Faculty

I teach at Trinity because, as Michelangelo said at age 87, “I am still learning.” I have a ways to go to match him in age, but what stands out to me from my 16 years at Trinity is how much I have been able to learn from constant reading combined with conversations with faculty and conversations with students. When Kerry Koller asked me to teach he said to me, “Think of it as going back to grad school.” That is exactly what Trinity has been for me: a graduate education in philosophy, theology, literature, art, drama, music, science and math- the kind of grad school experience a lover of learning dreams of having, where one can major in everything and learn about everything.

You’ll see what I mean if I tell you about what happened in just one week of school. First, I knew my turn to share at morning prayer was coming up, so I did some delving into Paul’s letter to the Galatians to see what he had to say about right speech. I also did some reading in our faculty manual to see what we say about right speech. Then I had some conversations with my colleagues about what the idea of “right speech” meant to them. Through all of that research, I hoped to “put on the mind of Christ” so I could share it with our students.

Then, to prepare for my junior Humane Letters seminar discussion on the last books of the Odyssey, I read over the famous scene in which Odysseus shows he can bend the bow that none of the suitors can master. I remembered hearing that fellow faculty member Brian Peterson had access to just that type of bow, so I asked Brian if he could bring it in to show the juniors. He did, and the text came alive as we tried to duplicate Odysseus’s feat. We learned it helps if you are sitting down, as he was. I’m not sure when this knowledge will come in handy, but it sure was fun.

In my senior Humane Letters seminar, we had discussed the last cantos of the Inferno and I had asked everyone to write about what had moved them on our journey through hell these past weeks. I read over their short reaction papers, and gosh, did I learn from them. They were full of honesty and insight.

So this is what I love about Trinity: I don’t know any other school where I would be given the encouragement and the flexibility  to “drop everything and learn” when opportunities come up. I don’t know anywhere else I would have encountered so many diverse and engaging ideas in one week, and such vigorous conversation. Yes, my coffee table is covered with books still to explore, my bag is stuffed with student papers still to read, and as the old spiritual says, I sometimes feel “I ain’t got time to die”– but what could be a greater way to live than in this community of learners?