Thursday, May 15, 2008

More about teaching

So, it's the end of the semester and this means that I am thinking way too much about my classes and wishing, no matter how much I may like some of my students, that the semester would finally end. So this will be another post about class and, alas, about God.
Thus, I will delay for at least a post any discussion of the California State Supreme Court's ruling regarding gay marriage. I think I am supposed to have a public opinion as a gay intellectual (?). My dream, of course, is to be a public intellectual, but there aren't enough openings right now.
Today, in one of my classes, we were doing a bit of review. And the topic turned to God and the difference between revealed and natural religion. I was explaining the distinction and how it is possible to get from natural arguments for God's existence—assuming they work—to a position of choosing which purported revelation might be best as a student interrupted to ask me whether I personally believe in God. I noted that this was irrelevant—in any case, as I was telling my friend and colleague Kevin (I hope I can call him a friend and I'm at least an adjunct colleague) yesterday, my views on God and what "belief" means when applied to the supernatural are a little much to explain to an introductory student, i.e., more than anyone would want to know—and that we were talking about other people's arguments and not my views.
He interrupted me again, to point out that I ought to believe in God, that he was the Son of God and that he was here to love us all. I herded him out; he was dressed all in white flowing robes and I was scared witless. There are great days in the college classroom and then there are days where I wonder if I shouldn't be armed. They killed Socrates, after all.

4 comments:

John said...

Oh man do I have gay marriage fever. I got gay married twice this morning, and I'm hitting up the all-you-can-gay-marry buffet at city hall tonight.

Unknown said...

definitely friend and colleague; i'd much rather have you as a colleague than at least 7 of my non-adjunct colleagues. but i probably won't list them by name here.

Anonymous said...

"Believe in him? I AM him!"

Anonymous said...

I thought you were HIM at Powerhouse.

dinner? Get ready for some psuedo intellectual gay bashing from now until November,,,,and boy would I want to be a fly in your creatine in your class.