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You feel like you’re a passenger on a runaway train racing towards death
April 20, 2024
We had an assignment in Postmodern Theology to write about how our thinking had changed over the course of the semester.
Before & After
I was apprehensive about studying postmodern theology because before the semester began, I’d started a book by Linda Hutcheon titled The Politics of Postmodernism. It was originally on the prospectus, so I had purchased it ahead of time hoping to get a jump on the subject. It was so dense and so difficult to read, I put it aside in frustration. I could only hope things would get better, that the readings going forward would be less fraught with terms I’d research only to realize I didn’t understand them even when they were defined and explained. I’d find myself researching the terms used to describe the terms and it was layer upon layer of concepts that danced a dark dance just beyond my ability to grasp, frustrating me to tears. I held a low-grade anxiety deep inside, a fear that I would not be able to understand and benefit from the class, let alone enjoy the subject.
My fears were confirmed within the first couple of weeks. The only consolation was that my cohorts were experiencing the same frustration and most everyone openly admitted it. I realized it wasn’t just me, alone in my…