Newsletter, Spring 2020
Newsletter Spring 2020
The winter breaking has come to an end. The book review I mentioned in the last newsletter has been accepted. That encourages me a lot. Hopefully, I could continue to read new inspiring books and share my thoughts on different journals.
This coming spring will be very busy for me. I will be the TA for Interpreting the Hebrew Bible class, which is a required course for the MDiv program. I hope to deepen my knowledge through this TA opportunity. In the meantime, I hope my participation could benefit the students in this class.
A conference proposal I submitted earlier has been accepted by the Midwest American Academy of Religion Regional Conference. This will be the first time for me to present a paper at this regional conference. The paper is about the dialogue between an important Taiwanese theologian, C.S. Song, and postliberal theologian, George A. Lindbeck, and its application to Taiwanese Hymnal (published in 2009). I need to work harder for the thesis competition by early March.
I will also co-organize Queer Theologians Illinois (QTI) annual conference in May this year. The theme of the conference is still accumulating Queering Interdisciplinarity Conference. We got eight excellent LGBTQ related theological papers last year and have a very good experience. This conference aims at building a closer network among queer communities in Illinois, although there was a paper from Canada last year and that encouraged us. This conference has received a fund from the Chicago Metropolitan Association (CMA of the Illinois Conference of the United Church of Christ). I hope the QTI conference could have more folks involved this year.
One of my doctoral committee members has a high expectation of me and hopes I could get ABD this year. I am encouraged and will continue to work hard toward this goal.
The engagement with my current church goes well. I feel been trusted and appreciated here. However, my ordination paper did not have any signs of progress and that upsets me. I need to finish the first draft and discuss it with my mentors by the end of March. Then, I could focus more on my doctoral studies and related exams.
We just came back from Florida visiting my in-laws. I did prepare an Italian Seafood risotto dinner in a creative Taiwanese style. Everyone loves it. We have a great time there.
My mother’s doing well. I found out she has a very strong faith in her life and positive attitude toward the current condition of 2019-nCov in Taiwan. I hope everything goes well with her.
One more thing.
I would not say I am satisfied by the presidential election, although the majority of Taiwanese people have made the right decision to re-elect my president which is the best result I like. The gap among generations and political ideologies bother me, especially the foolish Christians kept making stupid announcements and the toxic hetero-patriarchy within Taiwanese American communities. Otherwise, a congress candidate in my hometown who did not win the election upsets me. But, “the incident of the train-track shifting construction” (南鐵東移) and those who are suffering from this injustice have drawn more attention by the newly elected congress members. That brings me some hope.
May G*d be our guide.
Charing/Wei-Jen
Jan 29, 2020, at Chicago
The winter breaking has come to an end. The book review I mentioned in the last newsletter has been accepted. That encourages me a lot. Hopefully, I could continue to read new inspiring books and share my thoughts on different journals.
This coming spring will be very busy for me. I will be the TA for Interpreting the Hebrew Bible class, which is a required course for the MDiv program. I hope to deepen my knowledge through this TA opportunity. In the meantime, I hope my participation could benefit the students in this class.
A conference proposal I submitted earlier has been accepted by the Midwest American Academy of Religion Regional Conference. This will be the first time for me to present a paper at this regional conference. The paper is about the dialogue between an important Taiwanese theologian, C.S. Song, and postliberal theologian, George A. Lindbeck, and its application to Taiwanese Hymnal (published in 2009). I need to work harder for the thesis competition by early March.
I will also co-organize Queer Theologians Illinois (QTI) annual conference in May this year. The theme of the conference is still accumulating Queering Interdisciplinarity Conference. We got eight excellent LGBTQ related theological papers last year and have a very good experience. This conference aims at building a closer network among queer communities in Illinois, although there was a paper from Canada last year and that encouraged us. This conference has received a fund from the Chicago Metropolitan Association (CMA of the Illinois Conference of the United Church of Christ). I hope the QTI conference could have more folks involved this year.
One of my doctoral committee members has a high expectation of me and hopes I could get ABD this year. I am encouraged and will continue to work hard toward this goal.
The engagement with my current church goes well. I feel been trusted and appreciated here. However, my ordination paper did not have any signs of progress and that upsets me. I need to finish the first draft and discuss it with my mentors by the end of March. Then, I could focus more on my doctoral studies and related exams.
We just came back from Florida visiting my in-laws. I did prepare an Italian Seafood risotto dinner in a creative Taiwanese style. Everyone loves it. We have a great time there.
My mother’s doing well. I found out she has a very strong faith in her life and positive attitude toward the current condition of 2019-nCov in Taiwan. I hope everything goes well with her.
One more thing.
 |
| Trip with Adam. Jan 2020. |
May G*d be our guide.
Charing/Wei-Jen
Jan 29, 2020, at Chicago
Comments