Happy Feast of the Incarnation!

He it is by whom all things were made, and who was made one of all things; who is the revealer of the Father, the creator of the Mother; the Son of God by the Father without a mother, the Son of man by the Mother without a father; the Word who is God before all time, the Word made flesh at a fitting time, the maker of the sun, made under the sun; ordering all the ages from the bosom of the Father, hallowing a day of today from the womb of the Mother; remaining in the former, coming forth from the latter; author of the heaven and the earth, sprung under the heaven out of the earth; unutterably wise, in His wisdom a babe without utterance; filling the world, lying in a manger.

- St Augustine

A Tribute to my Supervisor

If I was creative, I would compose a poem. But I'm not, so I won't. I will say that my PhD supervisor is absolutely wonderful. Here's part of an email I sent him this afternoon after he read my conference abstracts and gave feedback within half an hour of my sending them to him (and I realised that I'd never explicitly thanked him for everything he does - I just give him a nice bottle of red each Christmas):

Have I ever told you what a fantastic supervisor you are? Honestly, I'm so glad that back when I was thinking about doing honours I decided to work with you instead of [another lecturer in the school who shall remain nameless in the blogosphere]. He's a nice guy and all, and we have some interesting (sometimes heated) debates, but he wouldn't have given me anything close to the level of support that you have provided. I am so grateful for your advice and ideas.

I think I've come up with a new natural theological argument: choice of supervisor as evidence of God's providence!

His response:

Well, all I can say is "Allah be praised!" that your supervision is satisfactory.

I'm not sure why exactly, but that's his latest catch-phrase...

Hurrah!

This morning at the gym I bench-pressed my personal best, "with maximum muscle recruitment" according to my trainer. I also achieved my personal best with chin-ups (assisted chin-ups - I'm not that strong yet!) and a hover (using stomach muscles). Very exciting stuff!

Foolproof

Socrates, drawing figures in the sand, undertakes to coach an untutored slave boy, helping him to prove a special case of the Pythagorean theorem. I paraphrase very loosely:
Socrates: Here is a square with sides of length 2 and area equal to 4. If we double the area, to 8 units, what will the length of a side be?

Boy: Umm, 4?

Socrates: Does 4 x 4 = 8?

Boy: Okay, maybe it's 3.

Socrates: Does 3 x 3 = 8?

Boy: I give up.

Socrates: Observe this line from corner to corner, which the erudite among us call a diagonal. If we erect a new square on the diagonal, note that one-half of the original square makes up one-fourth of the new square, and so the total area of the new square must be double that of the original square. Therefore the length of the diagonal is the length we were seeking, is it not?

Boy: Whatever.

At this point I trust we are all rooting for the kid. I would like to be able to report that the dialogue continues with the boy taking the initiative, saying something like, "Okay, dude, so what's the length of your erudite diagonal? It's not 4 and it's not 3, so what is it, exactly?" Alas, Plato reports no such challenge from the slave boy.

More here.

A headache for clergy?

Click here.

Surely you can't be serious!

I listen to feminists and all these radical gals - most of them are failures. They've blown it. Some of them have been married, but they married some Casper Milquetoast who asked permission to go to the bathroom. These women just need a man in the house. That's all they need. Most of the feminists need a man to tell them what time of day it is and to lead them home. And they blew it and they're mad at all men. Feminists hate men. They're sexist. They hate men - that's their problem.

Jerry Falwell

[Feminism is] a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.

Pat Robertson

I do not like spiders

Especially big brown ones that scurry across my windscreen and resist my attempts to squash them with the wipers. I'm quite happy for them to be alive outside somewhere, in a tree or even near my front door, but it is unacceptable for them to be crawling on my car while I'm driving.

Love my life

I'm feeling really good today - excited about possibilities and only a little daunted by what lies ahead.

Thanks for praying!

Sold!!

I'm there!

Progress Review

As part of my annual review, I had to fill out a 3-page form (much shorter than last year), listing things like the aims of my research, goals to be achieved in the next year etc. One section asked for my progress since the last review 12 months ago:

I have completed drafts of two chapters, bringing the total number of chapters drafted to four. I have also made significant progress on the draft of a fifth chapter, which I aim to complete by the end of the year.

My chapter outline has developed since the last review. It now consists of two parts: the first being theoretical and conceptual, while the second provides the empirical case studies (which I have now decided upon) to support and illustrate the theory. One of the chapters I drafted this year will now become an introduction to the second part of the thesis.

I have presented papers at two international conferences as well as a number of talks at UNSW (see further details below). With these presentations, I gained positive and useful feedback on the theoretical and conceptual part of my thesis.

As part of my continuing formal theological education, I have completed two more subjects at Moore Theological College: Doctrine of God and Biblical Theology.

I have also further developed my professional skills by tutoring in three different subjects (GENS4010 - Science and Religion; GENT0902 - Witches, Quacks, and Lunatics; and SCIF1110 - Perspectives in Medical Science: The History of Medical Science) and by working as a research assistant to Nicolas Rasmussen.

I also had to list written reports, publications, exhibitions/performances, conference presentations or other achievements in the last 12 months:

"The Dynamics of Natural Theological Discourse," paper presented at the annual conference of the Australasian Association for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science, University of Otago, NZ, December 6, 2005. I was also awarded the Ian Langham prize for the best student presentation.

In December 2006, I was invited to join the Centre for Apologetic Scholarship and Education (CASE), New College, UNSW, as a CASE Scholar. This position included a financial grant and the opportunity to meet regularly and share ideas with other academics who are exploring the significance of Christianity for their work.

"Theology, Natural Philosophy, and Natural Theology: A Dynamic Relationship," paper presented at the annual conference of the British Society for the History of Science, University of Canterbury, UK, July 8, 2006.

Attended two-week summer course on Science and Religion at the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, St Edmund's College, University of Cambridge, July 16-29, 2006. At this course I gained a broader understanding of current debates in science and religion, and made contacts among some of the most important scholars in the field.

"A Kaleidoscopic Presentation," short talk presented at the GRISSH Seminar for Postgraduate Research Students on How to Give a Brilliant Conference Paper, September 26, 2006.

"Natural Theology and Christian Apologetics," presented as part of the CASE weekly lectures on Christianity and Contemporary Thought, October 3, 2006.

"Science-Based Apologetics: Opportunities and Pitfalls," paper presented at CASE Scholars Consultation on Apologetics and the Disciplines, New College, November 10, 2006.

I have been invited to contribute an article on Natural Theology for The Science and Religion Primer, to be published by Baker Academic. The Primer is designed to be a cross between an encyclopedia, annotated bibliography and survey introduction to key historic and contemporary concepts and persons relevant to the science & religion dialogue. I will be submitting my article by the end of this year.

I was also invited to present two lectures on science and religion for a course on Dan Brown and the Da Vinci Code at the Macquarie Christian Studies Institute, Macquarie University. Unfortunately, due to a lack of enrolments, this course did not go ahead.

Apparently, the school has had some students who have left this section blank, so I guess I shouldn't have been worried so much. I really thought that this would be standard. Actually, I was particularly worried because I've only presented two conference papers in the 3 years I've been working on my PhD, and I haven't yet had anything published or even submitted to a journal (this was one of the goals I set down at my last review.) I honestly thought that most, if not all, other PhD students would also be doing these kinds of things, but maybe they're not!

That's quite a revelation to me. No wonder I've been so busy!

P.S. I'm not quoting all this stuff to show off - honestly, I'm genuinely surprised!

The Rain

I will try to break every habit that holds me
I will try to make everyone happy again
I will try to take anything you can throw at me
I will let the rain come in

I will try to face everything that scares me
I will try to trace everywhere that I've been
I will try to wait for all of the hearts to be mended
I will let the rain come in

I will try to breathe deeper than all of the oceans
I will try to see the battle instead of the win
I will try to leave all that I've wasted behind me
I will let the rain come in

And if I try too hard, or maybe not hard enough
I'll be the one who says it's all gonna be OK
And if it all falls down well it's never gonna really matter
Because the rain washes everything away

Kasey Chambers

On a more positive note...

I had my annual progress review this morning, and it went quite well.

The review panel was very pleased with Lara's progress, and recommended that she focuses on creating conditions for uninterrupted writing in the next 10 months.

This means that I'm supposed to be working solely on my PhD for long stretches of time with as few distractions as possible. So, I doubt I'll be doing any Moore College subjects next year. It was also suggested that I probably shouldn't be doing any tutoring. However, I've already offered to continue tutoring the online Science and Religion subject, and I would like to continue that. It's my area of research, and it's quite fun interacting with the students. I got some interesting comments this year - I'll have to post them sometime.

The money from tutoring would also come in handy. My scholarship expires in February, and while I'm applying for a 6 month extension, there's no guarantee that I'll get it. Plus, I want to go back to England in July for 2 conferences, and there's no guarantee of funding for that either. And finally, whether I finish my PhD in September 2007 or not, I'm still not going to get a full time job until 2008, but my scholarship will be gone by then.

Hmm... Guess I'll have to reconsider my book buying habit...

In a bad place...

I am not feeling very happy right now. I have a lot of work to finish by the end of the year, and I am running out of time. Usually deadlines give me motivation to work hard, but at the moment, I seem to be seriously lacking in energy and stamina. It doesn't help that I've been battling bad headaches for nearly a week now, as this has put me even further behind. I have my annual progress review tomorrow. It shouldn't be too bad, and I've already completed all the paper work for it, but I'm still looking forward to it being over.

I was aiming to finish chapter 6 by Christmas, but that's looking unlikely. So far, I have written 9,000 words, but it's all in point form and I still have a long way to go. Chapters 4 and 5 need to be done early next year so I can start reworking the earlier chapters and writing the introduction and conclusion.

By the end of the year (which really means by next Thursday) I also need to write a proposal for a conference paper and an 800 word article on natural theology, including some mention of John Ray. And then there's Christmas...

I'm so stressed and exhausted that I could just curl up in a corner and cry.

C.S. Lewis on Christian Apologetics

What we want is not more little books about Christianity, but more little books by Christians on other subjects - with their Christianity latent.

"Christian Apologetics" in God in the Dock.

A nice summary of what CASE is all about, I think.

C.S. Lewis on Christmas

Three things go by the name of Christmas. One is a religious festival. This is important and obligatory for Christians; but as it can be of no interest to anyone else, I shall naturally say no more about it here. The second (it has complex historical connections with the first, but we needn’t go into them) is a popular holiday, an occasion for merry-making and hospitality. If it were my business to have a “view” on this, I should say that I much approve of merry-making. But what I approve of much more is everybody minding his own business. I see no reason why I should volunteer views as to how other people should spend their own money in their own leisure among their own friends. It is highly probable that they want my advice on such matters as little as I want theirs. But the third thing called Christmas is unfortunately everyone’s business.

I mean of course the commercial racket. The interchange of presents was a very small ingredient in the older English festivity. Mr. Pickwick took a cod with him to Dingley Dell; the reformed Scrooge ordered a turkey for his clerk; lovers sent love gifts; toys and fruit were given to children. But he idea that not only all friends but even all acquaintances should give one another presents, or at least send one another cards, is quite modern and has been forced upon us by the shopkeepers. Neither of these circumstances is in itself a reason for condemning it. I condemn it on the following grounds.

1. It gives on the whole much more pain than pleasure. You have only to stay over Christmas with a family who seriously try to ‘keep’ it (in its third, or commercial, aspect) in order to see that the thing is a nightmare. Long before December 25th everyone is worn out—physically worn out by weeks of daily struggle in overcrowded shops, mentally worn out by the effort to remember all the right recipients for merry-making; much less (if they should want to) to take part in a religious act. They look far more as if there had been a long illness in the house.

2. Most of it is involuntary. The modern rule is that anyone can force you to give him a present by sending you a quite unprovoked present of his own. It is almost a blackmail. Who has not heard the wail of despair, and indeed of resentment, when at the last moment, just as everyone hoped that the nuisance was over for one more year, the unwanted gift from Mrs. Busy (whom we hardly remember) flops unwelcomed through he letter-box, and back to the dreadful shops one of us has to go?

3. Things are given as presents which no mortal every bought for himself—gaudy and useless gadgets, ‘novelties’ because no one was every fool enough to make their like before. Have we really no better use for materials and for human skill and time than to spend them on all this rubbish?

4. The nuisance. For after all, during the racket we still have all our ordinary and necessary shopping to do, and the racket trebles the labour of it.

We are told that the whole dreary business must go on because it is good for trade. It is in fact merely one annual symptom of that lunatic condition of our country, and indeed of the world, in which everyone lives by persuading everyone else to buy things. I don’t know the way out. But can it really be my duty to buy and receive masses of junk every winter just to help the shopkeepers? If the worst comes to the worst I’d sooner give them money for nothing and write it off as a charity. For nothing? Why, better for nothing than for a nuisance.

God in the Dock, pp. 304-305.

Crucifying Christmas

An interesting article from the UK Telegraph. The comments are even more interesting. This one, for example:

I am an aetheist (sic) and a humanist (meaning: I don't believe in fairy tales) and I celebrate christmas because I appreciate the eternal message of kindness and hope which it embodies.

Hmm. I don't believe in fairy tales either!

Oh, the horror!

Thanks to Nixter!

The Choice

An interesting article from Matthias Media's Couldn't Help Noticing.

Scary Mary

Quote

After sleeping through a hundred million centuries we have finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet, sparkling with colour, bountiful with life. Within decades we must close our eyes again. Isn't it a noble, an enlightened way of spending our brief time in the sun, to work at understanding the universe and how we have come to wake up in it? This is how I answer when I am asked -- as I am surprisingly often -- why I bother to get up in the mornings.

— Richard Dawkins, Unweaving the Rainbow