“I hear you’re roaming the halls. What’s going on?”
That was how one of my conversations went with one of my friends, Chrystal. She was kidding of course with the “roaming the halls” part, nevertheless, I am sure that was what some of them wondered. Why was I there? From curious faces to puzzlement, to surprises, to happy, to cheerful, to maybe, even, suspicious, of my presence. That is of course, until I told them that I was there because of Dr. Kwok Pui Lan. I mainly saw PhD students the day before.
In Chapel, Dr. Kwok Pui Lan preached a sermon titled “The Samaritan Woman at the Well.” This sermon was appropriately chosen in celebration of International Women’s Day. Now, you may be thinking, there’s nothing original in that sermon as it had been preached many times before and continues to be preached today. Certainly that’s what I was thinking. To my pleasant surprise, however, that was not the case. What was different here is that instead of the focus being on Jesus, the focus was on the Samaritan Woman. Dr. Kwok invited us to re-read the story through the Samaritan woman’s lens.
Some of her questions or points that I recall are: why is it that we continue to focus on her five husbands? What is the significance about the five husbands? Why is it that we focus on our interpretation of morality? Why is it that we let her sexual conducts define her totality? Dr. Kwok would go on to underscore the fact that the Samaritan woman chose to become a bearer of Salvation. She reminded us that the Samaritan woman was a “stranger.” That is, someone who is different from the normative of society or does not conform to society’s expectations. If we pay attention to the “stranger,” it just may bring new possibilities and new horizons. Of course there was more to the sermon, but that’s all I can remember.
After Chapel, Dr. Kwok gave a lecture on the Tiger Mom Syndrome in Weatherly Hall. A very interesting topic that have created a lot of buzz in the U.S. lately.That concluded her visit with Brite Divinity School. It certainly was an honor and privilege to have been in her presence. Here is a link to her CV if you’re not familiar with her scholarship, http://www.eds.edu/sec.asp?pageID=82.
Next up, I sat in with Dr. Namsoon Kang and her Postcolonial class. I absolutely love her classes and her teaching pedagogy. I love the way that she challenges and motivates us students simultaneously. That concluded my visit with Brite for the past two days. I then drove back to Dallas to sit in or participate in a Sample Theology Class taught by a faculty candidate for an open position in Christian Theology at Perkins.
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I will also add that it was also good to see Carl Stoneham there for the last two days. Carl is a PhD student at SMU in Religion and Culture. He is also a Brite graduate.
It was good to catch up with so many friends and colleagues: Adam DJ Brett, Alfie Wines, Crystal Fisher, Christopher Thomas, Michael Riggs and others. Same goes to the professors, as it was great to see them as well, particularly those that I didn’t see yesterday, Toni Craven, Keri Day, David Gouwens, Brian Feille, Nancy Gorsuch.
a journey in existence 