡 想說 繼續寫一點好了
把結論一起寫完
因為 下午有點靈感 所以趕緊把分析的部分 一氣呵成
想說 最後剩下一個結論 回家在想一下
我以為這東西又會繼續拖下去
沒想到 回到家摸摸摸 撲撲撲之後
還是打開資料夾 然後批哩拉寫了一下
我就寫完了....
頓時 有一點空虛感ORZ
以前寫完報告 都會隨之有狂歡！
不過 這次都沒有...
就這樣默默、靜靜地寫完 很平淡
（這是我碩班最後一個課堂報告耶）
寫完之後 還在覺得報告寫很久感到遺憾
不過 赫然驚覺一件事實....
我向來都是在放假前寫完報告
我以為我這次破功了
沒想到.....沒有耶
因為 星期一正式放假阿！
我上週放假 其實是假的 只是研究所先停課而已！
（上週幾乎就是在期末考週）
（雖然我不用期末考 但是 都是被期末考相關事項綁住）
所以 我很感恩上帝....
我還是順利在「該放假時放假」
不過 放假真的不太好
當每天的行事曆沒有被修課填滿時
都是自己安排時間的同時
我的行事曆 瞬間「滿」
真的是「滿」到要擠時間
且 都抓很緊....
以昨天為例好了....
昨天早上10點去訪談一個人（no.4） @淡水
PS.一起約早餐
訪談完之後 他匆匆忙忙去禱告會
我也匆匆忙忙要趕去陽明山
所以 匆匆忙忙坐捷運出發
真的沒時間吃東西～ 中餐就是塞一根熱狗和一顆茶葉蛋
上山之後 信德老師在帶小孩
所以 我先去找本土神學的助理
看了一下我下學期要住的宿舍 瞭解一下環境
再去找信德老師討論我的研究計畫
希望他沒有被我的研究計畫弄昏頭ORZ
拉哩拉雜時間加起來....三點半、四點左右
我又從陽明山下山 趕去牧愛堂拿東西
一恨自己主日完 把東西放在那邊
偏偏我接下來兩個主日不在臺北！
二恨從陽明山下來的公車 都不直行中正路
所以 我非得到中山北路就下車 一路狂走到教會ORZ
我一路狂走到教會將近四點半ORZ
拿了東西 就出來 大概在教堂裡不超過30秒～
出來之後 我馬上搭公車飆回捷運站....
因為 五點整在台大有約訪談(no.5)
到公館捷運站時...4:57 （夠準）
因為 從捷運到洞洞館 要三分鐘左右！
到系館之後 匆匆忙忙準備一下 開始訪談到六點半...
很感謝他 講的東西很多我需要用的XD
我們兩一起去吃飯....
說真的 我兩也蠻有沒有見面 和吵架
哈哈～
所以 我們一起去吃東西 聊聊生活瑣事XD
七點半 我還有約一個訪談（no.6）
回到系館之後 遇到學姐在問原訂星期二的禱告會
不過 「現在」我人在醫院照顧我阿嬤
PS.感謝神 雖然躺在病床上 不過 他睡得很開心 幾乎都在睡覺ORZ
  真是幸福的生活「方式」
所以 我們要改到星期三下午
但是 星期三我有三個訪談和seminar ORZ
我回去翻一下行事曆 瞭解我的時間 可以塞啥時禱告
畢竟接下來也好幾次可能我不在！
想把握這時間 可以彼此聊聊、分享、禱告
不過 上帝很恩待我...
no.6他公司有一些事情 所以 他晚點到
讓我可以喘息一下 所以 八點多我們進行下一個訪談
九點半結束....
十點多搭捷運回家....
在捷運上 我完全不想讀書、動腦
我和同學一路從公館聊手機 聊到我回到家 更衣完畢！
因為現在家裡呈現沒媽媽的情況
所以 開始做家事 把該處理的東西處理掉....
一整天就這樣度過.....
我累到快炸掉
這一個星期 大體上都要準備這樣度過...
因為... 我目標在星期五去田野調查之前...
進行一部份第一階段的調查！
超過10份樣本 目標15份
所以 我幾乎每天都是在訪談的狀態ORZ
我要加油了！
剛剛看了學位考試的章程
好像我4/30之前 要提出學位考試的申請！
媽呀....所以 我從開學2/22到4/30 只有兩個月的意思嘛？
距今是三個月的意思？
瘋了瘋了....4/30要交初稿～
我一定要好好用功了 寒假完成兩階段的訪談！

今天和助教聊到「友誼」這件事情
其實 會在想....
我現在在這裡 有哪些友誼是可以跨越環境的
不管我們去到哪裡 我們都會想到對方？
聽起來有點悲觀
但是 回憶我以前的經驗
「的確」如此地真實
這幾天其實對於朋友有一些不滿
因為 我覺得一再有人挑戰我的地雷區
我真的覺得 要不踩到我地雷 應該不難吧
但是 就是一直有人要踩到
我真的很不懂耶！
昨天心理測驗也說....
我是那種平常看起來無害
但是 如果踩到我在意的事情 會爆走的那種
這也是千真萬確
但也感謝這件事情
讓我看清一些人....
其實 有些人沒有我想像好或完美
也不會有人真的如此完美
但是 也因為這種踩到地雷的粉身碎骨
我和一些人的關係 可以重新開始
或許 這是一個歸零
這可能也是一種挑戰....
未來這一年我的「流離」
或許可以看到「哪些朋友是一輩子的朋友」
還是 只是「同學」罷了！
赫然發現....這兩個是多麼不一樣
我是不是錯誤期待我的同學 都是我的朋友呢？