EDITORIAL
We were sitting on the porch of the Pres House, Jeff, a professor at UW Madison and myself, evaluating several years of a particular kind of faculty ministry here. I was discouraged. Jeff pointed out that perhaps my perception of the university and the possibilities of ministry were not accurate. Let me try out our thoughts on you. You'll remember that Clark Kerr made us aware that there is no longer a university, it is rather the "multiversity". Jeff argues that it could be considered a collection of micro communities (MCs). Each student, faculty, administrator, staff is part of one or more micro communities. For instance, a classics major could be on the volleyball team and live in dorm X on floor Y; three different micro communities. Or a Chem E prof could be a member of the Engineering College admissions' committee and advisor to the InterVarsity group; three different MCs. Do any but a tiny few have a sense of being a part of the larger multiversity community? I doubt it. Of course we see ourselves as members of the collection of micro communities who worship the same football team (probably a more real common commitment than to the Provost.) Given the various MC's as our social locations what might God's call be to us as witnesses to his Kingdom Gospel? (Which includes, you'll agree, our call to be stewards of the Good News, of our training, gifts and skills, our time with students and colleagues, the health of our institutions, etc.) Here's the beginning of a list: (1) To know our MC-who are the men and women in it? What are they like? What paradigms do they share? How do they communicate with each other? (2) To build small groups (micro micro communities?) within it for Kingdom purposes. For instance, locating other Christians for prayer and mutual up-building, or a lunch book discussion group, or Bible Study group for witness. (3) To work individually and in these MMCs to figure out how to be salt and light (remember that "salt" means improving and preserving our environment). This could include a group of like-minded folk working together to improve the status of minorities (cf. Mike Foster's story in FACULTY NEWS Spring 1994) or working to improve conditions for T.A's. or setting up mentoring opportunities for less well prepared students, etc. So, it may be helpful to think of your call from God not in terms of the whole grand and large institution, so baffling to get a hold on, but in terms of the various micro-communities we are part of. And besides that's where our lived -out witness is most effective anyway. I challenge you to get together with other believers in your micro community and come up with a plan. Let me know about your thinking and I'll publish it in subsequent newsletters.
- Terry Morrison

KEEPING UP
In the last issue (Spring 1998), I mentioned N.T. Wright's book, The Original Jesus. As you will know from the Following Christ/Shaping our World brochure we sent you, he is the expositor for our conference. To give you more insight to his thinking and further reason to join us at the conference, here are two more short works of his that I highly recommend. The Lord and His Prayer, Wm. B. Eerdmanns Publishing Co. Grand Rapids, MI and Forward Movement Publications, Cincinnati, 1997. Wright has expanded a series of sermons preached at Lichfield Cathedral in his role as Dean. Each of the six sections of the Lord's Prayer forms a chapter. He continually looks at the material in new and challenging ways: pg.14-15. "The most important thing, which is really the starting point for grasping who Jesus was and is, is that this word [Jesus calling God "Father"] drew into one point the vocation of Israel and particularly the salvation of Israel. . . . When Jesus tells his disciples to call God "Father", then, those with ears to hear will understand. He wants us to get ready for the new Exodus. We're going to be free at last. This is the Advent hope, the hope of the coming of the Kingdom of God. . . The very first word of the Lord's Prayer, therefore (in Greek or Aramaic, "Father" would come first), contains within it not just intimacy, but revolution. Not just familiarity; hope." Pg. 29: Jesus' first followers didn't think, for a moment, that the Kingdom meant new religious advice-an improved spirituality, a better code of morals, or a freshly crafted theology. They held to a stronger, and more dangerous, claim. They believed that in the unique life, death and resurrection of Jesus the whole cosmos had turned the corner from darkness to light. The Kingdom was indeed here, though it differed radically from what they had imagined." Read this and you may never pray the Lord's Prayer again the same way. The second one I'll recommend (without quotations) is, What Saint Paul Really Said. Was Paul of Tarsus the real founder of Christianity? Published as above, 1997. A brief book with a very good bibliography and a profound re-interpretation of the Apostle Paul. I want to recommend three journals I haven't mentioned before that are very worth your reading regularly.

THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR, Phi Beta Kappa Society, published 4 times a year. Each issue contains essays, poetry, book reviews and of course lots of book ads. From one essay, Voices of Science by David Locke, professor of English at the University of Florida, Summer, 1998 issue: "It is one of the paradoxes of our time that as science penetrates deeper and deeper into our lives we have come, more and more, to fear and distrust it." He then goes on to point out the characteristic voice of scientific publications, [what might be called "the third person impersonal, i.e., -it was observed. . . " etc.] His point is that that may be very useful for communication within the science but is disastrous for communication to non-scientists. In fact, it's part of what has made science seem cold, inhuman and of no value in solving our human problems. He cites Galileo, William Harvey and others who did not write this way and whose works were broadly read by educated people. He points out that in non-professional papers many scientists e.g. Einstein, Watson and Crick, can write in quite a reader friendly way and be warmly and humanly appealing but asks "Why. . . do we see so much scientific writing that is unreadable by anyone except the six other people in the world who are working on the same set of problems?" Something to think about scientists!

LINGUA FRANCA: The Review of Academic Life, published 9 times per year. I find this journal often entertaining, ever insightful, sometimes anger-producing but always worth a read. The Table of Contents in the September 1998 issue reads:
· Field Notes
Lust in New York/Lost in Utah/Locked out in Atlanta, and more
· Break Through Books (on crime)
· Inside Publishing
Who's Afraid of Elaine Showalter? [an article about the MLA President, mostly applauding her for not bowing to the attacks of "disapproving feminists, anxious graduate students and irate chronic fatigue sufferers."]
· The Federalist papers
[about some disgruntled conservative law students who have declared war on the liberal legal establishment]
· The Numbers Game
[about the writing of history and a critique of the use of unwarranted and unsupportable numbers in history writing]
· Speaking to Power
[a review of some of the work of feminist Judith Butler]
· Classified
[a long list of conferences]
· Hypotheses
[a closing essay on philosophers with a grudge.]

Try the magazine. You'll like it!

THE WILSON QUARTERLY, published 4 times a year by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C. The Summer 1998 volume has a lead article, Is the Bible Bad News For Women? which looks mostly at the Old Testament and indicates that the "new generation of mostly female scholars is finding good reasons why it should not be." There's an interesting re-interpretation of David Reisman (author of The Lonely Crowd) written by one of the recipients of the Faculty Newsletter, historian Wilfred McClay at Tulane. There are many thoughtful essays. Perhaps the chief value of the book is not in the essays but in the Reader's Digest for Intellectuals format of the rest of each issue which surveys a large array of books, journal articles, research reports and poetry. This is one volume I read almost from cover to cover because it helps me to keep up with what's happening in the intellectual world today. Highly recommended.
- Terry Morrison

MODEL OF MINISTRY

Here's a model of stewardship (being salt and light) from a professor of English as a Second Language. Note the motivation to serve the country and church where he went. (Identifying details have been removed from his story because of the sensitive nature of his work.)

My faculty position allows me considerable flexibility in the months of May and June after the end of the winter semester. During three of the past four years I have volunteered about five weeks to situations in Central Asia, giving professional assistance in English-language teaching and joining in Christian witness with resident believers. This, in a sense, is an expression of my own long-term commitment to Central Asia and the Middle East where I have spent earlier periods of my professional career. In the spring of 1998, through a lead from an IFES contact, I learned of an American couple who had taken early retirement in 1991 and moved to a city in Central Asia. Over the years this pioneering couple, a nurse and a geologist, have established wide-ranging contacts and good will through their own professional services. I first met them by telephone and email and learned that the timing of my arrival would allow me to have a lead role in the local university's annual week of emphasis for English-language teachers. So for one week I gave daily workshops to both university faculty and upper-level students. During a subsequent week I gave similar workshops to the often neglected teachers of English in the public schools. Along the way, I took part in several activities of a newly formed church with many university-age believers. I found I had an open door of opportunity to extend encouragement to young western families who had come under various sponsorships for long-term residence and outreach. Probably the foremost contribution I made to extending the Kingdom was to further good-will between nationals within the university and schools and the longer-term people who are preparing to assume positions in some of these institutions.

As my academic expertise in an American university focuses on language and cross-cultural education, the opportunity to observe language teaching in a remote region, experience anew personally the struggles of learning survival expressions in a foreign language, and gather notes on a distinct foreign culture are all valued in my year-round work situation in the U.S. Further, it gives insight into the challenging issue of nation-building in the aftermath of the collapse of the USSR, and ideas for ministry in a situation previously closed to Christian witness from the West. The experience gives one a new sense of profound personal privilege knowing that colleagues in the local high schools live on a mere $15 per month and less.

My one regret is that other like-minded professionals, for lack of common scheduling or personal finances, were not able to accompany me on any of these recent visits. Particularly for one's first venture to a new situation, there would be additional benefits in partnering from start to finish — fellowship, complementation, and more networking. Sites for such venturing are limitless when one seeks out less privileged universities that are in session during one's time of availability with the assumption that the financial costs are to be born by the ones who serve.