Notes on CIE and Protestant Reformation for today

I am about to head for bed, so I have to make this very quick. But I’m going to be home with my daughter tomorrow, who has croup, and I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to really sit down and think things through during the day, so I wanted to get a couple of notes down now.

First, thoughts on CIE. If you haven’t, go read Tabbie’s most recent post. First of all she said some nice things about me, which always makes me feel good, obviously, but more to the point she makes some really accurate observations about the strengths of the class, which are really worth bearing in mind.

Let me just state the obvious: today’s discussion was pretty intense. Out of respect for privacy, and since this blog is open to anyone on the Internet to read, I won’t use names here, but anyone who was there in class today will understand. I want to reiterate that I think a fundamental attitude of respect and support is crucial to the success of what we’re trying to do in this setting, and I think that foundation is already in place. In my opinion, everyone seems to “get” this already, so I won’t belabor the point. But I do want to express my appreciation. I really believe this kind of reflective dialogue is hard work, but also very important — and I can tell I am going to learn a lot over the course of the semester from working with you all.

I’ll post more later. I wanted to do a quick “link roundup” of blog posts from the past few days, since there have been some excellent, very reflective ones. I encourage you to keep posting; I think it really adds to the quality of classroom discussion. Also, I encourage you to comment on one another’s blogs, and to link to one another’s posts, as I think both of those techniques can also enrich discussion. If you’re not sure how to do this, I’ll put up a simple tutorial. Since for now I haven’t really got the time or energy to run through the most recent posts, I encourage you to visit the course front page and have a look yourself, if you haven’t.

I’ve also added an interesting feature to the class webpage: a “walkie talkie.” It’s pretty straightforward. Go to the webpage and click the button that says “live.” If you get a security warning, click “allow.” Then, while you’re holding the “live” button, talk to your computer. If there’s anyone else looking at the webpage at the same time, they’ll hear you. (You can see how many people are online by looking at the little number in the bottom-right corner of the box.) Here’s a screenshot.

Protestant Reformation: again, in this course, I thought the level of discussion was strong, but I’ve actually felt the last few classes that I was talking way too much. Since I know the sixteenth century so well and, well, love it so much, I always sort of get carried away trying to talk about what I find so fascinating about it. And believe me, there is a point to all this. I think late-medieval religion is so bizarre and wonderful that it is worth talking about at great length, and, as i said in class, it also highlights the mind-bogglingly radical nature of the change when the Reformation movement really does get underway. But I really do intend to turn more of the classtime over to you. I was fascinated (as I always am — those of you who’ve had classes with me before know this) by hearing people’s descriptions of their own experiences of modern-day church ritual. This is relevant because shifting understandings of ritual in the sixteenth century will turn out to be a cornerstone of the problems we examine this term, so you — and me as well — need to be as self-aware as possible about our own assumptions and preconceptions about what rituals and worship practices actually mean (if anything) and how they work (if they do).

Anyhow, I have been reading your focus papers carefully. If you have comments or thoughts on how the class is going, or things that you had particularly strong reactions to, or whatever, feel free to post those on your blogs. You can also leave comments right here.

OK, I have a lot more to say, but I’m going to stop there for now. Bye.