tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36562242012-01-09T08:12:45.171-08:00Going OnWhy shouldn't we write about home as if it were a foreign country? This blog started as ramblings on a study trip in Germany, but will continue as reflections on life in Madison, WI and environs.Clintnoreply@blogger.comBlogger871100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-1079730605649182342004-03-19T13:10:00.000-08:002004-03-19T13:13:25.030-08:00Journal of Lutheran EthicsClintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-893724972003-02-19T07:25:00.000-08:002003-02-19T07:25:38.930-08:00The visibility of stars on a cold winter night is one of the added benefits of the upper Midwest in February. If you head out on a run, as I did, with snowshoes on, and get out in the middle of a brightly moonlit field, the snow crisp and virgin under your tracks, remembering the blizzard you drove through on the way home now cleared away by the swift change in temperatures, you get both the Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-891473732003-02-15T08:43:00.001-08:002003-02-15T08:43:27.773-08:00Last weekend was my ordination. Anyone needing the full text necessary to print an ordination worship bulletin, I'm inserting here my stab at it. Unfortunately, I can't host it here as an actual file, so if you like it and need it, simply e-mail and I'll send it as a Word document. For those interested, followed the basic pattern as printed in the occasional services, used the LBW setting for Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-891473722003-02-15T08:43:00.000-08:002003-02-15T08:43:27.616-08:00Last weekend was my ordination. Anyone needing the full text necessary to print an ordination worship bulletin, I'm inserting here my stab at it. Unfortunately, I can't host it here as an actual file, so if you like it and need it, simply e-mail and I'll send it as a Word document. For those interested, followed the basic pattern as printed in the occasional services, used the LBW setting for Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-884487202003-02-02T18:30:00.000-08:002003-02-02T18:30:10.150-08:00 Kites on Ice
After a morning of worship leadership (Now the Feast and celebration) and an incredibly expeditious congregational meeting (finished in one hour flat, unanimous votes), Amanda and I hopped in our 1993 Ford Taurus (it's still green and has only a bit of rust on the driver side door) and rumbled over to Kites on Ice
What is kites on ice, you ask? It's something the Twin Cities Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-880065552003-01-25T07:15:00.000-08:002003-01-25T07:15:52.096-08:00 A New Job and the Peace March in Washington
The first week of new work at St. John's quickly coming to a close. Started on Tuesday with a full day in the office, orientation in the morning, unboxing and shelving of books in the afternoon, council meeting in the evening. This kind of a day at work at a church is not overwhelming- there's a kind of flow to it that allows moments to discover Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-871986772003-01-09T19:19:00.000-08:002003-01-09T19:19:48.363-08:00Vote No War on the People's Referendum to Stop the War on Iraq Submit a referendum... go to DC if you can!Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-871980792003-01-09T19:06:00.000-08:002003-01-09T19:06:32.113-08:00And this, a brief quote from a recent Christmas letter:
"The Son of God comes, and like any child, is a much less romantic gift than we make him out to be. At first adorable, but then voracious and demanding and helpless as any child is, it's a strange thing to realize God puts Himself into the arms of Mary and feeds at her breast. This baby demands something of us, for like any child, it is Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-871249732003-01-08T11:19:00.000-08:002003-01-08T11:19:26.760-08:00Below I've posted a brief e-mail I wrote recently examining the fair trade movement. There's a number of links here on this blog to Fair Trade organizations. Our family has increased the number of products we try to purchase that are "fair trade", and we also work to buy locally and from companies that handle their products and employees justly. We don't accomplish this always, but we try as Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-870451032003-01-06T21:19:00.000-08:002003-01-06T21:19:29.796-08:00Just outside of Madison is a small town called Cross Plains. Like a lot of other small towns surrounding Madison, there's a mix of communities. Some are small town old time Wisconsinites, therefore of German ancestory and rural demeanour. Others are "bedroom community" folks. Seems in almost every town outside of Madison, there's both the older small town homes and the newer suburban Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-867942362003-01-01T11:47:00.000-08:002003-01-01T11:47:16.500-08:00It's official. I received the official letter of call on December 31, 2002, which means that 2003 marks the year in which I finally begin, for the first time (sort of) a full-time job. Amanda and I spent three years working as "full-time" teachers in Slovakia, so I guess that should count, but in my mind that time doubles also as time away from, a break from, seminary. The rest of the past 30 Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-862907032002-12-19T14:53:00.000-08:002002-12-19T14:53:37.453-08:00End of the year book reviews, part III
Robert Fitzgerald's translation of the Aeneid surpasses anything else I've read that he has translated. I was forced to purchase and read his translation of the Odyssey the summer prior to my first year at Luther College. Ask any graduate of Luther in the past 10-15 years, and they will tell you the same. By and large, we come to the enterprise Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-861987202002-12-17T18:59:00.000-08:002002-12-17T18:59:21.510-08:00It's always harder to say positively what the alternative is to the dominant paradigm than it is to launch a critique of the same. Here are some quotes from Levinas in Ethics and Infinity that are "on the way" to a constructive alternative to virtue ethics.
"Ethics occurs as an an-archy, the compassion of being. Its priority is affirmed without recourse to principles, without vision, in the Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-860003452002-12-14T11:45:00.000-08:002002-12-14T11:45:41.876-08:00End of the year book reviews, part II
The ELCA has started a campaign on "discipleship" trying to address issues of ethics and spiritual practices in congregations. It is called, variously, teach the faith, growing in discipleship, living faith, or fanning the flames of discipleship. No matter what you call it, the basic idea is to encourage a third facet of congregational life.
Growing in Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-859613902002-12-13T12:45:00.000-08:002002-12-13T12:45:15.226-08:00TOMPAINE.com - On The Justification Of Civil DisobedienceClintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-859532852002-12-13T09:25:00.000-08:002002-12-13T09:25:31.560-08:00End of the year book reviews, part I
The official numbers are in, and the U.S. processed approximately 26,000 refugees in 2002. This is about 40,000 short of what George W. Bush had stated at the beginning of the year as our commitment (for more detailed info, click on the LIRS link on the right side of this page). This makes two years in a row where we processed far fewer refugees than we Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-856911612002-12-08T12:43:00.000-08:002002-12-08T12:43:02.290-08:00Reflecting on Vestments
A somewhat distant relative of ours refuses to attend churches where the pastor wears a robe. Actually, I think the relative in question called the robes "skirts". On the flip side, last night in a conversation with a friend, I heard dismay in his voice when I mentioned that in a Lutheran congregation I know, the pastors don't wear vestments; in fact they don't even Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-856273612002-12-06T21:30:00.000-08:002002-12-06T21:30:34.503-08:00Today I witnessed something amazing. Amanda is working on a project for one of her library science courses. In this particular case, she had to classify our kitchen. It started weeks ago when she opted for the project, continued last weekend when she went through every single cupboard counting what was there, and has come to a sort-of conclusion this weekend as she designs the classification Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-856177092002-12-06T16:56:00.000-08:002002-12-06T16:56:06.916-08:00The title for the blog has changed, as has the format, but the intent will be the same. A public journal, reflections on life, recipes (i've actually never thought to post recipes here, but it's as good an idea as any), and now, a links section! Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-855989262002-12-06T09:06:00.000-08:002002-12-06T09:06:06.783-08:00Perseus Digital LibraryClintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-831318092002-10-17T12:46:00.000-07:002002-10-17T12:46:34.886-07:00What a great interview! Of course, this is the way things always are, I'm finally getting good at the language (German) and can conduct interviews relatively productively, and now I'm leaving (have left) Germany. In any event, it was great to visit with somebody on a theological faculty of a German university. Quite a different perspective on issues from the pastors I have questioned over the Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-829628692002-10-14T06:32:00.000-07:002002-10-14T06:32:44.270-07:00Like Marburg, Tubingen has a sincerely fairytale atmosphere to it, with steep hills, narrow cobbled streets, and the Neckar running through with students punts lined up for Saturday races. What an amazing town at which to attend university. Had a great evening the first night here eating sushi with a group of international students invited by Mari, my host. It was the week prior to the Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-829624652002-10-14T06:20:00.000-07:002002-10-14T06:20:13.550-07:00Possibly one of the most intriguing responses I got to interviews while visiting congregations was to the Reformation/modern church question as put in Heilbronn. The pastor there responded that when he thought of the home of the Reformation, he thought, not of Germany and Luther, but rather of the Huguenots in France. These are his genealogical roots, many Huguenots fled to places like Swabia Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-829311622002-10-13T13:06:00.000-07:002002-10-13T13:06:30.313-07:00I'm jumping over a couple of blogs in order to let my "readership" know the following:
1) I'm no longer in Germany
2) the trip home to Madison was safe, uneventful, but happy, because I'm now back with my spouse
3) those of you who feel reading the blog was worth a subscription price can certainly pay a freewill subscription fee! :)
I'll be posting some remaining notes here in the next week Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-826861022002-10-08T06:08:00.000-07:002002-10-08T06:08:04.753-07:00Currently visiting a friend from Japan who is a student in Tübingen. Funny, but it turned out to be a Japanese fellow student who made me feel most like a missionary in my time here. We spent a number of hours back in Wittenberg talking about the church and the Reformation, and I had invited her one Sunday to a worship service. She had mentioned a couple times in passing that she didnt have a Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-826859222002-10-08T06:02:00.000-07:002002-10-08T06:02:33.186-07:00The local congregation near my host families house in Wittenberg has a worship service once a month presided by a retired pastor. I was able to catch one of these prior to leaving Wittenberg, and it was a beautiful, simple affair. There were about 20 of us, the organist was sick so we sang all the hymns ourselves. It was St. Michael and All Angels Sunday, so the pastor preached on the role andClintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-826341582002-10-07T05:56:00.000-07:002002-10-07T05:56:13.396-07:00Didnt realize how interesting and beautiful the Neckar wine valley in SW Germany is, but now I know. Of course, the Black Forest is world renowned, but the whole valley down the Neckar is amazing. Many of the grape growing vineyards stand on such steep hills that the vines run parallel to rather than up and down the hills. Theyre so steep that parallel vines still receive equal light, whereas Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-826340272002-10-07T05:51:00.000-07:002002-10-07T05:51:07.796-07:00This past weekend was the equivalent of Thanksigiving in Germany. Literal translation would be the harvest thanks festival. Like many harvest festivals in churches int he states, they gather a lot of produce together and display it in front of the altar. In the case of the congregation I visited, they also brought in a fleet of cute kindergarten children to sing songs and do miniature skits. Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-825131822002-10-04T05:50:00.000-07:002002-10-04T05:50:59.850-07:00that one of my first, Gestalt clarifying German experiences came before I got on the plane. Luther Seminary hired a professor of missions this past spring, and I was present for his open-to-the-public trial lecture. Luther usually brings in a fleet of faculty possibilities for a given professorship, and then has them lecture publicly. They also get grilled later by the faculty. Anyway, said Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-825094032002-10-04T03:02:00.000-07:002002-10-04T03:02:38.733-07:00Started reading last night a portion of Mark Twain´s "A Tramp Abroad" which takes place, at least in part, in Germany, first of all in Heidelberg. Twain really is liberating to read. He just flows from thing to thing. A Tramp Abroad is an example of a blog that somebody, namely Samuel Clemens, was actually paid to publish. Funny. Anyway, the first two chapters of Tramp arent even about Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-823639792002-10-01T06:55:00.000-07:002002-10-01T06:55:34.676-07:00Book recommendation:
Joseph Stiglitz, Globalization and It's Discontents
Attended a fascinating conference this past week on the issue of "Just War, Just Peace." Schorlemmer, a rather famous German theologian, was the convener, and had invited a variety of very interesting presenters. The central topic of the conference, aside from the theme, was the life and times and thought of Willy BrandtClintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-823636002002-10-01T06:45:00.000-07:002002-10-01T06:45:48.870-07:00Have, ever since my first visit to Europe, been fascinated by the travelers' obsession with old buildings. Why does international travel always include, or even emphasize, the visiting of castles and palaces? I'm sure Twain has something clever to say on the subject, so I'll look there after I look into my own brain. Was in Potsdam two weekends ago for a language course visit. Potsdam is Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-823078692002-09-30T04:16:00.000-07:002002-09-30T04:16:42.653-07:00This blog starts a while back when I stopped at a fish restaurant for lunch in Hamburg, ordered a wonderful plate of fresh north sea fish, and then sat down at the table of two men, students a few years younger than me, who were in town for the street festival. One dressed like your average German male, jeans and worn collared shirt, the other looked to be of Rastafarian extraction, dreadlocks Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-821873282002-09-27T04:17:00.000-07:002002-09-27T04:17:18.683-07:00Had intended, at least once or twice in this visit, to get out into the mountains and wild preserves of Germany, but unfortunately the combination of time constraints, flooding, and money, kept me fro the goal. Mostly. Did get out for some damp and fecund runs on trails in the Thuringian forest, outside Eisenach, and how this past weekend I gathered a group of classmates for a Sunday day trip Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-821399532002-09-26T04:04:00.000-07:002002-09-26T04:04:39.770-07:00Notes on an altar piece
The altar piece in the front of the Stadtkirche in Wittenberg is incredibly famous. It depicts the four "sacraments" of the Lutheran church. For those of you who did confirmation, you might think we have only two sacraments in the Lutheran tradition, but Cranach's altar frontal begs to differ (as does, to a certain extent, the confessional writings of the Lutherans Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-821396562002-09-26T03:51:00.000-07:002002-09-26T03:51:46.113-07:00Morning services in Wittenberg. LWF's annual council meeting is currently held in Witt. so the worship services are radically altered. This is the 1st time I have attended one church and then, after the sermon, hopped on my bicycle and headed for another church to arrive, just in time, for the Eucharist. I learned midway through the sermon in the first church that there was communion at the Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-819899292002-09-23T05:22:00.000-07:002002-09-23T05:22:08.663-07:00Rode out with the Jost family to Prettin today, about 40 km from Wittenberg, and the whole way we were passing through the flood zone. Even though Prettin is over a kilometer from the Elbe, it was completely flooded, and we passed whole streets in various small towns where the water marks went up to the middle of the first floor window, and there were still, now three weeks after the flooding,Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-817670672002-09-18T04:08:00.000-07:002002-09-18T04:08:46.040-07:00Three worship services, one day
Leipzig might rank as the city with the most active congregational life of the cities I have visited, or probably I should say the most visible, as there is a lot of the church here that I have not and will not see because it simply goes on in the daily life of people and communities. Anyway, discovered through the Leipzig church publication that there are three Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-817197242002-09-17T05:51:00.000-07:002002-09-17T05:51:04.140-07:00Making an experiment in understanding other people's fascinations. Let me explain. Im not a stranger to obsessing over obscurities, for example, certain musical styles like acid jazz, literary genres like the early modernists, or th elike, but there are two artistic giants in this part of Germany who Ive never understood in spite of the worlds fascination with them (the 2nd being Goethe who I Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-817194022002-09-17T05:40:00.000-07:002002-09-17T05:40:40.160-07:00Attended the Swords to Ploughshares evening prayer service at St. Nikolai church in Leipzig. Theyve been conducting the prayer service for 20 years straight now, and the service was incredibly, if not centrally, influential in the peaceful revolution of 1989. Prayer services held at this time became the center of the movement that eventually led to the fall of the Stasi, the restructuring of Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-816668522002-09-16T04:13:00.000-07:002002-09-16T04:13:50.013-07:00Worship in Weimar
Arrived in Weimar a bit later than expected, so dropped all my stuff in my room and headed immediately for the city center. You have to actually visit the churches in town to learn teh worship schedule, so checked that out first,then wandered around Weimar gawking at the statues and the homes of Goethe and Schiller. Ive never really understood the fame of Goethe and Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-816663432002-09-16T03:48:00.000-07:002002-09-16T03:48:13.376-07:00Jumped off the train between Eisenach and Weimar to visit Erfurt, another de rigeur Luther spot. On the walk between the Augustinian Cloister where Luther was a monk, and the Hauptbahnhof, you cross a creally cool shopping bridge similar to one we visited in Florence (I think it was Florence). Anyway, its a bridge that doubles as a street and artisanal shopping center. It took ten minutes to Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-816661722002-09-16T03:39:00.000-07:002002-09-16T03:39:19.536-07:00Lutherhaus in Eisenach
Like the Wartburg, Eisenach is one of the "must see" Luther sites, primarily because of the Wartburg, but secondarily because of the Luther house where Luthers family lived for a number of years. Owned today by the evangelical lutheran church in Saxon-Anhalt, its a beautifully preserved house between the city center and the Bach house. It also happens to be a well Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-814464782002-09-11T01:00:00.000-07:002002-09-11T01:00:51.260-07:00Warning: ive added a lot of posts today, but I think they are generally worth the read. Consists of some peak experiences.
Eisenach:
Its a 30 minute walk by foot from Eisenach to Wartburg castle. Plenty of time to think. Ive been trying to discern the major diff. between German and American churches. Of course there are differences, but I want to avoid descending into stereotypes, if this Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-814461352002-09-11T00:45:00.000-07:002002-09-11T00:45:21.523-07:00Segue to reflections on the Fischmarkt:
Fish are now only ancillary to the whole fish market culture. Theres more fruit for sale by sober, coffee consuming Arab and Greek and Turkish men. You can, if you look, find the boats with the fresh eel, salmon, crab, and unknown slinking white fishes, but the building itself (the Fischmarkt) has been captured by the champagne upscale breakfast crowd, Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-814459802002-09-11T00:38:00.000-07:002002-09-11T00:38:23.970-07:00Another older note:
Got up at not too early an hour this morning and came down to the Fischmarkt (Hamburg). I dont think Ive even been in such a debauched city. Last night I slept all night hearing the bass thump of a disco, and I woke up and headed down to the Fischmarkt where the party simply continued by starting up again at 5, the same time the bars close. So the true partiers need never Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-814457612002-09-11T00:28:00.000-07:002002-09-11T00:28:05.083-07:00An older note:
In Braunschweig, they have a collection of medieval priestly vestments that is unique to Braunschweig both in quantity and quality. The main collection consists of an alb (wheres my dictionary of liturgical terminology when I need it!?) This is actually a very simple, square piece of heavily embroidered cloth, with a hole directly in the middle through which the priests head Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-813501062002-09-09T03:24:00.000-07:002002-09-09T03:24:27.700-07:00InstantSleep hostel in Hamburg, where I stayed for the duration, is purposefully Bohemian, really marketed to the free for all party crowd, most of them on their way from or to Amsterdam. Thus, you would imagine things to be a little wild, maybe even dangerous. It is true that some really weird things happened. I learned how one roles a joint, although I did not smoke one, and I also saw, for Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-813499182002-09-09T03:13:00.000-07:002002-09-09T03:13:09.750-07:00Interview with Simone
Monday morning walked down into Alton, a way diverse suburb of Hamburg, to visit with Simone, a pastor in the area. She actually studied at Hermannsburg, a mission society and school where our firends Michael and Stevie also studied (they now served in Abakan, Russia) At first, she just gave me a tour of the congregational offices, mentioned some of their ministries. ForClintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-812317692002-09-06T04:50:00.000-07:002002-09-06T04:50:21.093-07:00Attended a worship service in Plattdeutsch at Trinity Church downtown Hamburg. Small community, but very friendly. It was interesting to imagine the Schnekloth and Johnson ancestors up here in the North worshipping in Plattdeutsch. There are substantial similarities between the languages, but the average german reading the text for the service has some difficulty. Nevertheless, the church in Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-812316472002-09-06T04:44:00.000-07:002002-09-06T04:44:39.696-07:00Hamburg.... walked and saw a bit of the Gerhard Schroeder election rally, German elections come up Sept. 22. Then saw a war protest parade in tthe city center. Hamburg is radically different than anywhere else Ive been in Germany. Its hip and knows it. Great bohemian fest in our neighborhood- apparently you can set up any kind of shop you wnat right on the street. Some guys have hauled out Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-811825832002-09-05T03:37:00.000-07:002002-09-05T03:37:00.893-07:00My third evening in Lubeck I meta young woman headed back to Munich after her vacation, and we cooked supper together. She was headed to Hamburg the next day, so instead of taking the train, I rode in her rental car, and she even dropped me off in the middle of town. How nice. This is what Im constantly discovering on my travels, how kind and helpful travellers are to each other. My Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-811825332002-09-05T03:34:00.000-07:002002-09-05T03:34:31.220-07:00Staying in hostels has been a new, and rather hip experience. In Lubeck, I spent each evening chatting with fellow residents. The first night it was a young couple with child from Copenhagen. They were actually from England, lived and worked currently in Copenhagen. I shared a bottle of wine with them, and we did what our generation often does, got into a very deep and meaningful discussion Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-811823942002-09-05T03:26:00.000-07:002002-09-05T03:26:49.900-07:00Alot has happened since the last post. Im now in Eisench, after having passed through Lubeck and Hamburg. I spent four days in each spot. Lubeck was pretty, Baltic, and friendly. Visited an organ and an orchestra concert, took a day trip out to the spa town of Travemunde, continued working my way through Buddenbrooks, which takes place in Lubeck and Travemunde, and hung out evenings chatting Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-809612362002-08-31T09:55:00.000-07:002002-08-31T09:55:02.783-07:00Wolfenbuttel. Verz cool library. Interesting that there is so much history in a town I previously hadnt heard of. Important in the history of libraries, this counts as my beginning my library education along with Amanda. Lessing, Liebnitz, among others worked here. Today it houses the largest collection of 17th documents anywhere in the world.
http://www.wolfenbuettel.de/
Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-809604842002-08-31T09:29:00.000-07:002002-08-31T09:29:06.330-07:00http://www.bartleby.com/65/ha/Hanseati.html
Reading Thomas Mann's Bruddenbrook right now. Those of you interested in things like the U.N. and new forms of economic organization might be interested in the Hanseatic League, encyclopedia link above.Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-809604162002-08-31T09:26:00.000-07:002002-08-31T09:26:29.656-07:00Was invited this evening to the family Karla and Dieter Bierschwalen. They're a couple in their 50s who were on the trip yesterday. I walked with Dieter from the centrum out to their house, 1.5 hours, for a bit of afternoon exercise. They have a beautifully rebuilt masonric house. Dieter did all the reconstruction. Their mother lives in the other half of the house. The walk out was great. Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-808707912002-08-29T07:38:00.000-07:002002-08-29T07:38:58.040-07:00So far Braunschweig is everything I had expected, and more. Pastor Diestelmann picked me up at the train station, and we went to his cozy apt. in a suburb for coffee. We talked about the Hoch Wasser, of course, Martin Chemnitz and his predecessor pastor. The most humorous part of our day is: we went and surfed the Internet together. There were a # of things he was interested in, like Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-808703622002-08-29T07:27:00.000-07:002002-08-29T07:27:55.433-07:00I jumped the next train to Braunschweig from Magdeburg, and am now writing and enjoying a meal at a stand up Burger King stand. Crispy chicken, pomme frites, pomme frites sauce. The church Im visiting is interesting. It represents one way to relate the history of the Reformation to the present. Keep things as they were. Luthers translation of the Mass is used as their main service. They useClintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-808702372002-08-29T07:24:00.000-07:002002-08-29T07:24:15.136-07:00Warning... been having a bit of a problem finding time to be on line. so these are notes only to get them off paper onto the web
To get from Wittenberg to Braunschweig last week, I had to take a bus through Wittenberg because of the flooding, and then board the train at the Witenberg west train station. I arrived in Roslau, the first transfer point, only to be greated bz a very worried train Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-806093052002-08-23T04:28:00.000-07:002002-08-23T04:28:28.376-07:00
http://www.luther-in-bs.de/
This is a page designed by the pastor I begin visiting tomorrow in Braunschweig. He is a confessional (free) Lutheran, and a church historian. Most of the articles are in German, but there is an excellent article on Melanchthon, as well as a couple other pieces in various languages, for anyone wishing to read more on Melanchthon.
Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-806041222002-08-22T23:36:00.000-07:002002-08-22T23:36:06.086-07:00On the last post, the web site for flacius should be with one c:
www.flacius.com
The author of the book is Oliver Olson, a specialist in Reformation church history. He's written on Melanchthon also, I've learned, so when I get back to the states, I'll have to read up and correct some of the errors on this post. For the moment, please forgive historical or theological inacurracies (or send Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-805202532002-08-21T06:21:00.000-07:002002-08-21T06:21:52.883-07:00Philip Melanchthon
The Luther house and museum are closed in Wittenberg and won't re-open until late October of this year. This is unfortunate for me, but good for future tourists, because they are restoring more rooms, improving the museum and archival displays, and so are doing a more adequate job than in the past of helping visitors understand Luther and his period.
The Philip Melanchthon Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-805195152002-08-21T05:57:00.000-07:002002-08-21T05:57:21.793-07:00Heres a friendly e-mail reply from a friend regarding Bach biography suggestions, as well as information on why the creed comes before the sermon in German churches. Excellent information! Thanks.
Your blog asked for a bach book; read Christoph Wolff's biography. Philip
Spitta would be a close second. Avoid Schweitzer's. Wolff attends to
Bach's churchly vocation and is shorter than Spitta'sClintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-804656882002-08-20T00:00:00.000-07:002002-08-20T00:00:07.313-07:00I just finished reading an early sermon by Barth (re: the New Year, Sylvester) while sitting in the courtyard of Brauhaus Wittenberg im Beyerhof. The brick street sits under my feet, there's a cool breeze from the (flooded) river, the sun is setting, and I find there is no better place to sit and read and write than in a courtyard with beer and a nice shaded picnic table on a Sunday evening. Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-804655082002-08-19T23:53:00.000-07:002002-08-19T23:53:00.590-07:00English Worship
Although it might be cliche, I think any pastor visiting Wittenberg wonders secretly or out loud, "What is it like to preach in the same church where Luther preached?" It's hard not to think this, since all the trappings of the church still come from Luther's period. The art is by Cranach, the statues and other paintings are of Luther, Melanchthon, Bugenhagen. So, it was not Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-804188482002-08-18T23:37:00.000-07:002002-08-18T23:37:08.193-07:00Hochwasser (Flood Water)
The villages that my host families mother's live in have been evacuated because of the flooding, and we wait until today to see if they will actually flood. In the meantime, they have been staying at our house. Gisela, my host mother, has been wonderful, preparing food for everyone, still calm and welcoming in the midst of it all. I've offered to help at various Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-803098702002-08-15T23:59:00.000-07:002002-08-15T23:59:15.040-07:00I learned that the first beer was made in Baghdad, and that in fact the first hospitals were in Baghdad as well. Then we got into a joke telling session, some of which were really great. For example, Margo contradicted the historical veracity of beer originating in Baghdad, and said that it was actually the Egyptians who invented beer, and then to honor the beer, built the "beer-a-mids". Yes, Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-803097002002-08-15T23:52:00.000-07:002002-08-15T23:52:47.516-07:00There are two English language ministries in Wittenberg, and Lutherans won't be surprised to learn these are hosted by the ELCA and LCMS respectively. The ELCA program, the Wittenberg Center, has two full time staff members through the department of global missions who live and work in Wittenberg full time. Their office is housed in the Lutheran seminary here in Wittenberg, and their primary Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-802662172002-08-14T23:56:00.000-07:002002-08-14T23:56:25.756-07:00Anyone out there have any good book recommendations on Bach? I need a suggestion prior to the Leipzig trip. There's good stuff on the web, but not much theology or biography.
1. Pfifferling- a specialty in Germany in August, made of hand-picked mushrooms sauteed in spices and oils, and then presented with a pork tenderloin, in an omelette, etc. Very good.
2. Weiss bier- beer where the Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-802213862002-08-13T23:40:00.000-07:002002-08-13T23:40:34.746-07:00Last night my host mother brought out an old yellowed envelope. In it were the papers that her own mother had to have made to prove her German purity in order to be married. She was married in 1942. She needed paperwork proving that her parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles were all German and Christian (not Jewish). Each paper has similar data. Date of birth, date of baptism, date of Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-802212182002-08-13T23:34:00.000-07:002002-08-13T23:34:53.600-07:00It's flooding all over Germany, France, Austria, and the Czech Republic. 50,000 people were evacuated from the Prague city center. The Dresden main train station is under two feet of water. The Elbe, which flows past Lutherstadt-Wittenberg, is 10 times its normal size. Wittenberg won't flood, though, because it is on a small hill (Witten = white berg= hill).
Last night we watched the news Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-801331182002-08-12T04:10:00.000-07:002002-08-12T04:10:47.323-07:00Here's the introduction to the Magdeburg confession, where I'm headed next Sunday. There's been some talk of late that it was quite influential in the founders writing the Declaration of Independence. It is also unique among the Reformation confessions as regards the issues of tyranny and resistance.
THE MAGDEBURG CONFESSION
Magdeburg Bekenntnis
---------------------------------------------Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-801329942002-08-12T04:05:00.000-07:002002-08-12T04:05:41.693-07:00A random list:
1. Butter is vitamin enhanced in Germany, rather than cereal.
2. After the trainer at the gymn poured eucalyptus water over the heater, he took a large towel in hand and spun it vigorously, helicopter style, over his head. This quickly spread all the hot steam evenly over the room. I could feel all my pores opening simultaneously.
3. I eat meat three meals a day here.
4. Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-801328592002-08-12T03:58:00.000-07:002002-08-12T03:58:55.090-07:00Another good web site:
www.wittenberg.de
The service at the Schloss Kirche was relatively similar to the order of service found in the LBW or most Roman Catholic churches, although unfortunately it was only a service of the word and not a service of the meal. No Lord's Supper. Apparently every church (every church I've been to) has a super organist, so the service opened and closed with Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-801325562002-08-12T03:44:00.000-07:002002-08-12T03:44:09.293-07:00www.dessau.com
http://www.dessau.de/amt41/kulttour/engl/index_ueberblick.html
I am providing two links above, the first for those of you wishing to brave a German web site concerning Dessau, the 2nd a quick link to the English tourist portion. Sunday was Dessau day. First, we attended worship at the SchlossKirche, the castle church in Wittenberg. This is the church where Luther regularly Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-800640362002-08-10T05:09:00.000-07:002002-08-10T05:09:11.416-07:00Just a reminder that if anyone wants more info from the blogspot, and/or wants to respond, correct mistakes etc., you can write to:
perichoresis2002@mac.com
I've got fifteen minutes left of my half hour session at an internet cafe on Potsdamer Platz. A long chain of those motorcycles with two wheels in the back and one in the front, I don't know the name, just rode by in good summer motoring Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-800174412002-08-08T23:56:00.000-07:002002-08-08T23:56:27.890-07:00Jugendweihe - Ceremony in which 14 year olds are given adult social status in (formerly in the DDR, still sometimes in modern eastern Germany) This is the equivalent to socialist confirmation
I'm still thinking through all the implications of this, but the context for learning the term was very helpful. I sat down after dinner with my host mother, her daughter, and her own mother, three Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-799724152002-08-07T23:52:00.000-07:002002-08-07T23:52:28.086-07:00This next post speaks oodles, at least for me, about the life of former east Germany (and possibly also life in a small town). I set out yesterday in search of a fitness centrum. Gisela had given me very explicit directions, including a map, on how to find the place. This turned out to be important, even though the centrum was in my neighborhood. I decided to walk rather than bike, at least in Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-799717152002-08-07T23:25:00.000-07:002002-08-07T23:25:56.933-07:00German language classes here in Wittenberg are offered through the Leucorea, an institute founded in the early part of the last decade, when the change happened (die Wende), the re-unification of Germany. The building in which I am typing, and the library more specifically, was built through a grant from Western Germany. Our building sits almost right next to the Luther House (the old monastaryClintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-799352342002-08-07T06:32:00.000-07:002002-08-07T06:32:12.733-07:00One of the best deals in German travel is the WochenendTicket, which, for 28 Euros gets you unlimited train travel for one day. The only rule is that you cant ride any of the super fast trains. So, to travel a long distance in Germany for a small amount of money, you purchase this ticket, and then have the train ticket office print you a schedule for switching trains between your departure Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-799271162002-08-06T23:57:00.000-07:002002-08-06T23:57:04.183-07:00So, I'm getting a bit behind in all of these blogs, but this is one of th emore interesting things so far. I took a day trip from Munich to Augsburg, the location of the signing of the Augsburg Confession, among other things, and really enjoyed the time. First, there was a small but well organized museum concerning the Reformation, particulars of Reformation history in Augsburg (the confession,Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-797742532002-08-03T08:11:00.000-07:002002-08-03T08:11:25.006-07:00My first worship service this time in Germany was yesterday, the 6:30 p.m. "Freitag Abend Gebet" at St. Thomas Church. This evening prayer service is regular for them, but it was the first and only time I'll be able to attend.
Apparently St. Thomas has the distinction of being the church in town where the homeless and otherwise hang out. I haven't seen the same kind of poverty and Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-797739482002-08-03T07:58:00.000-07:002002-08-03T07:58:18.583-07:00This blog would certainly not be complete if I didn't include at least one running entry. So, here it is. Thursday morning I was up at 5 a.m. because of the time change, and there is nothing worse (for me) than being up this early with nothing to do really. So I put on the running shoes, and headed for one of the sites in town that I intended to visit but not really tour, Nymphenburg Schloss Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-796814132002-08-01T02:39:00.000-07:002002-08-01T02:39:02.663-07:00I'm here. Everything you hear about beefed up security in the airports is true, at least in the U.S. I even had to take my boots off twice. I sat next to a Grand Master in chess from Zurich on the flight over, and he agreed to be my first German teacher. Munich definitely looks like a slightly spruced up part of what was formerly Eastern Germany, at least on the fringes. I head for the city Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-795687372002-07-29T16:14:00.000-07:002002-07-29T16:14:42.870-07:00Fortuitously, the Monday before my Lufthansa flight out of Minneapolis, the latest issue of the American Scholar arrived in the mail. And what should one of the essays be, but "The Peculaiarities of German Travel" by Michael Gorra. The last few months, I had been searching quite diligently for travel writing on contemporary Germany. Of course, you can find lots of history writing on Germany (Clintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656224.post-793030542002-07-23T07:42:00.000-07:002002-07-23T07:42:01.903-07:00This blog will take the place of the periodic mailings I send out by e-mail. You can simply come browse at any time and look at the updates. As an FYI, here are links to the language program in Wittenberg, and the Wittenberg Center:
Wittenberg Center: www.elca.org/ewbc
Institut for deutsche Sprache und Kultur: http://www.sprache.uni-halle.de/
Clint
Clintnoreply@blogger.com