Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

There has been a lot going on around here these last few months. For most of August I was in conference paper-writing mode. The Reformation Studies Colloquium met here in St Andrews back in the first week of September, and, as some of you already know, I presented my very first ever conference paper. I was so nervous! Not so much about reading the paper itself, but the question and answer session that followed. You never know what you are going to be asked! But all in all, it went rather well, thanks to much prayer and God’s grace! The paper itself was well received, and I only screwed up on one question (I was so nervous that I ended up going on a tangent, or as the head of my department called it ‘chasing rabbits’). But that question aside, it went rather well. And since I was in the very first session of the first day, I was able to relax and enjoy the rest of the conference. Also, one of the next big names in my field asked for a copy of my paper (since he missed it due to a scheduling conflict). You could have knocked me over with a feather!

The day after the conference I moved house, from a four bedroom house in the centre of town on North Street to a two bedroom flat further out. I spent over a week packing and cleaning for the move. This actually worked out rather well because there are two things I do when I am stressed out: I clean and I bake. So I put all my conference paper stress to good use! The weekend and a good part of the following week were spent settling in; moving things, sorting utilities, finding homes in cupboards for odds and ends. Most everything was sorted easily. Except the broadband, which took over two weeks to sort. And to top it off, my Internet wasn’t working properly in my office, either! It made communication rather difficult. I had never realised how dependent I am upon email and the Internet!

I’m sharing the flat with a lovely girl named Steffi. She’s also a third-year PhD student. She’s working on a degree in International Relations. If I understand correctly, she specializes in conflict mediation and management in Bosnia. Steffi and I are both so busy with school work this year that we don’t really get to see much of each other, however, we do manage to take turns making dinner about 4 nights a week. She’s from Germany and has made a number German meals. She was pleasantly surprised to find out that I eat sauerkraut with mashed potatoes, too! (It’s the Pennsylvania Dutch in me, I suppose!) I, in turn, have introduced her to such American delicacies as Sloppy Joe and Chicken Casserole.

Shortly after I settled into the new flat, my parents came across for a lovely 10-day visit. They stayed at mine for the first two days. It was a really nice experience, being able to take care of them for a change. Then we headed to the Isle of Skye for four days. It is really something. No matter what the weather (we had a little bit of sun, but mostly clouds, mist and rain), it is an amazing landscape. After Skye we kicked back and took it easy in and around St Andrews. I was sad to see them leave, but have to admit, I was not upset. They and I both know that I am where God wants me to be, doing what I have been called to do, and that makes all the difference.

The new school year started the day after they left. I have a teaching assistantship again this year. I am officially a "tutor", although the job description is a bit different here than it is back in the States. Once a week I actually teach 3 groups of 7 undergraduates about "Early Modern Europe, 1450-1770". As part of their course, they are supposed to attend the three lectures each week, given by the School of History's expert on that week's topic (lecture attendance is NOT mandatory) and they attend the tutorial session, (of which I run 3 out of 36 sessions). The tutorial IS mandatory. In it we discuss the assigned readings as well as anything I feel is pertinent to the subject for the week. Muahah aha aha ha! Oh, the power! Just kidding. Some of you might remember that I tutored for a similar class last fall. Essentially, this is the same class, but revamped. They cut out the British Isles and added 120 years to the end of it—effectively eliminating or drastically paring down my areas of expertise. By mid-November, I’m going to enter uncharted waters. But as long as I keep a few pages ahead of the kids, we should be fine. Right. Right?

Hmm…let’s see. What else, what else? Oh! In the meantime I have decided to completely overhaul, restructure and redo my thesis. My previous structure (a chronological view of the literature of the Scottish Reformation) just wasn’t working. I wasn’t saying anything new (which kinda defeats the whole PhD thing). I had a major thesis crisis over the first week in October. But with the help of my dear friend Claire, a large pot of tea, and some serious prayer, I now have a battle plan that my supervisor approves of. He was actually quite impressed that I was willing to give my thesis such a drastic renovation this late in the game. I’m now doing a thematic analysis of the various media employed by the Scottish reformers in their attempts to influence and convert various spheres of Scottish society between 1520 and 1560.

Basically, I'm looking at how the reformers persuaded the people of a kingdom to deny all that their ancestors believed and to embrace a new, revolutionary faith that challenged the way they traditionally viewed the world and the heavens, and their relationship to them. The Reformation of the sixteenth century was not simply a matter of reordering how a community or kingdom ‘did church’—how one received the elements in communion, or whether one partook of them surrounded by images of the saints or in a more austere setting. The changes brought about by the reformation would affected all levels of society and culture, radically reshaping aspects of everyday-life; from who was fit to govern to how many days one worked in a year, from what was permissible to eat for supper on Friday to the naming of children. Wars were fought across Europe, revolts sprang up and leaders were overthrown, individuals from all sides of the conflict, from all walks of life, were executed by confessional opponents. The concept of reform struck a nerve at the very heart of European consciousness. Changing allegiances was a big deal.

For the first time in a very long time, I’m happy with where my work is going, which is pretty exciting!

Anyway, I’ll try to get some pictures of my parents’ visit up soon. But for now, it’s back to planning my tutorials for tomorrow. We're talking about European Overseas Exploration and Expansion. For all my Maritime Museum friends, I'm using John Smith's 1608 Map of the Chesapeake... Ah, memories.