First, for those who are interested in what has happened in China, our project website is currently under rennovation (as a result of our new ideas), but perhaps an overload of content is online at www.valuedchina.org.
In terms of Sophomore College (which is the umbrella program that houses the course I am teaching), six of the students who are in this seminar hail from Oxford, and along with the other eight Stanford students, there is plenty of enthusiastic discussion. I've relocated many of these perennial questions--why do I believe in God, what does it mean to be a Christian, what is the nature of man, what is consciousness--into the dusty bookshelf, only to have them vehemently torn out of their bookshelf place to be re-examined under harsh scrutiny. Having my beliefs called "fuc*ing illogical" (albeit in a semi-joking fashion) in re-exploring issues like the authority of the Bible (e.g. verses that advocate mass genocide, contradictions) or the validity of Jesus' resurrection or divinity has been an unexpected surprise. I am supposed to present my religious experiences to freshmen on Thursday, to in some ways, serve as an exemplar of how one can balance spirituality on this campus. I'm not even sure I can articulate (with this sometimes frustratingly-opaque tool of communication called language) what I mean by Christianity and how to draw those lines.
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I've attached a photograph of (some) of these wonderful individuals/souls (oh fine--let's be really strict and just say entities) here. All philosophy and argumentation aside, I think the relationships amongst the group this year reside in a strange state of being close in spite of knowing the intellectual chasms are in many ways irreconcilable. On the other hand, I sense the cracks and cliques that form amongst different personalities and ways of thinking amongst people in the group. Again, I am reminded that what we believe has very real ramifications for who we interact with and how.
On the other hand, the fact that we can reside peacefully within the same dorm for two weeks, go on wacky field trips to Salinas, Monterey, San Francisco... camp up at a site overlooking a racetrack, go swimming with each other, play chess, eat ice cream, and enjoy each other's company... there's encouragement within the harmony possible even amidst such difference. You'll never catch me saying that we are all the same ultimately, however. If anything, the fact that we vigilantly guard our personal beliefs and harshly rebuke those who even dare to challenge assumptions of say, a rational universe, intrinsically good people, the existence/non-existence of God, selflessness as a good thing, etc. leads me to conclude that there can be little true coherence. Ah. But I am dearly biased.
Another lesson in community building: make sure to have a rallying cause to which everyone can subscribe.
On an aside, freshman move-in was today... I'm quite distraught at my own distance from that magical time.
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