Dork Club

I had dork club last night (otherwise known as Crane Scholars) and it was awesome! For those who don't know, Crane Scholars is -- and I quote -- "an intensive program for Baylor undergraduates sponsored by the Baylor Institute for Faith and Learning that encourages and supports gifted students who are interested in connections between faith, learning, and vocation. In particular, the program identifies and mentors students who are considering graduate school and careers in academic life; thus, the program aims to help cultivate the next generation of Christian scholars and teachers. The program convenes dinners, seminars, and workshops in an effort to foster intellectually rich discussions about faith and scholarly inquiry as students are introduced to first-rate Christian scholars and their writings." Now you know why I call it dork club ... it sounds much less elitist than Crane Scholars ... I feel like I have to throw my nose up in the air and wear some frumpy clothes just to say it : )

Normally, going to dork club has two effects:
(1) it humbles me. Sometimes I think I am smart, and then I go and hang out with students who are ridiculously brilliant ... I mean, we were talking about Nietzsche and Hegel in the car on the way there. I dream sometimes about going to Notre Dame for my PhD and think it could be possible, and then I remember the quality of scholarship that is occurring amongst my peers. It is crazy!
(2) it frustrates me. Supposedly we are talking about the interaction of faith and an active intellectual life ... but it usually ends up as a forum for pedantic students to throw out the names of big thinkers and demean anything that isn't overtly philosophical. For example, one of my peers said something incredibly degrading about the Baylor Interdisciplinary Poverty Initiative, something that I think is really awesome. Perhaps this is me being too cynical, but they see anything practical as totally useless. Why should we talk about poverty issues when we can talk about "the good?"(... said sarcastically). I am under the impression that you can't even begin to approach eudaemonia without taking Jesus at his word when it comes to serving the poor. But I will get off my soapbox.

So, after a very long day yesterday, the last thing that I wanted to do was drive 45 minutes away to spend my Friday night talking about a book that I didn't get to read very much of. But I went. And it was awesome. First of all, Dr. Jeffrey's house is on Lake Whitney, so it was beautiful! And we had the most delicious dinner ever! But the true joy of last night was our conversation ... I came away with an beautiful thought and a big question:

Thought:
"We love because he first loved us." Awesome, right? The book that we are reading is about this woman who is so convinced that she is living life rightly in light of the word of God, but she is the most morally decrepit character I have ever encountered. The solution? She needs to be loved. GK Chesterton (my new favorite author) says that "Beauty and the Beast" is the perfect picture of how being loved makes us capable of loving others. But in order to understand the power of love, we must first understand our own wretchedness. I can rejoice in my unfortunate state, because it makes the love of Jesus that much more poignant -- and it gives me the perspective to attempt loving those who seem unlovable.

Question:
We are told that if we follow Jesus, we will be persecuted. So how do you distinguish from persecution and the efforts of others to tell you that you are not living rightly? This woman in the book had a serious martyr complex, and all attempts to correct her perverted behavior were seen as her cross that she had to bear. Even really awesome people, like Boromir from the Lord of the Rings, are capable of leading us away from the truth ... so how do we distinguish conviction from persecution? Good thing we have the Holy Spirit ... thats all I can say. Feel free to throw your thoughts out there.

Man, how cool is it that I got to go to a professors house last night, eat good food by a lake and have an incredibly high caliber converstation? Pretty sweet, I would say.