Faculty Retreat
Every August for the past eleven or twelve years, I've made a trek out to East Texas with Dallas Seminary's faculty. I don't teach there full-time--I edit DTS's magazine and teach as an adjunct. But they are kind enough to invite me. And I always love to go.
First, because it's the most international group of folks I know. Here's a wee sampling from this year's summer reports: One prof trained students in Spain and Latin America; another hiked the Alps after attending a conference in Italy; one led a private tour of Israel that included Luis Palau and his wife; one led a group of students to Israel on a gruelling for-credit study tour; a counselor taught for two weeks in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, spoke at the speaker's corner in Hyde Park and sang with his choir in England and Scotland; another was in Afghanistan for two weeks; and yet another filmed a movie in India.
Second, I always hear such good recommendations. This year (and last) I rode out with a couple of Hebrew scholars. One of them-- Gene Merrill--served this summer on an archeological dig that many believe is uncovering ancient Ai. He told me his favorite handbook on Israel is the one by Jerome Murphy O'Connor ( The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide From Earliest Times to 1700). He also highly recommended Todd Bolen's 10-CD set of Holy Land pictures. Rather than including only places, the photo set has everyday-life shots as well. This info could come in handy if my October trip to Israel happens, which it looks like it will.
In his charge to us, Mark Bailey, our president, shared a quote from Augustine that I love: "What else does the Lord seek of thee but thee?"
Darrell Bock raved about a work that colleague Ramesh Richard is finishing up, saying, "He has written a book that should be required for all first-semester theology students on worldview. It's terrifically well done--because he's drawing from culture in writing worldview." How's that for an off-the-cuff endorsement? I'll be sure to highlight it here when it comes out.
Finally, sometimes I'm just dumbstruck by what some of these folks are doing. Like...Dan Wallace gave a report of his 40-week sabbatical tour spent in ten countries photographing 60,000 pages of ancient biblical manuscripts, which included some key discoveries. That is, some manuscripts people didn't even know existed got uncovered by him and his teams. His report was awe-inspiring in terms of the manuscript photos we got to see--as well as being laced with generous helpings of humor.
After that one I turned to the prof next to me and said, "And to think...we get to be friends with these guys!"
Speaking of friends, though, I must add that I missed my friend Bob Pyne, with whom I have in past years engaged in an important exercise in determining the "Natural Selection of M&Ms." We have watched the coated candies disappear in the bowl set between us and tried to guess which color would survive the longest. (Usually green.) This year the M&M bowl remained stubbornly half full as Dr. Pyne moved to Wisconsin to direct the Peace and Justice Center at St. Norbert College. His friends are happy for him, but sad for ourselves. We also missed Dr. Hoehner, who departed this world suddenly in the past year and left an enormous hole in his absence.
Yesterday was new-student orientation, so this is it--time to gear up for fall. My girl starts high school in three days. We brought her home 14 years ago yesterday. Can that really be possible?