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| Prayer and worship every morning and evening |
The conference of The
Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality (SSCS) was held on the
retreat-like beautiful campus of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana
from June 29- July 2, 2013. I was glad to be able to attend and present
a paper though the journey there was long and tiring. It was an 18 hours
flight from Singapore to New York, 4.5 hours from New York to Chicago,
and another 3 hours by bus from Chicago to South Bend where the campus
is located. This is only the traveling time and did not include the
transit and waiting time. But the journey was worth it!
The Society for the
Study of Christian Spirituality (SSCS) normally holds their conference
as part of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) conference which
involves about ten thousand participants in a convention center of a
major city. It is decided to be a good idea for the society to have its
own conference away from the hustle and bustle. This was smaller group
consisting of professors and a few graduate students which meant that I
was able to meet and talk personally to these spiritual mentors and
authors whose books I have been reading and studying for the last forty
years. I was able to talk to and interact with Bernard McGinn, Mary
Frohlich, Pieter G.R.de Villers, Bo Karen Lee, Lawrence Cunningham, Ann
Ansell, Angela Reed and Arthur Holder. There were many others but these
are some of those whom I wanted to meet face to face. I was disappointed
not to meet Philip Sheldrake and Sandra Schneider who were not able to
attend.
I also met many of the younger scholars. I am encouraged by Glenn Young (Rockhurst University) with his course on teaching mysticism (a course I myself am thinking of teaching) and Tom Schwanda (Wheaton ) who is working on Puritan spirituality (another area I am interested to explore). I have enjoyed the hospitality and friendliness of these participants. Though I am the only Asian from outside the States and stranger to the clique, I felt welcomed and accepted as their equal. I even have a door-gift for traveling the furthest distance, an honour I am vying with Pieter who is from South Africa.
I also met many of the younger scholars. I am encouraged by Glenn Young (Rockhurst University) with his course on teaching mysticism (a course I myself am thinking of teaching) and Tom Schwanda (Wheaton ) who is working on Puritan spirituality (another area I am interested to explore). I have enjoyed the hospitality and friendliness of these participants. Though I am the only Asian from outside the States and stranger to the clique, I felt welcomed and accepted as their equal. I even have a door-gift for traveling the furthest distance, an honour I am vying with Pieter who is from South Africa.
The theme of the
conference was Wonderous Fear and Holy Awe. It was fascinating as
one academic paper after another was presented by the speakers; seeing
it unfolding through topics such as St. John of the Cross, ecopiphany,
Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Gregory of Nyssa, Clement of Alexandra, spousal
kiss in the Song of Songs as espoused by two Cistercians, Hildergard of
Bergen, Pascal, Henri Nouwen, Meister Eckhart and Kierkegarard. One
thing I have to get used to is their presentation style. Presentation
is reading directly from their papers. Only a few gave out outlines and
even fewer use Powerpoint. It can be challenging if the speakers do not
enunciate well! I gave my presentation but as I was pretty jet-lagged
and very nervous, I am not sure how it went, but I hope it went across
well.
The papers are of
high standards. These are heady academic stuff and I must confess I
enjoyed the intellectual challenge tremendously. It was fascinating to
categorise the different types of fear (of the Lord) and different types
of wounds implied by St. John of the Cross. An interesting discussion
was did Jesus experience the fear of God in the garden of Gethsemane?
While the intellectual side of me is lapping this up hungrily, my
pragmatic side keep asking about its practical application. I have to
continually give myself permission to pursue the knowledge of the
wonderous fear and holy awe of God for its own sake.
I have enjoyed the
conference and learnt much from it. Made some friendships that I will
like to follow up and nurture. What was the warmest feeling was that I
realize that I am not alone in this interest in Christian spirituality.
There are only a handful of people in Malaysia and Singapore who are
into this area and I have lived with the loneliness of a pioneer in the
field for a long time. It is good to find company in this diverse group
of individuals with the same interest though I have a travel a long way
to meet them.
Soli Deo Gloria
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| entrance to campus of the University of Notre Dame |
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| my memorable door gift |
