cambridge | adventures

I am on sabbatical for 2004/2005, working on two books on Derrida: a small introductory volume, Derrida: Live Theory for Continuum Press, and a more research-oriented monograph, variously titled Pure Derrida: Violence, Finitude, and the Logic of Determination or, when I think about the project more broadly, Holy Wars and Democratic Crusades: Deconstructing the Myths of Religious Violence and Secular Peace. For the Fall term we are living in Cambridge, UK where I am a Visiting Fellow in the Faculty of Divinity and we are living at Tyndale House, just down the road.

This page will provide updates for family and friends about our British adventure. Drop us an email: we'd love to hear from you.

posts from the cam | blog

25.12.2004: Merry Christmas!

We hope you enjoy a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. We're missing you, and wish we were there with you: or better yet, wish you were here! We've enjoyed a special Christmas. On Christmas Eve we did some last minute shopping downtown, then in the afternoon enjoyed a lovely "Christingle" service at St. Mark's (see pictures below). Our night closed with our new family Christmas Eve tradition: watching Ron Howard's "Grinch" movie. This morning we awoke to a beautiful blue sky and sunshine. We opened our gifts, and then went back to St. Mark's for a Family Communion service which was very special. Deanna then prepared a delicious breakfast caserole for brunch, and now we're preparing for our Australian friends, the Hohnes, to come over for Christmas supper tonight.

As our time closes here (we fly home on Tuesday), we are unspeakably grateful to God for every good and perfect gift, especially the gift of his Son. And we are especially thankful for the chance to have spent time here in Cambridge and around Europe. It's a special time we'll never forget.

Have a great day of celebration--and see you all soon!

This is the Christmas Eve "Christingle" service. The Christingle is an orange with a red band surrounding it, fruit stuck into it with toothpicks, and a candle in the middle. The service explains each element: the orange is the world, the red band is the love of God that embraces the world, the fruit represents God's gifts that we return to him, and the candle is Christ, the light of the world.

The kids enjoyed some gifts this morning. This is a set of knights, princesses, and horses to remember their time in Arthur's Britain!

The weather here is a little different than in Michigan! It was nice and sunny, and the boys walked to church in their sweaters.

This is Sam Wells, the vicar at St. Mark's and a new theological dialogue partner. He gave a wonderful Christmas homily on the many "journeys" surrounding Christmas: Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem, the shepherd's journey from the fields (and margins), the magi's journey from the East (who they expected to find in Jerusalem), and the Son of God's journey from heaven to earth (Phi. 2:5-11).

Deanna and Jamie outside St. Mark's.

The kids inside St. Mark's. Last week, they all got to light the advent candle in the service.

20-23.12.2004: Paris!!

Our time in Europe ended with a climactic excursion to Paris! This was just an opportunity we couldn't miss. Some of you might remember last year that I gave a series of lectures at L'Abri in Switzerland. While I was there, a student who had read some of my work came down from the Sorbonne to hear a couple of my talks. His name is Mitch Bach, from Chicago, but he came to Paris via New Zealand. Mitch and I hit it off, and have stayed in touch a bit since. (Mitch is brilliant: he is both a composer studying music in Paris, and doing a degree in Philosophy at the Sorbonne, studying with Jean-Luc Marion, Natalie Depraz, Jean-Louis Chretien and others. And he is a passionate Christian interested in seeing philosophy serve the church. Basically, I'm pretty jealous.)

Mitch very generously offered us a place to stay (for free!) in Paris, so we thought we couldn't miss the chance. As it turns out, some of his friends were out of town and offered us their apartment for our stay, all to ourselves. It was wonderful. Mitch graciously functioned as our guide and made up for my horribly weak conversational French. The trip began by a drive down to Dover, where we stopped at Canterbury on the way. We then took a ferry across the English Channel and drove to Paris. We got quite lost, but miracously found the apartment just after midnight. Of course, it's crazy to try to "do Paris" in just a couple of days, but we gave it our best shot. On the first day we began at the Eiffel Tower, then made our way to the Latin Quarter (including the Sorbonne--and the BOOKSHOPS!), then over to Notre Dame Cathedral, a walk up the shopping district, and then an afternoon hot chocolate which is the best liquid we've ever tasted! (Don't ask how much it cost!--to make up for it, the kids ate canned ravioli and bread for supper :-) After we put the little ones down, Deanna and I ventured with Mitch back into the heart of the city to a wonderful--and quintessentially French--restaurant called Le Chartier. When we went in, Mitch warned us not to speak English, or we'd get seated upstairs by the ventilation fans! It was delicious, and a wonderful nightcap to a one-of-a-kind day.

When we awoke the next morning, the weather had turned to a cold drizzle. Our plan was to tour Montmartre (home of the Moulin Rouge, the Basilica Sacre Coeur, and more), then head down to the Arche de Triomphe and stroll through the Champs-Elysees. But by the time we came out of Sacre-Coeur, it was pouring and freezing, so we headed to the Louvre instead. Then Dee took the kids for a treat: the opening day showing of "A Series of Unfortunate Events" at a Latin Quarter cinema while Mitch and I enjoyed another bookstore visit and a chat over coffee. By this time, the kids were exhausted (they were absolute troopers throughout our time there) so we headed home for a quiet evening. This morning we took off to catch the ferry, enjoying a beautiful, sunny drive through northern France and made it home safely.

Canterbury was a delightful little town just north of Dover. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury (currently the theologian Rown Williams). We had a beautiful morning to see the Cathedral which was quite breathtaking. No pitcures from inside, unfortunately, but the kids will tell you all about it if you ask. This picture hardly does justice to the sheer size of the cathedral.

This is taken from inside the memorial gardens where you the remains of saints from centuries past are interred.

This was the highlight for the kids: seeing the Eiffel Tower up close (note the snow on the ground). We didn't go up the tower: if you ask the kids, it's because "Mom is scared of heights." To tell the truth, Dad was just too cheap to shell out the Euros! But I'm happy for Dee to take the hit! :-)

Just in front of the Tower was a neat old, hand-cranked carousel. Each of the kids had a jousting baton that they used to capture these rings along the side. They loved it!

This is inside the Sorbonne, the most holy ground in French philosophy dating back to the middle ages. Out front are two of the most amazing philosophical bookshops I've ever visited. I scored two new Derrida books!

Out front of the Notre Dame Cathedral, the kids put food in their hands and became living bird feeders! These little birds swarmed them and pecked the food from their palm.

This is 54 Rue Lepic, where Vincent Van Gogh used to live with his brother. From this flat he painted "The Rooftops of Paris." So we got a picture of Maddie here: she has done her own rendition of Van Gogh's "Starry Night" and hopes to be an art teacher when she grows up.

One of the few remaining windmills ("moulins") in Montmatre (there used to be dozens). Montmartre--celebrated in Luhrmann's film "The Moulin Rouge"--was a bohemian hotspot that drew poets and writers like Baudelaire, and especially painters associated with impressionism. So much so that this the "Moulin de la Gallete" was called the "Moulin do la Palette."

This is the view of Paris from the steps of Sacre-Couer. Unfortunately, the cloud cover was low, but it was still a panoramic view (it reminded Dee and me of the view from the hills in Lyon last summer).

This is the Basilica Sacre-Couer, which sits almost on top of the city as it were. You'll notice the architecture is very different from the Gothic lines of Canterbury or Notre Dame. This is neo-Byzantine and from a distance looks more like a mosque.

18.12.2004: A Day in Oxford

For our final week in England, we rented a car (from Friday to Friday) and plan to cram in as much touring as we can. Today, we finally made the pilgrimmage to Oxford. Poor Grayson got sick on the way there (carving through British roundabouts must be murder in the back seat). So on arrival, the first thing we had to do was stop at the gap to get him some clean clothes (yeah, you can fill in the details, then). I had done a little homework and plotted a walking tour that would take us through some of the colleges and others sites. We decided to have a special focus on "The Inklings," a group of Christian writers based in Oxford in the middle of last century, including Coleson's hero, J.R.R. Tolkien (Coleson hopes to be a fantasy author when he grows up). See some commentary in the pictures below for more on the experience.

Our tour began at Christ Church, in the sprawling grounds of one of Oxford's oldest colleges. It was interesting to see the differences between Oxford and Cambridge (simply referred to as "the other place" in Oxford). Cambridge is a university city, whereas Oxford is more like a city that has a university--and more. It's much larger than Cambridge, with more industry (and traffic). I think I prefer the quaintness of Cambridge, but Oxford was inspiring.

This is the Hall and Chapel inside Merton College where Tolkien was a fellow for many years.

This is our future Tolkien in J.R.R's old stomping grounds.

We call this shot "the Gap Ad"--as Grayson's is attired in a complete Gap ensemble following the car sickness episode.

This is a peek inside Magdalen College (pronounced MAWD-lin). Oscar Wilde was a student here. And for many years, C.S. Lewis was a fellow. The Inklings used to gather weekly in his rooms at Magdalen.

This is the famous Bodleian Library. The building is called Radcliffe's Camera.

We spent alot of time in St. Mary's the University Church (well, the kids spent alot of time in the souvenir shop). This church was home to a very important theological movement known at the "Oxford Movement" (or "Tractarians")--a renewal movement in the middle of the 19th-century associated with Edward Pusey and John Henry Newman (this movement has a certain affinity with Radical Orthodoxy). This is also the site where Latimer, Cranmer, and ____ were tried for heresy because of their Protestant beliefs and later martyred.

In the center of the city is a covered market with all kinds of deli, butchers, bakeries, and much more. The kids thought Papa Gary would like this display of hogs! The middle one is a boar.

A view inside Hertford College.

This is the pub where Tolkien, Lewis and others used to meet every Tuesday morning. Just a couple of doors down was an Oxfam bookshop where we got Coleson a mint-condition edition of Tolkien's The Hobbit.

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