Chicago, Part 2

So what am I doing in Chicago, anyway?

In response to a lot of encouragement from both of my academic advisers at PLNU, I decided to attend the Law, Justice, and Culture Institute at Trinity Christian College, in Palos Heights, Illinois. Basically, it's a class on  the history and philosophy of a way that Christians should act in and interact with politics, especially in the United States.

So far, the best book we've read was Living as the People of God, by Christopher J.H. Wright. It's not in publication anymore, but they got permission from the author to reproduce it for the Institute. Basically, it runs through a way of reading and applying Old Testament law. Rather than trying to reproduce it law-by-law in modern society (an approach few people would advocate today), Wright recommends what he calls a "paradigmatic" approach: identifying the core ethical ideas being addressed by a law within the specific culture of ancient Israel, and making sure that these principles are addressed in our approaches to justice today.


It's weird being here at Trinity. It's been so long since I've been surrounded by Christians, talking about Christian things in Christian terms. At Loma this past year I've kind of gotten out of the habit of talking about God or faith with pretty much anybody, especially since I've had other things pressing on my mind, from coursework to changing social systems. Being in such an intentional situation again is a good opportunity for me to reevaluate what I believe and why. Or at least, it's a spark. I'm hoping to spend a lot of time reading Rachel Held Evans's blog this summer, and I think these first few days have gotten me interested in doing so again.

The people I'm meeting here are very interesting. Dr. Sue Emmerich, who taught a creation care "Practicum" at the start of the Institute, is an environmental consultant who has worked in many different parts of the government, including the United Nations Environment Program and the EPA. She also has worked solving environmental conflict in the Chesapeake Bay using a faith-based, anthropological approach (see the ten-minute trailer about her work here). We've already gone out birding once, and I'm hoping we can again!

The other students are fun. A few are students at Olivet, a few others go to school here at Trinity, and then everyone else is scattered among other Midwest schools. Meeting people here, in an entirely new setting, I have the opportunity to reflect on what it is that makes me me. What do I share? What do I do with my spare time? How do I respond to what others share with me? Am I proud or humble, patient or impatient, kind or ornery? Adventurous or lazy or respectful or immoral?

These are the kinds of questions I will have LOTS of time to reflect on over the next year, as I continually move from place to place. But this is what I need: an opportunity to define and redefine myself, and see what sticks. To just be myself, and see what feels natural, what feels true, what feels right. I have defined myself with respect to particular people, situations, and circumstances while I've been at Loma. It's time to see what of that is truly myself, and what of it is just part of my social environment that I was wrapping around myself. And when I return home, I will bring with me what I have found to be myself, along with the pieces of the places I've traveled.