Monday, June 06, 2005
(10:06 AM) | Adam Kotsko:
Interest
I'm trying, this summer, to gain some "direction" in my studies. To that end, here are some interests and non-interests, classified.Things I am interested in
- How does one get from phenomenology to Derrida?
- What's with that homo sacer thing? And sovereignty?
- What was going on in the early and "classical" church?
Things I am curious about
- What's the big deal about Augustine?
- About Aquinas?
- What the hell was going on in theology in the 19th century?
- How does my previous question relate to German idealism?
- Am I going to have to read Deleuze if I'm to be considered "cool" or "with it"?
Things that I am curious about but can't think of a way to integrate gracefully into my studies
- Feminism/Womanism
- African-American theology
- Queer theory/theology
- Liberation theology
Things I am not interested in but feel like I "should" know if I'm going to get a PhD in theology
- What's up with the Reformation? In particular, what do Luther and Calvin think about [anything at all]?
- How about that Tillich character?
- What particular insights does Rudolph Bultmann bring to the table?
UPDATE: I just realized that if I do a chapter a day, I will finish my German book within a week and a half. I have two German "readers," through which I will work my way afterward, but no concrete plans for a "real" German reading text after that. I suppose that I have Culture and Value laying around, but it feels like cheating to read something with facing translation. Depending on how fast I work through the readers, this will probably not be an issue until late July, and part of my success with French probably stemmed from working through a separate grammar book (the famous French for Reading) side-by-side with reading, after finishing the course. Perhaps I should do that with German, too.
After a day of just lounging around, I am sharing this with you because I'm impressed to see that I actually have been accomplishing something these past few weeks. I've read the Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus, and learned, let's say, 2/3 of German -- for reading only. Just a little bit each day adds up over time. Bill Brower told me once, and I verified it, then quoted it on this blog at least three times before this -- read 30 pages a day, and you can get through the whole of Church Dogmatics in a year.
I easily become overwhelmed by large tasks, but I also (awkwardly) have this desire to do things all at once. Deciding to do a little each day -- something I can stick with, but that still feels substantive -- is absolutely essential for me on a couple fronts. First, it's the only way I actually do things, rather than daydream about them (for most large tasks, the process of actually doing them is rather tedious, even if the large-scale payoff can be immeasurable -- take marriage, for example); second, it allows me to shore up my self-esteem in the face of my neurosis -- frees me to enjoy myself to some degree. As long as I do my chapter of German and make some gesture toward the church fathers, I'm good for the day. I can do more, but if I don't, that's still okay -- because how many people are even learning German? Strange how one has to take account of neuroses, just like roommates or pets. The cat who pisses on something every couple weeks is still your cat, and getting rid of him may be more painful than dealing with his mess; the same goes for your neuroses.
