Posted by Helen on: 03.24.2007 /
Yesterday I drove up to Mundelein Seminary to hear two lectures by NT Wright. His two lecture topics were Biblical Foundations for Sacramental Theology and Sacraments of the New Creation (the links lead to my lecture notes, which I already posted). (Update: you can order the CDs of the lectures using this form)
The seminary invited anyone to attend: registration was free and even included free lunch provided by them in their refectory. In fact, their hospitality extended to augmenting their minimal auditorium restroom facilities for the occasion!
I thought this was a funny site on this very pretty campus of traditional buildings. But I did appreciate how the hosts attended to the practical needs of their visitors. I think there were around 700 people there, half students and faculty and the other half visitors.
I enjoyed the diversity and ecumenical nature of this event. I was impressed that a Roman Catholic institution was willing to invite an Anglican Bishop (and scholar) to lecture there about, of all things, the sacraments. Isn’t that one of the topics which divides Roman Catholics and Anglicans?
And the visitors looked to be of all ages and were from a variety of church backgrounds. There were students from Wheaton, North Park and Trinity and pastors from various denominations. The people sitting right behind me were there because the husband likes NT Wright’s books — the same reason I went. Everyone I talked to was very friendly and I enjoyed the conversations I had very much. As I thought about this afterwards I realized it was because everyone assumed I was “one of them’ and I didn’t push the issue that I wasn’t, so I had no awkward conversations. One man — a local Catholic minister — came up to me after the first lecture and asked me which Christian institution I’m from, which amused me since of course I’m not from any.
The auditorium was a stand-alone building with big windows.
I love being in lecture halls with natural light — I really appreciated that.
Each lecture was preceded with a collection of rousing organ music played by a local church organist (I think they said he was from a local Lutheran church). It wasn’t typical church voluntary music at all — my guess is that it was written in the period when theatres all had organs and it was common to precede events with live organ music. When NT Wright got up to speak he commented that he’d never been introduced by music like that before and he was enjoying the “wave of culture shock”.
I have to say, I wasn’t at all sure whether I’d enjoy the lectures much. Frankly, the topic of the theology of the sacraments sounds boring to me, especially these days. But I’ve been reading NT Wright’s books for ten years and he used to be my favorite Christian author (he still would be, probably, had my beliefs not changed), so I didn’t want to miss this opportunity to hear him in person.
As it turned out, I enjoyed the lectures and all the people I met - I had a great day. The only part I didn’t enjoy was the drive home on Friday afternoon in the rain. It took twice as long to get home as it did to get up there - two hours instead of one. But it was worth it.
Comment by: Rachel
1 03/27/07 12:17 PM | Comment Link |Your description made me wish I was along for the trip, Helen. The two hour drive home would have certainly gone faster if we had been riding and talking together!
It’s a bummer living down here in Oregon. It seems like all I do these days is get invited to, hear about, read about, listen to podcasts of, all the cool things happening in Seattle or Chicago or DC. (pout, pout)
Comment by: Helen
2 03/27/07 12:56 PM | Comment Link |Rachel, it certainly would have been fun to chat with you on the 2 hour drive home!
I seem to remember you going to a conference not that long ago - but I know how it is to hear about other people going and having fun - it’s hard not to be jealous.
Comment by: Rachel
3 03/27/07 1:23 PM | Comment Link |Oh, that’s right! I guess I can’t pout too much then. (sheepish grin)
Comment by: Helen
4 03/28/07 4:53 AM | Comment Link |Rachel, I understand - in a way it makes it worse if you’ve recently been to a great conference; because then when you hear about others you can’t be at you figure you’re probably missing something wonderful. If you’d never been to one you really enjoyed you’d probably just shrug when you heard about other conference in other places. (Imo)