Blog dishes Divinity School gossip
“I’m sure that some pastor somewhere finds this funny,” Rachel Duncan DIV ’11 said.
She was referring to the blog “Overheard at Yale Divinity School,” where Duncan, the site’s administrator, posts off-color comments submitted by divinity students and faculty. With an average of 156 page views a day, the blog has attracted a following of students and faculty at the Divinity School. And, readers said, the site’s content — from jokes about Communion wine to jabs at Martin Luther — shows that even Yale’s future ministers and theology professors up Prospect Street enjoy lewd or funny...
Certainly the comments on Overheard at YDS are a bit off-color, but I wouldn't characterize them as especially lewd. Divinity students, like everyone else, need to blow off steam about the subjects we're spending ridiculous amounts of time studying--it's just that for us, the subject happens to be the Christian religion. These comments are funny and are generally divorced from their context, so they sound worse than they really are. None of us would speak with way in front of a congregation.
As for YDS proving that seminarians are just as worldly as anyone else, is anyone surprised by this? We don't float around in our cassocks all day praying for the salvation of the godless masses down the hill. No one does that. Priests and pastors are people too and are just as fallible as anyone else. Expecting your pastor to be some sort of super-spiritual person is setting yourself up for disappointment.
Honestly though, the majority of what we seminarians say doesn't make it on the blog because it's boring, mundane, and serious. Even when we're drunk, we're most likely talking about theology in a rather serious manner. I know the last Div School party I went to, I ended up arguing about whether Paul Tillich was sufficiently orthodox to be considered a Christian theologian. The fact is, there is very little scandal up the hill. I'm sorry. We're just as boring as the rest of you.
I'd much rather have a minister in touch with reality than holier-than-me and everyone around him or her. Sure we need leaders, but we also need brothers and sisters.
to-bybeliever: I have worked with many chaplains and priests who meet the criteria of both you mention, friend and leader. They maintain a presence which is respectable and clean, without being haughty or pious. A seminarian-leader does not need to reach down to worldly language and habits, rather inspires others to reach up to that which is devout, sincere, caring and focused , as a minister serving others. *Dean Attridge is a great example of this.* And (mdiv12:), as for the Tillich comment, the last party i attended at YDS--Tillich's name was not known. I think Tillich one of the greatest Christian theologians, yet I am Orthodox. Div students do not need to scream, "we drink, we ...." Tillich suggests knowing well the world around us, and to understand science, the arts, current events and history well. With this knowledge he meets his audience with all virtue, in a particular tailored way that is well-received and inspiring, while also creating interest and motivating the listener/friend to further her/his own personal quest for that which we call God. --a great example for all profs and aspiring pastors....
Yeah, I hear what you're saying. I guess we're making a lot of assumptions without knowing the hearts and minds of the students up there, many of which are not going to run churches. Furthermore, everyone has different perspectives on leading and being "of the world". In my mind, some of the most notable, inspiring, and "pious" figures in our history were deep in the world and its ways intentionally.
YDS is a big place and any particular experience is not going to provide a fully adequate picture of the leadership and faiths of those who are going into ministry. A site of quotations taken out of context certainly won't do that and we shouldn't use that to condemn or proclaim the glory of YDS.
Anyway: funny site. Religion jokes are good, especially when made by those who do religion.
Ahhh, the Div School.
Yale's Community College.
Those degrees aren't worth the paper on which they're printed.
Peeps keep stealing my material...
But #6 has a point--the term "applicant" barely applies to DIV. The most (perhaps the only) brand-dilutive school at Yale (although there are, of course, several detrimental--or just mental--*departments* w/in Yale...).
I have always thought what a lovely undergraduate college DIV would make... And no need for Stern's machinations!
Of, fudge: I do so hate to amend my comments, but I should give credit where 'tis due: the inapplicability of the term "applicant" applies primarily, of course, to the MDiv abomination. If Yale would merely strike THAT particular piece of toilet paper I might pipe down...
It is always my goal to pre-empt your pithy posts, Hieronymous!
With such ripe material, it is easy.
Perhaps we should apply to the Div school?
Think of the comedic potential between those walls.
@#9
Trust me--I have considered it. But for how long, one wonders, would one appreciate the irony of having a search for an understanding of Christ shot down at a so-called school of divinity?
No, DIV represents a vacation from reality attached to a diploma mill, little more.
Well, we know you are human, but training to become leaders, and as such we look to you to live a lifestyle we might aspire to live ourselves. YDS sometimes looks like the place to go to prove that seminarians can be just as worldly as anyone else. Lookin for Godliness in my future pastors.