The clock is ticking...three weeks left in the academic semester here and I have two big papers to begin. Luckily, I've been doing the research and getting some reading done for them.

I've decided to write the essay required for my Pastoral Conversations class on Pastoral initiative, specifically as that relates to Church guidance and discipline. I'm convinced that this is an important issue, especially after I read a great essay by my teacher David Yeago on the office of the keys in a Braaten / Jenson book on the marks of the Church.

I have to say, though, that I'm a bit nervous about writing it in a unabashedly theological manner, since the approach of our class seems very much geared toward the therapeutic and the psychological. Not that there's anything wrong at all with psychology, but if it becomes the driving impetus behind Pastoral conversation, something vital is lost.

In all fairness, it's not that our coursework is non-theological, but it takes its cues from the theologies of Tillich and Bultmann, who see the message of the gospel as less about the transformation of the Christian through the Holy Spirit acting in ecclesial practices rooted in the apostolic proclamation about Jesus Christ, and more about internal liberation from all structured moral demands. I just can't reconcile this with the theological formation that I've been receiving and so feel an immense tension between this course and my others.

I've been looking for some direction to take that can acknowledge the good insights of psychology without adopting that disicpline's confused anthropology. On this, Andrew Purves' book Reconstructing Pastoral Theology is very helpful, even if some of his constructive proposals for a new direction in pastoral care are astutely Calvinist and so, a tiny bit problematic for me as a Lutheran. That said, though, his christological approach to the foundations of Pastoral Care are just wonderful and much needed in the field.

On a lighter note, our seminary's Holy Week break seems to have lightened everyone's spirits. That and internship assignments for those of us MDiv's who are going to be vicars next year. My wife & I are going to be in Boone, NC, which we are pretty excited about. Good skiing nearby, all the culture of a college town, and a pretty cool congregation to serve at: http://www.graceboone.org

My friend Brian's birthday was yesterday and to celebrate, we went bowling with another friend of ours. As usual, I scored sub-100. Whew, I stink at this game. My wife beat the socks off me, as she usually does in anything athletic. Nonetheless, it was fun...

I might add a plug for those of you who are curious / excited /dreading the release of the ecclesial conspiracy movie concerning a certain Italian rennaisance painter and his ingenious code. Incidentally, it's due out the day after my birthday (I might also mention that the fee for my hospital chaplaincy this summer is due that day, too-- yeah, they're charging me for work! Happy Birthday to me!) What I mean to say here is that the very interesting reflections of Pr. Schnekloth over at Lutheran Confessions blog include some thoughts about the novel and film. I hope that he doesn't mind my mentioning him here, as it's out of admiration. Check it out: http://lutheranconfessions.blogspot.com/

Peace to you in these Great Fifty Days of Easter.