Overheard at Yale Divinity School

Porno Vultures: A great band name

2011-12-10T14:41:00.001-05:00

MDiv student murmuring to another: "I'm spending way too much time writing about the Four Noble Truths."

MAR student at the same table: "I thought you said you're writing about 'porno vultures', and that can't possibly be right..."

Overheard in: The Refectory

If my baby was a slow loris, I wouldn't eat it either.

2011-12-10T14:32:00.001-05:00

Female Student: Why are we evolutionarily programmed to love things that have big eyes and move slowly?

Male Student: So we don't eat our children when they wake us up at 3 in the morning...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9f-6jygRJk

And as the Lord said, "Turneth thy head and cough."

2011-11-13T20:34:00.002-05:00

Student discussing Movember: "I refer to myself as the apostle to the prostate."

So is a haircut kind of like circumcision of the balls...?

2011-10-31T18:15:00.002-04:00

MAR: "As we learned in Gender in Early Christianity, (pointing to his hair) these are basically testicles on my head."

***true story: a certain New Testament scholar wrote an article claiming that the I Corinthians command for women to cover their heads was really just about basic human modesty for the early Christians, who saw hair as genitalia because they thought it was used to store semen. yup.

Martin Jean: So generous with his footwear

2011-10-31T18:10:00.000-04:00

at ISM Colloquium

Martin Jean (selecting order for presenters): Hmm...well, should we go in height order?
Teresa Berger (stepping up to the podium): I would have worn my high heels but I biked to work today...
Martin Jean: You can borrow mine.

YDS Students: On Fire for Academics

2011-10-31T18:05:00.001-04:00

in the commuter lounge:
a student drops a wet tea bag onto an open outlet in the floor.
student 1: "the outlet is smoking! it might catch fire!"
student 2: "don't fix it- if it catches fire i won't have to go to my 1:30 class."

Aye Aye, Cap'n!

2011-10-31T13:34:00.003-04:00

a student lies sprawled out on the ground in the hallway

denys turner walks by and remarks:
"what possesses someone to assume such an inelegant posture? you should stand at attention when i pass by!"

Someone's Been Reading Numbers...

2011-10-03T14:10:00.002-04:00

MDiv: I told my boyfriend I was sad he wasn't coming to visit until January. But then I told him I wasn't going to complain, because today I learned that if you complain, God will drown you in quail.

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

2011-09-27T15:44:00.002-04:00

In Anglican History and Theology 2:

STM: Schism is our gift to the church.

Is it?

2011-09-26T14:00:00.002-04:00

Spinks on religious statuary:

"One person's garden gnome is another person's dear friend."

You're Not Wrong...

2011-09-07T08:29:00.002-04:00

A 3rd Year MDiv's response to watching an hour-long film of the Sarum Rite in Class:

MDiv: "This is why we need a Reformation."

Hey, Hova. JC's coming and wants a word...

2011-08-26T13:30:00.001-04:00

Student 1: "Is that how it works? Holy Ghost lays the beats and the Jesus throws raps on top?"
2: "Yeah, but she's usually more into ambient."

Aaaaand we're back.

YDS! Preparing ministers for the church and world.

2011-06-03T13:06:00.000-04:00

Chinese host: "When you go to the Mongolian grasslands, you drink hard alcohol. It's just what you do."
Student: "Well, it's good we had practice last night, then."

Also: We're going on vacay for the summer. Send in your submissions and we'll post 'em in August!

Tossed salad and scrambled eggs! Yum.

2011-05-26T11:12:00.001-04:00

(During a discussion of various theology books)
Student 1: How about Eccentric, Kelsey?
Student 2: Which one? David? Julie? Grammer? Those are all the Kelseys I know.

Sunday Sunday Sunday!

2011-05-11T22:03:00.000-04:00

Student 1: "Evangelical free church? What does that mean?"
Student 2: "Hmm. Conservative."
Student 1: "Exactly. There's nothing 'free' about it."

Deadlines usually are a one-way street.

2011-05-11T11:43:00.002-04:00

MDiv 1: "I got my grades! I'm graduating!"
MDiv 2: "I'm taking [excellent and caring scholar's] class. I may never know."

Not this week

2011-05-10T09:56:00.000-04:00

MAR: "Have you never licked a sweaty brow?"

Is it tequila-flavored?

2011-05-09T17:22:00.000-04:00

MDiv: "I have some chrism... let me lubricate your soul!"

Overheard: Anna Liffey's

See what you've done?!

2011-05-07T18:50:00.000-04:00

MDiv: "I can't remember, why is the Eucharist important?"

Overheard: NT study group

I just don't know, man. I just don't know.

2011-05-07T18:43:00.000-04:00

MAR: "And how did your vagina get involved?"

I know JUST what you mean.

2011-05-03T15:19:00.000-04:00

Student, gazing at a passerby's rear end: "Cute bum. (Sighs) Too many people like that bottom."

I'm an artiste!

2011-05-02T19:34:00.000-04:00

Martin Jean: "I'm not a dancer. I'm a Lutheran."

Overheard: Easter Rejoicing

Easter Shalom!

2011-05-02T13:42:00.000-04:00

Chapel full of people arm-in-arm singing "Draw the Circle Wide"

Adele Crawford: "Come on (names 2 students), draw the circle wide!"
Student 1: "But we're having a conversation!"

Overheard: Easter Rejoicing after-party.

Good luck on finals!

2011-05-01T23:10:00.002-04:00

It's your fault for being funny.

2011-05-01T20:14:00.001-04:00

MDiv, regarding her frequent presence on this fine blog: "Is this the Truman Show?!"

Mike, can you just put some out by the candy bowl?

2011-05-01T20:12:00.001-04:00

MDiv: "You poppin' the 'vil?"

regarding Advil and finals

Well?! How big is it?!

2011-05-01T20:09:00.000-04:00

MAR: "So yeah, I was using Google Earth to measure distances across the Sea of Galilee."

Overheard: Common Room

Solution: robe

2011-05-01T19:59:00.000-04:00

Student: "If I were a man, I would live in seersucker." (pause) It's a good thing that I'm not a man. (longer pause) But seriously, I would have seersucker pajamas..."

WITH DIAMONDS IN IT

2011-04-29T14:04:00.000-04:00

MDiv: "Yay! Now she can eat a sandwich."

Overheard: After Kate and William's royal wedding

Note: Never miss Marquand.

2011-04-29T13:32:00.002-04:00

Mark Miller: "A little less catcalling during the actual service, I think."

Overheard: Marquand chapel, before Easter Rejoicing

I'm all for non sequiturs, too. Marzipan!

2011-04-27T16:48:00.002-04:00

MDiv: "I'm all about women's autonomy, but pixie cuts suck."

Wait! When's that gonna happen?!

2011-04-26T13:01:00.000-04:00

Fred Simmons: "This is delayed gratification, but you're used to that in this class."

Overheard: Christian Ethics

Note: Theology TF. Not Bible.

2011-04-25T21:59:00.001-04:00

Teaching Fellow: "This is actually happening. It isn't from the Onion."

Overheard: Systematic Theology

Bureaucracy is an Ed Hardy tee?

2011-04-25T13:02:00.000-04:00

MDiv: "My God, I think this whole debacle is an illustration of how humanity's falleness is acutely and uniquely manifested in bureaucracy."
MAR: "Preach! Bureaucracy breeds douches."

Radically mime

2011-04-25T12:58:00.002-04:00

Student 1 raises imaginary glass to the glass of 2011
Student 2: "Have you gone radically Methodist?"

Overheard: Class of 2011 reception

Then whom can I blame?!

2011-04-24T17:36:00.000-04:00

Denys Turner: "I bear no responsibility for your moral standing."
Student: "For good or for ill."

Overheard: Class of 2011 reception

Make it a rhyme and I'll give you a $20

2011-04-20T20:41:00.002-04:00

Fred Simmons: "This was clearly not the best way to explore this question. But I liked the alliteration."

Overheard: Ethics

And the choir says, "Amen!"

2011-04-19T20:40:00.000-04:00

Student (singing loudly): "The clarinet, the clarinet goes doodly, doodly, dood - hello, food."

Overheard: The Sarah Smith Gallery

Naw. That's universal dorkiness.

2011-04-18T20:37:00.003-04:00

Student (about to unveil a musical composition based on Karl Barth's theology): "This takes my Div School dorkiness to a whole other level."

Overheard: Systematic Theology

Academia: where everybody assures you of their genius

2011-04-17T20:39:00.002-04:00

Student: "He's just quoting scripture like no one else has ever written about it."

Overheard: Ethics

That explains the two broken wine glasses and half-empty can of High Life by the trash.

2011-04-16T18:47:00.002-04:00

Student: "Oh! Did I tell you I saw two raccoons making love in the tree yesterday?"

But the rest of the world thinks Bible people are HI-larious!

2011-04-16T12:41:00.000-04:00

MDiv: "The problem is that I'm in a lot of Bible classes, so I'm not around funny people anymore."

Finally! Something fruitful in academia!

2011-04-15T20:37:00.000-04:00

Teaching fellow: "I don't want to judge which pleasures are good. I just want to maximize them."
Student (under her breath): "Yeah!"

Overheard: Ethics section

Guess what that means at the forestry school!

2011-04-11T12:40:00.003-04:00

MDiv1: "If you ever need some stuff, just tap me on the shoulder, and I'll get something out of my pouch for you."
MDiv2: "Oh, my."
MDiv3: "In div school, that means prayer beads and pocket labyrinths."

Overheard: Berkeley

You, sir, are a blessing to our community.

2011-04-04T21:36:00.000-04:00

Bob Wilson: "You know, Agatha Christie had so many red herrings, she could have run a fish market."

SEITAN = SATAN?

2011-04-04T20:56:00.000-04:00

MAR, regarding consecrated bread and that it must be unleavened: “Who invented that rule? Celibate white men, of course.”

MDIV: “Celibate white men who could eat gluten!”

Sanctified!

2011-04-04T20:19:00.000-04:00

MAR 1: "Last night was an odd night."
MAR 2: "You felt it too?"
MAR 1: "Oh, I doused it in alcohol."

Overheard: reflecting over group dinner

Did your skin start burning?

2011-04-01T15:06:00.000-04:00

MDiv: "You went up to the cross?"
Undergrad: "Yeah, and I immediately regretted the decision."

Overheard: Taize, France

Note

2011-03-29T20:33:00.000-04:00

I just found some of your old submissions. They got lost in rerouted inboxes (at least two). If you want someone to blame... blame... uh.. MIKE! Dale Mail!

Also, we're accepting applications. They can involve your wit and good Belgian-style beer. (I do love the Trappists.)

But then all the wee Levites marched to the candy forest and sat on toadstools. The End. Go to sleep.

2011-03-29T20:15:00.002-04:00

Robert Wilson: "So from this we can see that, indeed, all was not well in Levite-land."

Other suggestions? I know you're out there, unicorns.

2011-03-29T20:11:00.006-04:00

First Year MDiv: "By the way, there should be a 'Which King of Israel/Judah are you?' personality test, which has only negative results."

"You got MANASSEH... you spoil everything."
"You got JEROBOAM... you're a dirty rotten idolater. "
"You got DAVID... you fornicating douchebag."
"You got JEHOAHAZ... nobody cares about you."

I love goats. But not love love.

2011-03-29T20:10:00.000-04:00

MAR 1 (who is gay): "It's just hard for me to feel comfortable with someone."
MAR 2: "It's just your cathnostic side coming out."
1: "It's not...I just want to have sex with...a person."
2: "What else would you have sex with?"
1: "Well, according to my uncle...a goat."

Overheard: Annand Spirituality Room:

Yeah, you know you should be an MDiv, right?

2011-03-29T20:07:00.000-04:00

MAR: "I was about to ask you a question but I realized I would have been imposing my confusion onto you."
MDiv: "Thanks for not colonizing my mind."

Overheard: Before the Transitional Moments Exam

So, most of our fellas are "days"...?

2011-03-29T19:59:00.000-04:00

2nd year: "I met some great div school lesbians this week!"
Straight friend: "OMG I love disbians!"

Overheard: Berkeley

Bacteria, for sure!

2011-03-29T19:58:00.000-04:00

MDiv: "What is your favorite medieval weapon? Christianity doesn't count."

Overheard: YDS Day of Service

Oooh. I had been going about this all wrong.

2011-03-29T19:55:00.002-04:00

Robin Leaver: "Justin Martyr, an apologist. And that does not mean 'I'm sorry, I'm Christian'."

Graduating student pics are happening now, by the way! Maybe if you tip well...

2011-03-29T19:54:00.000-04:00

2nd year student: "All I want is a head shot and a topless pic. Is that too much to ask?"

Overheard: Back buildings

How many of you had to look up stentorian in the dictonary? Admit it.

2011-03-29T19:52:00.003-04:00

Fred Simmons: "I will try to affect a stentorian presence for you."

Overheard: Christian Ethics

All the MDivs nod their heads

2011-03-29T19:51:00.002-04:00

Ed Waggoner: "Where was I? Oh yes. Scurrying back under the rocks of academic theology."

Overheard: Systematic Theology

Why does this make me think of toadstools?

2011-03-28T21:53:00.000-04:00

Student: “It’s a little pedagogically confused.”

Yeah, I keep hearing that from my professors

2011-03-24T20:58:00.002-04:00

Kate Ott: "You have a wealth of limited information!"

Overheard: Body and Soul

Did he use Autotune?

2011-03-24T19:43:00.002-04:00

Bruce Gordon on Zwingli: "This is going to sound really geekish, but I have one if his CDs."

"It's not a complete list!"

2011-03-23T07:16:00.004-04:00

Teresa Berger: "Any faith tradition worth its salt will tell you what to do with your food, your time, your genitals, and your money. Otherwise it's not a real religion."

Grab a beret and hunch over!

2011-03-22T01:23:00.001-04:00

MDiv, caught wandering in a field in rural France: "Quick! Be French!"

A giant squid!

2011-03-03T11:32:00.000-05:00

John Collins: "I don't know why people insist that the big fish in Jonah is a whale. He might as well have been swallowed by a Tuna."

Overheard: OT Interpretation

I know at least one classmate who agrees vehemently.

2011-02-28T21:25:00.000-05:00

MDiv: "To be honest, I kind of resent the fact that I have to wear pants at all."

Sshh. Don't tell the Tea Party.

2011-02-28T18:11:00.003-05:00

MDiv: "I came to America to become socialist."

What does that make Rahner?

2011-02-27T09:06:00.001-05:00

Ed Waggonner: "That doesn't mean Karl Barth wasn't God's asshole."

Overheard: Systematic theology

or the bungalow democrats

2011-02-26T19:38:00.000-05:00

MDiv 1: "Log Cabin Republicans? What's that? Why Log Cabin? A Lincoln reference?"
MDiv 2: "No. They're just gay republicans."
MDiv 1: "Oh. I thought it was because they're closeted... but in a log cabin."

Oh, darlin' ....

2011-02-24T20:43:00.000-05:00

MDiv: "Save the last dance.... for anal."

Overheard: Body and Soul

Amen, brother.

2011-02-24T16:01:00.001-05:00

Bob Wilson: “I’m serious. Don’t annoy the beaver.”

Dolla dolla bills?

2011-02-19T20:31:00.001-05:00

(using different dry-erase markers to illustrate a point)

Christopher Beeley: "Let's make the divinity green."
YECC* member: "I always knew it."

(Yale Earth Care Committee - YDS's own Eden brigade)

Sums up the Psalms, no?

2011-02-16T12:21:00.002-05:00

MDiv, at prayer time: "OMG!

Amen."

Crystal ball, I guess

2011-02-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

MAR (alumnus) to MDiv: "I can't wait 'til you accidentally get pregnant."

New Chant!

2011-02-10T20:25:00.003-05:00

Robert Wilson: "666. I don't have a clue."

You'd think they'd be blanks

2011-02-03T20:26:00.000-05:00

MDiv: "Wasn't it the Spirit that got Mary pregnant?"

Overheard: Body and Soul

That happens on the next level, pilgrim.

2011-02-02T20:22:00.002-05:00

MDiv: "If only I could fart with my butt!"

A is for apple, not atonement

2011-02-02T20:21:00.002-05:00

MDiv: "G shouldn't be for God. G should be for guilt!"

But are you naked?

2011-02-02T08:51:00.000-05:00

1st year student: "I'm clean and I smell good. That's all that's important."

Overheard: Marquand Chapel

We've got sledding, snacks, and snow days! Send yer kids!

2011-02-02T08:50:00.000-05:00

(As the first set of paper topics is being handed out to the class)

Prof. Simmons: "Those of you revelling in Camp Yale, don't worry. This isn't due for another month."

Overheard: Intro to Christian Ethics II

As long as it's lovingly

2011-01-28T22:21:00.000-05:00

Student: "I'd lovingly hit it like the blessed child of Christ he that is."

Jesus died for your nightshades

2011-01-24T09:13:00.001-05:00

Student 1: "Ick. Vegetable juice really needs tomato to be good."
2: "Did you get it without tomato?"
1: "Yeah. Well... this will be my cross today."

Well, a clerical collar does look sort of popped

2011-01-21T09:04:00.000-05:00

Unknown student: “You’re not the first person to assume I was a lazy frat boy.”

Bueller? Bueller?

2011-01-20T12:38:00.000-05:00

MAR: "If you see Denys Turner, tell him he's supposed to be in the JE Dining Room giving a lecture. Thanks!"

a true joy, indeed

2011-01-12T08:49:00.001-05:00

Student, checking her email: "Woooo! Class is cancelled! Now I don't have to change my clothes all day!"

Finally! Something practical

2011-01-07T08:49:00.000-05:00

MDiv, discussing ordination exams: "I think they should ask what you do when a child experiences kenosis in a choir stall."

Overheard: Berkeley Center

Merry Christmas, love bugs!

2010-12-25T07:37:00.002-05:00

M.A.R.: "Seriously, the incarnation makes me giddy."

Go Ahead. Ask.

2010-12-18T15:56:00.000-05:00

Gay MDiv: "Shit. I can be drafted now."

Re: This

Think of it as your 40 days, hetero ladies

2010-12-16T11:15:00.000-05:00

Former YDS staff person, now working elsewhere in the university:

"I forgot how many straight men there are in the world."

Well, it's been said...

2010-12-15T13:33:00.000-05:00

Student 1: "All right. I'm gonna go plant my ass in a desk for the day."
Student 2: "Lucky desk."

That's what the fourth year is for

2010-12-15T07:04:00.001-05:00

S.T.M. student: "Have you shifted from grammar into necromancy?"

M.Div student: "No, I'm still doing grammar."

Overheard: Study party

I'm envisioning the Magnificat as some kind of dance floor ballad a la Diana Ross

2010-12-15T07:02:00.001-05:00

At a holiday party, decorating a gingerbread Mary

Student 1: "Mary's got it goin' on!"

Student 2: "Yeah, I bet she did."

Student 1: "Mary and the Holy Spirit...Got it goin' on..."

For some, more high than pass.

2010-12-14T16:42:00.001-05:00

MDiv, regarding finals and papers:

"This, too, shall come to high pass."

If only they taught witchcraft at YDS...

2010-12-13T21:12:00.000-05:00

MDiv: "My problem is that all my inanimate stuff is actually inanimate, and won't put itself away."

Overheard in: Niebuhr Hall

Pish. I'm on Friendster.

2010-12-13T16:10:00.001-05:00

Christopher Beeley: "Well, how does popular culture answer this question?"
(silence)
2nd year: "We're probably the wrong people to ask about popular culture."

Overheard in: Anglican I

Not necessarily. I mean, I think David Kelsey would be OK with it.

2010-12-12T18:36:00.000-05:00

"I have to meet with a professor tomorrow. Dammit! I have to change out of these pajamas!"

It's the FINALS COUNTDOWN

2010-12-12T18:33:00.005-05:00

(send in your overheards!)

That's hard. Say more about that.

2010-12-12T09:59:00.000-05:00

1: "It's like when [student] said to me over dinner, 'That's big.'"
2: "Yeah, if you're not talk about my junk then shut up."

Students, bemoaning pastoral care language practiced on each other.

Tell him to wash behind his ears!

2010-12-11T08:30:00.002-05:00

David Kelsey, on reading from a lectern facing the altar in Berkeley's chapel:

"This is a nice seating arrangement for reading metrical psalms, but I feel kind of funny lecturing Jesus."

So, what you're saying about Barth and Rahner is....

2010-12-11T08:28:00.002-05:00

Miroslav Volf: "Christianity is practical. This may come as a surprise after reading Barth and Rahner."

Overheard in: Systematic Theology