Coming out Normal...(if that is possible)

As the new school year begins I am experiencing a sense of loss. I miss it. I miss the mental stimulation, I miss making my own schedule, I miss meeting a few new people, and I even miss working late into the night on a paper. BUT I do not miss the crazies.

I have not moved locations, and as a result I am still surrounded by those who are attached to the academic institution. As these people start the school year the stories begin to drift in, stories from every corner. Stories of boys and girls in love, stories of ridiculous questions, stories of ignorance and bigotry, and stories of great conversations and insights. It is a mixed bag, a mixed bag of the good, the bad, and the crazies.

The crazies are everywhere, but they seem to flock to Bible Colleges. Maybe it is their need for community, maybe Bible Colleges are really a collection of outcasts and socially inept people. I will go out on an offensive limb that there are more crazies at Bible College than elsewhere.

Let me explain Bible College crazies before I go on. To make vast generalizations, which are not ideal but necessary because I do not wish to point out specific people, crazies may be defined by having a narrow perspective. We all like to think our own unique view is correct, this is just human, but what sets a crazy apart is that he or she lacks an intellectual humility to acknowledge he or she may be wrong. They pigeon hole God and life into neat boxes, which they are unable to see are boxes. These people may even be proponents of the cliche "Do not put God into a Box", but when challenged on their box they refuse to acknowledge it is a box.

Some common crazy boxes at Bible College are: My life is all predetermined and I am just along for the ride. God is logical, as we understand logic, therefore the logic of Reformed TULIP is inerrant. Proper education is the factory making of good evangelicals who know a lot of information, rather than learning how to think. Life is hyper-spiritualized, therefore everything has other meanings which involve the learning of christianeese in order to be understood, resulting in no one understanding what is being talked about. Terms of liberal and conservative, as used in the contemporary media, equate to "christian" and "non-Christian", rather than perceiving Christian as being unable to fit into either box of liberal and conservative.

The barrage of stories coming out of the Bible College of students and professors being caught up in one or many little boxes has caused me to reflect. I reflect with my friends and my community, which I know is totally bias because for the most part I like them and we often agree more than disagree. yet, as of late there has been a theme of how we were able to come out "normal". Normal being 51% so not very precise, but normal in that we are able to converse about various topics, relate to various points of view, and have diverse interests in art, culture, science, sport, etc.

In a conversation with a friend about how we turned out so "normal", we concluded it largely was how we grew up. We were fortunate to go to a church that did not hyper-spiritualize everything, so we grew up with sermons that related to life, biology, science, environmentalism, politics, depression, and culture. These were all tied to scripture and preached from the pulpit. We also grew up in a community where the parents held differing opinions and conversation always was filtered through respect for the relationship while still holding one's opinion. Beyond all of these, I attribute our "normalness" to the fact that I grew up in a community that read.

One specific memory I have that displays this is memories of mornings when camping. The community I grew up in went camping together and on Saturday and Sunday mornings when people arose and gathered around fires, it was a common sight for a newspaper to appear from here and then another from there. Newspapers that had been stashed along for multiple purposes, first to be read, and second to provide the children with fire starting material. The memories I have of these times have follow up memories, memories of all the parents discussing politics, different perspectives and the news of the week.

One might say, but probably would not, "my parents read too, and I did not come out normal". The difference I might propose in response is "what was the breadth of the reading one experienced". The parents in my community read widely, although committed Christians, it was not unheard-of to listen in on a discussion of theology that included works by Marcus Borg, or relevant points of Buddhist thought, or the similarities in Hinduism and the development of India. The newspapers that were read around the fire were not all the same, some conservative, some liberal, and the discussion of the news would include thoughts and critique of bias. This later would become common practice; learning to distinguish a writers bias and take that into consideration when reading what he or she wrote. Histories were also read, from the ancient near east, to asian, to Europe, and even Mayan and Aztec cultures were understood. "Normalness" came from having to defend one's opinion against any critique no matter how diverse the reference point. This prohibited brainwashed answers and isolated perspectives. Defence of one's ideas may include biblical reference but also needed to be logical given other evidence. It was in the necessity to have this other evidence that promoted me and my peers to understand the world as wide and vast, an incomprehensible treasure trove of ideas and perspectives. Perspectives that shaped one into "normal".

Earlier this summer a friend asked me for a book list, I was busy and failed to get back to her. This, however, seems like the appropriate time and place for a list. The following are either books I have read, books my parents and their friends read which fit in line with this post, or books that are on my bookshelf waiting to be read. The highlights that ought to be read include:

Out of Babylon - Walter Brueggemann
A History of God: The 4000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam - Karen Armstrong
Failed States - Noam Chomsky (or anything else by Noam)
Infidel - Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Che: A Memoir by Fidel Castro
The Divine Comedy - Dante
Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
Colossians Remixed - Walsh & Keesmaat
An Imperfect Offering - James Orbinski
The Shadow of Kilimanjaro - Rick Ridgeway
Reading the Bible Again for the First Time - Marcus Borg
The Gospel in a Pluralist Society
Fugitive Pieces - Anne Michaels
Anarchy and Christianity - Jacques Ellul
I, Claudius - Robert Graves
Guns, Germ, and Steel - Jared Diamonds
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
The Orthodox Heretic - Pater Rollins

If you have read a book that you think should be added to that list, put it in the comments section below. I am always looking for more books to read, or dream about having the time to read.