http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/ en-us Copyright 2008 Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:49:11 -0800 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Well, it will be official tomorrow. I have a Master's degree! It is sort of a weird thing, though, because although it is a significant milestone, it is not signifying any change of direction, apartment, or any other real significant change. I will walk across the stage and receive my diploma tomorrow only to walk right back into the library. Nonetheless, it is good to celebrate, stop and reflect on the past two and a half years. It has been good. To add to the celebratory mood, my African family is here! Moruti James Mpopang and his wife Silika are visiting all the way from Gaborone, Botswana! It has been so much fun to experience California through their eyes a bit. The time change as well as the change to the other side of the road, not to mention the size of everything here in the States has been eye opening for them. Today we are off to Santa Monica to see a bit more of Los Angeles. http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/06/graduation.html http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/06/graduation.html Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:49:11 -0800 Tonight one of the smartest people I know had me and some of my colleagues over for dinner. Dr. Jehu Hanciles is one of my favorite professors here at Fuller, and it was very nice of him and his wife to prepare an amazing meal for some of us who are about to finish our Master's degree. In addition to the amazing meal and mini soccer and basketball games with his children, we also were educated on the best chase scene ever, which would be from the movie Ronin (1998). http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/05/dinner_with_a_prof.html http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/05/dinner_with_a_prof.html Sat, 24 May 2008 22:54:50 -0800 blog from his resting place in San Francisco! It was 10 years ago that I graduated from Shafter High School. It sure didn't take long. Back to the present, I have been really enjoying both of my classes this quarter. I had expected to like Thinking Missiologically. But have been surprised by how much I've enjoyed Intercultural Attachment. I won't say it is one of the best classes I have taken, but the integration of Psychology and Intercultural Studies has been interesting. Hopefully I'll remember to carve out some time to expand on these classes soon.]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/05/remembering.html http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/05/remembering.html Sat, 10 May 2008 13:11:39 -0800 This entry actually has nothing to do with the Masters Tournament that was won by the South African Trevor Immelman (I am sure that South Africa is proud, especially as Trevor mentioned the youth of South Africa in the interview following his unexpected victory). It has to do with the Masters of Arts in Intercultural Studies that I will be completing this quarter. As I implied, we are on the quarter system at Fuller and have thus just begun our Spring '08 quarter two weeks ago. That means I am taking my last two classes required of me to complete my degree: Intercultural Attachment and Thinking Missiologically. The latter class is the capstone course of the School of Intercultural Studies degrees. In this class we are asked to take the missiological theories that we have learned throughout the core classes and apply them to case studies. Thus far, I have enjoyed the course and enjoyed looking back at the classes I have taken here at Fuller. Though the class is four hours long, it goes by surprisingly quickly. http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/04/the_masters.html http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/04/the_masters.html Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:18:09 -0800 An advantage of having a smaller school is the ability to develop relationships with the faculty and staff. Yesterday, the SIS student body hosted a lunch in order to show our appreciation for the SIS faculty and staff. It is good to have been able to become friends with my professors, the advising staff (which I now share an office with) and the administration over the past two and a half years. These are the people that have encouraged me to pursue a PhD, and I am confident that if they had not I never would have considered it a possibility. It has been a blessing to study under and with people who have seen potential in me and encouraged me in that direction. http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/04/faculty_and_staff_appreciation.html http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/04/faculty_and_staff_appreciation.html Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:40:20 -0800 Since the last update I received some big news. I go accepted to the PhD program. So it looks like I will be in Pasadena for a while longer. My mentor for the PhD will be Bryant Myers. That was very exciting news for me as I had been waiting to hear about the acceptance for since the application was submitted in January. When I was told, it was compared to finishing a short run in order to be able to turn around and run a marathon. So it is excitement mixed with a healthy dose of fear. I never thought I would work on a PhD. That'll teach me to say I won't do something. In other news, it is the weekend after Spring Break at Fuller and we will begin the Spring Quarter (thus making the Spring Break a break before Spring, and not a break from it) on Monday. I will be taking my last two classes of my MA degree and graduate in June. The last two classes will be Thinking Missiologically with Dr. Doug McConnell and Intercultural Attachment with Dr. Evelyne Reisacher. Finally, I would just like to say that this is the best time of the year. While I have not had much time off over the break, I seem to be keeping myself busy in spite of not having any schoolwork, I have watched a lot of basketball. March Madness is fantastic. I went with my Brian (brother), John (cousin), and Tony (friend of Brian) to Anaheim last weekend where we saw a total of six games in two days including the second round games of Stanford and UCLA which were both in the top 10 games I have seen in person. It was awesome. http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/03/long_absence.html http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/03/long_absence.html Sat, 29 Mar 2008 11:43:39 -0800 Of Crushing Sorrow and Traces of Wistful, Sweet Relief A circle of mostly older Batswana women are sitting together in the inner room of a village house. They are swathed in blankets and heavy shawls, though it is a sweltering summer day. A few recline in quiet corners already exhausted by hours of keeping vigil. But they seem perfectly comfortable in that distinctive local posture with legs full extended in front of them on the concrete floor, the only concession being a patchwork of rough, white sugar sacks carpeting the room. They are traditional mourners, family and friends, drawn to this home by the bitter news of what has become an altogether too common event in this part of Africa: word of a passion killing. The strain of grief is written there by a cruel hand on these faces, even as they lean toward one another with whispers of consolation. Outside, in the rocky yard, under the thorn trees, men are already hoisting into place the tarpaulins that will shelter the gathering crowd. The smoke of cooking fires carries aloft the signal that the rituals of prayers and hymns, the recitation of sacred writings and of shared food will mark another wrenching loss. It seems a young man, prone to waves of white hot anger, one day made a bloody end of his girlfriend of long standing, for what possible reason no one seems able to say, though some stutter about that silent nemesis, HIV. He locked the room where she stayed, stumbled into a nearby bar in the vain hope that it might yet all be erased. But having woken to the bitter truth of his life, he turned himself in to disbelieving police, who nevertheless found it exactly as he described. While that much will be told in the headlines, there is heartache and devastation now stretching in every direction as far as the eye can see. The parents of the poor girl, flattened at the news of their daughter's violent end have risen up in rage to say to the young man's family, "You killed her! Now you bury her!" and have slammed the door on all tears of remorse or entreaty. A sister to the dead girl appears brusquely in the yard and begins to scream insults at the boy's elderly mother. She rushes forward, helpless with rage, raining blows down on the bewildered mother who is rescued by bystanders. What was once a quiet village neighborhood of friendship and shared esteem is aflame with hatred, sodden with grief and suspicion. In the verandah of this house of misfortune sits a quiet young girl in a brilliant turquoise frock. Her hair is perfectly braided. She has been attentively bathed and groomed. It is the young daughter of the dead girl and the violent boy now in prison. And what will become of this misbegotten but unbearably beautiful and innocent African child? An aunt frets that she will be branded by playmates as the offspring of violent folly. In a single day she lost her mother at the hands of her father, and he now, is forever prisoner to his disgrace. Has any one suffered in this atrocity more than this lovely child? Having spent a few moments with the mourners in quiet prayer, you might take your leave, wishing each some small measure of relief and peace. As you go, you might notice that under the eaves of this joy-forsaken house, another young mother is nursing a small, contented infant in arms. And as you pass out through the gate you meet with a young man who is carrying an armful of sugarcane to the mourners. Even in a season scorched with inconsolable sorrow, the signs of human love and sweet relief play at the edges of pathos. Jonathan Larson Gaborone, Botswana 10 March, 2008 ]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/03/habakkuk_114.html http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/03/habakkuk_114.html Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:35:46 -0800 Last night we had to turn in a research proposal paper to prepare for our final paper in Non-Western Biblical Interpretation. Choosing a topic took some time, but after having retold my own spiritual journey to my cohort on Monday night, I was reminded of my time in Botswana and some of the challenges that we faced. One of the biggest, ever present issues in all of Southern Africa, and Botswana specifically is the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Throughout the three years I was there it became normal to hear of friends having to go away for the weekend to attend a parent's or relatives funeral. In the midst of this reality we did a Bible study going through the book of Mark. This was challenging as Mark is full of Jesus healing every disease and sickness. Jesus' healing in the midst of a society that is being crippled by an incurable disease brings to light a stark contrast of hope and despair. How do we read such passages when we do not see any healing? Does Jesus still heal? Do we need to "just have faith"? Is not being healed a sign of a lack of faith? I am not sure how to answer these questions, and while I was in Botswana I am not sure I met anybody else who did. They are impossible questions that I feel like we have to wrestle with, all the while trusting that God is good, and he is just, I take comfort in the fact that my view is so limited. http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/02/aids_and_jesus.html http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/02/aids_and_jesus.html Thu, 28 Feb 2008 11:19:02 -0800 Here is a picture of Moruti James, myself and his oldest son Lebang, and Morekoludi his youngest. ]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/02/africa.html http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/02/africa.html Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:03:19 -0800 The past few months here at Fuller have been forcing me to rethink what it means to be a Christian. Studying church history last quarter we looked at the many movements, the actions and reactions that have shaped our lives in America and especially as American Christians. To push that thought process further I took the trip to Utah to participate in the dialogs between Mormons and Evangelicals. Over Christmas break I had the opportunity to review several books that are foundational to missiology, including books and articles by Andrew Walls, Hiebert, and Shenk. This quarter I am only taking the one class, Non-Western Biblical Interpretation. Throughout this time I have been a part of a cohort where we are able to discuss, reflect on and ask questions about the new ideas we are being exposed to. A major themes seems to be on the subject of who is in, and who is out. Looking at this question from a missiological perspective it is clear that through history and in different cultures the answer to the question among Christians receives dramatically different answers. It seems that in an increasingly multi-cultural world, and especially now with more Christians outside of Western culture, the theological walls that contain the church need to be called into question. The Hope Project that I had the blessing of learning from this past summer described the churches that they were planting and discipling as "the church with no walls." What a beautiful image. For them this analogy was appropriate for both their meeting places (generally under the house of their members) and in their involvement in the community. Jim Wallis emphasizes that faith in Christ is personal, but it is not private. The teachings of Jesus seem to speak on many levels, but primarily they gave good news to the poor. When I read the Bible now, I am trying to find the places that it challenges my own thinking. Instinctively, however, I end up finding where it supports my own thoughts. In the Non-Western class I am finding that there are different ways of understanding many texts I had taken for granted and it is uncomfortable, good, but very challenging. So Andrew Walls, I believe, is really onto something when he says that the Gospel is both prisoner and liberator of culture. http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/02/ramblings.html http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/02/ramblings.html Fri, 08 Feb 2008 12:50:14 -0800 In a week from today, on Super Tuesday, Jim Wallis will be coming to Fuller to speak. I'm excited to hear from the editor of Sojourners magazine on such an appropriate day for a discussion on politics and following Christ. It should be very interesting. In other news, it is beautiful in Pasadena most of the time, but now with snow on the mountains and the air as clean as it gets for the Los Angeles area, it is exceptionally so. Elijah and I ran around the Rose Bowl this morning, an easy 3 mile jaunt, and enjoyed the snow capped mountains and brisk air. Today is the first in some time that we haven't had any rain. Some here complain about that; maybe it is because I grew up on a farm where we waited for the rain every winter, but I love the rain. Nothing quite like falling to sleep to the sound of a good storm. Now it's back to writing a paper on the understanding of Acts 2:42-47 in Southeast Asia where community has a higher value and poverty is pervasive. http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/01/gods_politics.html http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/01/gods_politics.html Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:31:19 -0800 I love basketball and have thus found myself as the captain of an intramural team. I'm not bad at basketball, but I am bad at thinking of creative names for teams. Last year we formed a team, largely consisting of my fellow Mennonite Fuller students who like playing basketball. One day we were pressed to come up with an official name and my friend and teammate Kyle Bennet thought of the name Pennonites, all that to say that I am not naming the team after myself and my Christian tradition, but I'll be happy to run with it if somebody else does. The intramural season started up once again this past weekend. It is a lot of fun to go and get beat up a bit every weekend. There is nothing like athletic competition to make the body soar, and thus the idea of sitting and reading sound better. Therefore, it is clear that playing basketball is good for graduate studies. If playing basketball is good, it is not too hard to jump to the conclusion that watching basketball is also good for studies. Watching it live is especially entertaining and a good way to get to know a community. A couple weekends ago I went and saw Pasadena High play, they have a solid team with one exceptional athlete. I hope to watch them a couple more times before the season is over. In the meantime, I had better finish grading papers, grades are due! http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/01/the_pennonites.html http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/01/the_pennonites.html Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:09:11 -0800 Non-Western Biblical Interpretations" taught by Jehu J. Hanciles, Associate Professor of Mission History and Globalization. I have had one class, as all SIS students must, from Dr. Hanciles and learned more about writing in that class than any other I have taken. The first class was "Issues in Mission History" which, as the title implies, takes a look at our history and finds that we have several issues with which we must deal. Hanciles is one of the smartest people I have ever met and challenges his students to grow by grappling with the literature and history until we have a deeper understanding. It isn't so much that he makes us work more, I just have think more critically. It is sometimes painful, but always rewarding. I am also auditing a class from Bryant Myers called "Globalization and the Poor." I have also taken a class from Dr. Myers who recently became a full-time faculty member after working for World Vision for over 20 years. I have had the chance work with him since then and am looking forward to learning from his wealth of experience in international development. Before I can get too involved in the classes I have to finish the all consuming process of applying for a PhD in Intercultural Studies. I finish this process a week from today. I am looking forward to January 15th.]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/01/nonwestern_biblical_interpreta.html http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/01/nonwestern_biblical_interpreta.html Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:43:21 -0800 The past month should have been the Christmas break, but it was pretty busy for me. I finally finished the first draft of the research I did in Cambodia over the summer. After completing that just before Christmas I started studying for the PhD entrance exam for the Intercultural Studies program. I took that test this morning and am feeling pretty confident that I did as well as I could have, which was a relief. Walking out of the test I wasn't really sure what to do with myself. I feel like I have been writing and studying for a long time, now both of them are completed or near completion. To celebrate, I'm going to be going to a high school basketball game tonight. It turns out that Pasadena High School is one of the best teams in the state this year. As always there is not shortage of options for entertainment in the LA area. For me, there is nothing quite like a basketball game on a rainy Friday night in January. Hope your holidays have gone well and that this New Year has started well for you. http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/01/and_were_back.html http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2008/01/and_were_back.html Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:41:58 -0800 Fresno Pacific beat up on USC in an exhibition basketball game, and watching some more Lord of the Rings. After teaching the Jr. High Sunday school class at Pasadena Mennonite I had a nice evening with some fellow Mennonites at a cheese and chocolate fondu party. Monday night I kept the ball rolling by going camping North of Malibu with the hopes of going on my second surfing expedition. It turns out that heavy winds are no good for waves so I never got in the water. Probably for the best too, I'm pretty sure I would have froze. Unfortunately, that is going to be about as much of a break as I'll get until Christmas rolls around. I have decided to apply for the PhD program which means I need to finish my thesis paper (the research was done in Cambodia over the summer) for my writing sample, and then prepare for the entrance exam on January 4. That said, I did have a nice afternoon with a massage from Susan Young and then a couple hours of basketball. Now it is back to the grindstone as I let myself wander back to Cambodia. Hope your holidays are going well as we wait for the coming of our King this advent season.]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2007/12/christmas_break_or_something_l.html http://blogs.targetx.com/fuller/Nathan/2007/12/christmas_break_or_something_l.html Wed, 12 Dec 2007 20:25:13 -0800