Trip to York

Todd and I took a trip to York last Thursday and had a nice day walking around the city. We visited the York Castle Museum, York Minster and had lunch at Bettys.





The only part left of York Castle is Clifford's Tower, named after a man who was hanged for treason from its walls in 1322. Beside the tower is York Castle Museum that depicts what life in England was like over the past 400 years.













We went to Bettys tearoom for lunch and though we didn't have "afternoon tea" we had some really yummy food!












Our favorite place on this trip was York Minster. We were going to pay the 9GBP to get in, but Todd in all his wisdom asked if there was a clergy discount and they let us both in for free!! In the under croft we saw old Roman walls that were built 2000 years ago and interesting sculptures that were found near the building in a recent dig. Outside sits a modern statue of Constantine, the Caesar who allowed Christianity in his empire in the first century. The church is really beautiful inside and out.









Below are some more pictures I took of the church:




This last picture is of the Quire Screen that has sculptures of 15 kings from William I to Henry VI. A very impressive wall of the church.


We were touring the church when the choir was rehearsing for the next service. Though the video below is sideways, the voices made the tour that much more enjoyable!

On my iPod

I don’t consider myself a music guru. I’m not the person who knows the newest bands and I usually find my favorites by accident a few years after their albums come out and everyone else has since tired of hearing them. So I write this post humbly, not with the intention of waxing eloquent about the voices I’ve heard, but to write about what I’m currently enjoying in my day. Todd explains my music taste as “soulful female vocalists” which doesn’t narrow down my genre too much. And while I enjoy Amos Lee and Ray LaMontagne, Brandi Carlile and eastmountainsouth will always be on any created playlist of mine because I have a deep appreciation for beautiful folksy female vocalists.

We’ve been living in England for nearly 4 months, so let me share three recent singer/songwriter album releases that I’m currently in love with from this side of the pond. And yes, they are all female vocalists.

Eliza Doolittle, the daughter of a theatre director and an actress/singer, born in London. Her grandmother was the founder of a theatre school in London, so really it’s just in her blood. Her music is poppy and fun. Her album was released here in June and on all the UK charts, but still has a TBD album release date in the states. I tend to stay away from buying “Top 40” albums since I can hear them on the radio, but this one I found too late and has the added bonus of being an unknown in the States. Here’s a video of my favorite song “Rollerblades” from her album:

KT Tunstall, a scottish singer/guitarist, I’m proud to say I’ve been listening to for years. I had her first album before 2006 American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee sang her song on national television and the general public began noticing, but I must confess that this album was a random grab from a Starbucks in Philly when they first started selling new music along with overpriced coffee. KT Tunstall was probably the only stamp of approval of my music I got from Todd when we were dating because she is a very gifted musician/writer. Her music is of the alt rock persuasion and her album “Tiger Suit” (released in October) is on par with her first brilliant album. Here’s a live version of one of my favorites from this album:

Adele, London born with an amazing soulful voice, released her new album on Monday Jan 24^th. I’m sad to say that I didn’t find Adele until Spring of 2009 when a friend posted a video of Adele’s cover of Bob Dylan’s “To make you feel my love” on their blog. I was hooked from the first few notes! Her new sophomore album is just as lovely as the last (which I think it pretty brilliant since second albums tend to disappoint) and includes a beautiful cover of The Cure’s “Lovesong”. It’s a little bit Susan Tedeschi and has a hint of country, but what’s not to like about that. Here’s my current favorite from Adele’s new Album “21”:

My PhD Proposal, take one

For any student at Durham taking the MA in hopes of continuing on to the PhD, the single most important thing they can do (other than getting decent grades) is to articulate a provisional PhD topic that is interesting to your hoped-for advisor and has the potential to contribute (in even the smallest way) to current scholarly debate. I came to Durham with the hopes of studying under Professor Francis Watson (for a list of his books, click here). He has written extensively both in the field of hermeneutics (how to interpret texts) and Pauline Studies. The latter has won him wide acclaim and a reputation of being a creative, independent thinker. Upon reading his books on Paul, it was/is my hope to apply his hermeneutical approach to a study of the Gospels. I am glad to report that my few meetings with Professor Watson have been both helpful and fun. More importantly, he seems very interested in my PhD proposal.

So what is this proposal? Let me first say that this is a very rough beginning and the exact topic will not be determined for quite a while. At this point, I know the direction I am heading, but do not know where it will lead.

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Within the field of current Jesus studies there is a widespread agreement that Jesus was a Jew, yet surprisingly there is little consensus as to how it is Jesus relates to his context. With each new historical reconstruction of second temple Judaism a new portrait of Jesus emerges. Jesus is a sage, a revolutionary, eschatological prophet, the restorer of the nation in exile, etc.

My goal is to investigate the question of how Jesus relates to aspects of his Jewish context as portrayed by the various perspectives of the canonical gospels and the Gospel of Thomas. In other words, how do Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Thomas think Jesus relates to his Jewish context? What answer do they provide? Each gospel will be examined first in its own right as each represents its understanding of Jesus. This will illustrate the specific theologies of the evangelists as they has been received through tradition and interpreted through writing. This isn't all that straightforward. For example, Matthew is known for his citation of OT texts and the endorsement of many Jewish practices like prayer and giving alms, yet he also includes the chilling indictment "Let the dead bury their own dead", or the "antithesis" of Chapter 5, not to mention Matthew 23! I include Thomas in my discussion because it represents an early Christian tradition that, in its own way, interprets the Jesus history. To exclude it on the basis of canonical authority seems premature and artificial, and its inclusion could ultimately illuminate the inner-logic of the canonical selection.

Secondarily, I hope to compare and contrast each portrayal alongside the others within a common field of interpretive possibilities. This creates a metaphorical conversation between texts as they each articulate an answer to the common concern of how Jesus relates to his Judaism. The hope is that by comparing each author with each other will demonstrate the different ways that Jesus could have been understood in the early Church. If Matthew appears hostile to Jewish practice, this qualification must be tempered in comparison to Thomas' rejection of all things Jewish.

Sooo, that's what I have so far! We'll see where it leads...

(A final point of clarification: on the surface this proposal seems to ascribe to the writers of the Gospels a high degree of creativity that would seem to detach the Gospels from history in a 'false,' legendary way. This impression is only partially true. The evangelists are foremost the recipients of an oral and written traditions about Jesus; but to receive knowledge is simultaneously to interpret it. There is no such thing as a pure, unmediated historical knowledge. That said, if you cannot separate interpretations from history (i.e.. fact from value), then interpretations must positively correspond to history. Interpretation does not obscure the meaning of history, rather it can enrich it. All that to say: don't worry, I don't think the Gospels are making it up as they go along, or making up teachings of Jesus to suit their own purposes).

Gingerbread Todd and Kelly

Our friend Tara and her daughter made Todd and Kelly gingerbread people and they were yummy!

Waiting for Santa

Gran Canaria- Canary Islands

On December 18^th we left our house in Durham and took the train to Edinburgh. We spent the evening walking around the Christmas market in Edinburgh, which was filled with food, rides and anything Christmas or not that you could want to buy. The Christmas market is along a main block of regular retail shops and we were able to peruse the stores until 6pm. For some reason, all stores close at 6pm or before, even during the holiday shopping rush! It was a surprise to us when we first arrived in the UK and we are still uncertain of how these shops do any business if everyone works from 9am-5pm. The Christmas Market was open later than these stores, so we walked through the crowds in the market and then found a local place to eat pizza, grab a pint and have some dessert. We stayed in a hostel in Edinburgh that night- our first experience. Todd had trouble sleeping with the heater that kicked on every 10 minutes and I awoke several times by a woman who repeatedly left the room in the night slamming the door on her way out. This was still the best option for us since we had to leave the hostel at 4:30 to catch our bus to the airport for our 6:45am flight.

We met a couple in the hostel at 4am that told us their flight had been canceled due to bad weather conditions, but everything went smoothly in the airport for us and we took off in Edinburgh while in began to snow heavily.

The airport in Gran Canaria is right on the beach so we had a beautiful view flying into the airport and were greeted by the warm sun and the ocean! Todd used his great Spanish-speaking skills to get us on the public bus that took us to your hotel.

We made the best decision of splurging a bit on a room with an ocean-side view. It was a small room, but it had a terrace and a beautiful view! We slept with the terrace door open every night so that we could hear the ocean while we slept and it was a delight to be able to sleep in the fresh 65 degree weather. We spent our days exploring the towns around us and getting some sun on the beach. Our hotel had 3 adult swimming pools and 2 jacuzzis so we spent some time there also. As sunny and warm as it was the weather could change rapidly and a few times we were caught in the middle of a downpour without warning.

The part of island we were on had many touristy Irish pubs called “Mulligan’s” or “O’Neils”, but managed to find different local restaurants (we eat well!) to have tapas every night. We had garlic prawns and prawn stuffed red peppers and yummy fried creams for dessert among other things. We enjoyed the mid to upper 70 degree weather and sunshine everyday and tried to take in as much sunshine as we could.

We said goodbye to the sun and the beach on the 22^nd and headed back to Edinburgh to more snow falling and 14 degree temperatures. There were train issues due to London having snow and we had some troubles getting back to Durham. We made it onto a train that took us home and had a nice conversation with a young couple on the train about British vs. American holiday traditions. I learned that mincemeat pies do not usually have any meat in them, just fruit, though upon some more research I’ve found that they are supposed to be a meat and fruit pie combination.

We picked up the pups at a local kennel the next day where they seemed to have a good old time with the caretaker/owner who told us he became quite fond of them.

With the fresh 2-3 inches of snowfall in Durham upon our return, it was wonderful to get away to a place where we could live in flip flops and shorts for a few days and the 6pm sunsets (instead of 3:30 sunsets) will be missed.

Good-bye sunshine! See you in April!

How we wear out our "kids"

In the snow, most parents take their children sled ridding. The process of walking up and down the hill, as I recall, is quite tiring and leads to worn out kids. We don't have kids, but we do still have dogs that need to be worn out every few days. So, since we can't sled ride with them (hmmm....we might just have to test that theory someday) we throw snowballs down the hill so that they have to leap down through the foot of snow to "retrieve" them. The picture at the side is how high the snow is- pretty soon we won't be able to see the dogs!