Keep it Simple

Been watching TED Talks on my lunch break at work. This one has given me something to think about.

The point: simplicity.

The definition: something functional, reliable, cheap, and inter-connectable.

The best quote: "Perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away." - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

This is all in reference to design, the Keep It Simple and Stupid (KISS) principle.

But isn't great writing equally elegant in its economy?

And our faith? A theology as simple as possible, but no simpler? (Paraphrase of Einstein)

A Cultural Frustration

I've debated whether I'm better off writing a post every day, even if it's hard, or waiting until I have something to say and the time to write it well. Considering my track record on this blog, I'd say that latter isn't working too well. So, a random reflection for the day.

Cultural frustration moment: I have a vet I go to regularly. He's a nice guy. Both him and his assistant speak English pretty well and seem to know what they're doing. The other day, I even tried an experiment - I called for an appointment! He must have saved my number, because he answered with "Hello!" It was quite cheery. I happily made a grooming appointment.

So, later I stopped by with some friends to drop off Selah. I've taken her in before and they do a god job. So it should be simple. I told him I wanted her shaved everywhere, leaving about 1 cm of hair. He was clear on it. The assistant showed me another dog as a sample, and I joked, "No, I don't want a naked dog. Just 1 cm." He clearly got it also.

Then the vet saw that one of my friends was Korean. And, while her English is good, it's no better than the vet's. But suddenly, he wouldn't speak to me. He asked her what I wanted. And she proceeded to answer! They spoke about line cuts and all sorts of other things in Korean for at least 10 minutes. My friend has never had a dog (and presumably doesn't know anything about grooming) and she never asked me what I wanted. I even walked out of the room to see my other friend. Honestly, I was very upset.

Finally, after they agreed on something that did NOT involve shaving, I said, "No, just shave her to 1 cm." As I said that, the assistant joked, "No naked dog, right?" He got it and I appreciated his easing the situation.

So, what happened here?

First, as far as the vet's concerned, he probably assumed a friend of mine spoke better English than he did. I get that, although that's just a sign of how much he under-estimates himself. Also, I get that he probably wanted her to play the role of translator, not realizing she would just answer him herself.

Second, I don't really know this friend very well, so I can't guess at what she was thinking. She seems to have mis-understood my directions about "1 cm", because I think she was convincing him I didn't want Selah shaved. Perhaps she thought "no naked dog" meant no shaving, just a trim.

Most important: Why was I so angry?

A lot of it is perspective. Now I have it; then, I didn't. That's a big part of living in another culture - recognizing that your perspectives are different. And honestly, they will always be different. So even if you don't "get" what others are thinking, the key is to understand what they think, learn to predict how they'll react, and be patient with it. After all, you're the foreigner with crazy ideas / strange reactions.

But for myself - How was I feeling that made me angry? I think it was mostly feeling de-valued / de-humanized. They spoke as if I wasn't in the room, or as if my opinion didn't matter. It was like I vanished. It was terribly rude.

But finally, a lot of it is about control. It's my dog, my appointment, and my money is paying for the haircut. So I want my say in it. I was mostly upset with the vet for asking my friend instead of me; it takes away my authority as the client in the situation.

However, I recognized my anger and tried to hold my tongue. I know the feelings still seeped through - I don't hide them that well. But, I also made an effort and let go of the anger within 20 minutes. As Ephesians says, "Be angry, but do not sin. And do not let the anger stay for long." It's nice to know that God understands our emotions welling up. We're allowed to feel angry.

Anyway, the cut turned out perfect. And Selah act light and free!

The Academic and the Supernatural

While I intended this blog as an academic exercise, I'm finding my time spent elsewhere. Yes, I've enjoyed the History of Christianity in Asia and a rather conservative commentary on Ephesians. But what I've really been reading? Charles Kraft's I Give You Authority. Demons. Spiritual warfare.

Too often people read such books with a morbid fascination, a strong dread, and a good dose of skepticism. Because, after all, we're modernists. Or early post-modernists. Or just plain human.

But that's not how I read it. I've had to dig back about 5 years and remember what I've learned before. And the truth is, his books say very little that I don't already know. I mean, I haven't articulated it all as clearly as he has, but most of what he says I know to be true from my own experience.

The world we walk in is just one facet of reality. But God has given his power that humans in this world may influence the spiritual. So often we're blind to that. Maybe we've never been shown the spiritual world, or maybe we deny it. But it's there. And the more we ignore / deny it, the more power we give to Satan.

The people I've known to be the most effective in ministry, are those that balance the two: professors, pastors, missionaries.... an academic without spiritual awareness lacks authority, and the spiritually aware, without understanding, is easily misled.

Christianity introduced to Japan

As promised, I've been reading Moffett's History of Christianity in Asia. In particular, I started with Japan. Looking into the history of a culture clarifies its present.

Francis Xavier (a fascinating figure I should like to write more about) was the first to enter Japan as a missionary in the 1500's. Yeah, over 500 years ago. Before the founding of the Lost Colony of Roanoke in the New World, a Jesuit priest was contemplating missions strategies for Japan. After his experience in India, where focusing on lower classes resulted in only local effectiveness, Xavier decided to start at the other end. In Japan, he chose to approach the ruling class, the feudal lords, the daimyo.

Personally, I would say that given Japanese culture and its attitude to authority, he couldn't have had a better approach. Japan is a very top-down, group-focused culture. If you convert the leaders, others will follow. (I'm not sure that would be as effective an approach in American culture, where we tend to be suspicious of leaders and pride ourselves on "independent" thinking.)

The mission had success. In fact, as Moffett points out, there were a higher percentage of Christians in Japan in 1600 than in 2000. But he also points out, rightly, "how little the Christian century [1500's] affected the subsequent history of Japan." (pg. 68)

It is indeed astonishing to know that a country which, for its own reasons, welcomed Christianity, was later able to stamp it out, and still remains a mysteriously closed door. I would suggest it has much to do with the nature of Japanese culture and missionaries' inability to understand and speak into the Japanese context. On the other hand, I would also suggest that when Japan does finally hear the gospel, it will be a powerful and sudden conversion.

So, Xavier departed in 1552, after just 3 yrs in the field. Think about how short 3 yrs is to introduce Christianity to even a single person and give them the knowledge and faith to face a lifetime of following Christ without a mature Christian community! Now realize he did that for an entire people. Of course, Jesus did the same for all of humanity in the same 3 years... so I supposed standards are relative. Anyway, in just 30 years (to 1581), th numbers grew from 800 to 100,000. All of that, by the way, was long before the first successful colonies in America.

So, that's where I'll leave the history of Japanese Christianity for the moment. Introduced, spreading like wildfire, but... something went wrong.

No matter how old I get . . .

There are still days where I feel and act like a child. Days where simple things leave me frustrated and in tears, where the world seems too harsh a place. Days where I run to my Father and just cry into his arms, often over spilled milk.

I'm thankful for these days. They put me in my place and remind me how great a Father I have.

Father, thank you for always being there. For holding me tight and letting me be angry. And thank you for not leaving me in that place.

Lost in Snow Country

Since this was my first winter with snow (which I actually love in small doses), a friend recommended the novel Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata. Apparently he was the first Japanese author to win a Nobel Prize for literature. I finally got my hands on a copy, so here are my thoughts:

In middle school, I felt it was time to broaden my literary horizons. So I moved from Black Beauty to Shakespeare. Specifically, The Tempest. I barely understood the plot, let alone the nuances and background stories (although I had better luck with Dickens).

That's pretty much how I feel about Kawabata. I sense a greatness throbbing beneath the plot, a genius at work in the world of words, but I'm missing it. I feel I must read it again... but that I must read other Japanese authors first so I'm better able to approach Kawabata. While reading, I am missing the cultural background, the assumptions and perspectives, and even the language of the original.

One thing I observed: The story is told in a series of snapshot moments. Spanning years, only a few days are spoken of. The passage of time is jerky, like the train that runs through the center of the novel: rushing recklessly forward, then screeching to a halt at a small rural station.

But the conversations are most elusive. I could blame the translator, but I suspect that the original is full of puns / plays on words / nuanced meaning. Having lived in Japan, I know how very sensitive Japanese culture is to words - it's all about the way you phrase something, the tone used. So the conversations in the novel leave me frustrated, almost as though they remained in Japanese... dense and impenetrable.

I have thoughts on certain devices used in the novel, but it's like a child commenting on adult lives. Sometimes insightful, but mostly ignorant. Still, I've been a master of words for such a long time, it was disorienting to feel lost. But it made me remember what used to drive me forward. It's good to be reminded of how much we don't know, to remember the thrill of discovery and the passions of youth that have mellowed with time and experience.

Found the Stacks!

I work at a top university and yet, I'm surprised to discover a library. This week, after 6 months here, I ventured into the depths, or rather heights, of the SNU library. Wonder of wonder! Books! The best part? They're about 30-50% English (at least in the fields I'm interested in).  I was most impressed to find a basic selection of theological books, so much so, that I proceeded to check out more than I can possibly read in the next month (including Tillich's Systematic Theology - since when am I interested in pure systematics? And can we all say, "Nerd!")

Well, this blog was intended to motivate me to keep up with my studies, by being more of an academic pursuit. While that's clearly not the case, I'll be doing short summaries & analyses of whatever I do manage to read.

There's not going to be any order to what I read, just the whim of fancy. I also don't promise to finish any of the books... so you may get nice summaries of the first half of a book. If I'd been doing that the past few months, there would have been a lot more posts.

The first book I'll be reading: Christianity in Asia: 1500-1900. I'll only be reading sections I'm interested in, mainly Japan & Korea, and likely China.  I'll post on those sections later. But for the moment, I'd like to introduce the author:

Samuel Moffett. If the name sounds familiar, it's because his father was one of the main missionaries to Korea and bore the same name. Moffett Sr. entered Pyongyang in 1890 as a Presbyterian missionary. He was responsible for founding the first seminary in Korea, and a great moving force in the Korea Christianity. Moffett Jr. was born in Korea, then ended up serving 25 yrs there himself. In other words, the history of Christianity in Korea is inextricably linked to the Moffett family.

After his own 25 yrs on the field, Moffett Jr. returned to the US and became a professor at Princeton. Now he's in his 90's (b. 1916). He's still working on finishing the third and final volume of his The History of Christianity in Asia. I pray he completes this task.