Falling into Place

I am slowly starting to set my schedule for next year, and yesterday I finally solidified another piece of the puzzle that I have been working on for over a month. As soon as the Registrar begins accepting the forms, I will officially be working on a thesis next year in the area of Theology. Pending approval, I'll be working with one of my professors with whom I have been taking classes this past year, John Flett. The working title of my thesis is "Is the West Beyond Salvation?" It's basically an analysis of the development of Christianity into a fully world movement and how that effects a post-Christendom West (U.S. and Europe essentially). Put in laymen's terms, I'm basically talking about how the U.S. and Europe can see itself in a world where it is no longer the center of Christianity. It will also focus on the lack of attention given to mission in our home, that we can live next to poverty in the heart of Los Angeles or other major cities yet spend thousands and even millions of dollars sending missionaries to other countries to the neglect of the needs at our doorstep. This was a prevalent theme at APU, one that caused quite a bit of tension within me. I'm looking forward to it, but it's going to be a rough year. I'm going to start doing my research over the summer, shoot for a 40,000 word (roughly 114 double-spaced pages) draft at the end of Fall semester, and revise it throughout the Spring semester. It will be a lot of work, but a good exercise and one that I am looking forward to.

I'll write more later. For now, I'm off to class.