Print this issueDoes one mistake deserve another?
Concerning the U.S. invasion of Iraq
When I was travelling through Greece before coming to seminary, I was very happy to be a Canadian, and I almost always wore something that identified me in this way. This was because the Greeks did not look too kindly on the U.S., since this was at the beginning of the U.S.-led invasion into Iraq.
There were quite a few times that I was taken aback at the graffiti along the railway. Things like: “F*** the U.S.”, “Get the f***ing U.S. out of Iraq”, etc. The reason they were none too pleased was that they have had a long history of being occupied by other countries. Talking with some of the locals, they did not think that there is ever a valid reason to invade some other country and occupy it, for any length of time.
President Bush's State of the Union address, as well as the reporting around it, brought up some of these issues again. The president called for more troops in Iraq to continue the 'war on terror'. Right now I am not calling into question the rhetoric concerning this war on terror. What I am interested in discussing is the validity of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the method of its continuance.
A graceful goodbye for Gerry Kuiper
Gerry Kuiper is a familiar face to each seminary student, faculty or staff member. She is the last calm, serene face you encounter before taking a deep breath to walk down the gauntlet of professorial offices. She is the unflappable presence making last-minute photocopies for absent-minded teachers, doling out the odd exam to a student who needs an accommodation, and exchanging money for yet another packet of class notes as an impatient hoard lines up outside her door. She is the quiet woman who sits in the window, overlooking the lake, knitting yet another pair of socks.
With a tenure of 20-plus years, she is an institution at the CTS institution. But on Friday, Kuiper retired from CTS and set out to, in her own words, “learn a new life outside Calvin Theological Seminary.”
Of pond hockey and common fellowship
Blue skies and cool air. The clack-clack-clack of steel blades biting into bullet-hard ice. Smiling, laughing men and women fill the air with frozen breath and peals of laughter as they chase a puck back and forth down the length of the seminary pond. This is winter in west Michigan at its finest.
Pond hockey is an old tradition at Calvin Seminary, probably going back to the first time a Canadian student ever set foot on the Knollcrest campus. It still brings students and professors alike together at the Sem Pond on Saturday mornings.
The mug that’s not
A poem by Sherilyn Vandervalk
Editorial: Violence against worship in the name of curriculum?
A reasonable expectation for an enthusiastically Christian seminary is that it would be a community of worship. And yet, a few casual observations would suggest otherwise.
Whenever I’ve been to chapel, the number of students I see in attendance is fairly low. Back in the Student Center and the study lounge, on the other hand, desks and tables are packed full of students. While some people use the time to socialize, many students find the chapel break to be an hour-long opportunity to catch up on reading or finish last-minute studying before the ubiquitous Friday morning quizzes. (Greek and Hebrew students will know what I’m talking about.)
Sem Eye: How to fit a whole seminary into your pocket
Have you ever wondered whether there might be a better way to prepare yourself for ministry? As much as we love and adore our dear CTS, there are days when classes seem shallow, sun-starved skin turns sallow, and one can not help but speculate that the same education could be found somewhere else. Serious investigation, however, reveals that all seminaries offer similar days and Calvinism is simply better taught in a climate of gray skies and heart-stopping cold than in sunny Pasadena. It seems no matter where you go, student loans and years of eye-straining late nights where all those Hebrew vowels merge into one are inevitable.