The GlobalSmackDown: Wednesdays 2:30-2:53pm Corr Lounge
2012 Villanova Senior Class Last Lecture
2014 Lindback Statement:
The older I get the more insatiable
my curiosity becomes about this puzzle of our existence. I came to Villanova
with a D.Phil. in Theology. But I have moved from second century Christian
anti-Judaism, to Jewish/Christian Relations, to the Hebrew Prophets, and then
Rwanda and Genocide. In no way am I saying that this is a linear progression.
But that is the whole point. Villanova - via the Augustine and Culture Seminar,
the Honors Program, Theology and Religious Studies, and now the Center for Peace
and Justice - has given me the freedom to develop and sharpen my sensibilities
as a scholar and teacher.
I try to be clear with my students about what I
know, what I think I know, and what I know I do not know (Socrates). My style of
inquiry is open and draws from many sources across the academic disciplines and
beyond. I invite my students not only to be analytical and critical of the
academic sources in front of them, but also with every piece of information that
comes across their screens. Learning how to ask good questions, chase down loose
ends, and even answer a question with a question (Jesus) can only build their
capacity to ‘take in the world’.
In order to be curious about the world you
must have the capacity to contain what you find. This is especially true in my
genocide course where every class is vulnerable to anger, frustration, and pain.
But the discomfort they are feeling is growth and expansion. If they can learn
to hold it, understand it, and feel it, then they can build their own human
capacity. When you can expand to hold the world, all parts of it, you will find
yourself equipped to act in love, not guilt. And the great surprise is that we
can learn to laugh with those who laugh and weep with those who weep. Building
the capacity for true empathy increases curiosity and humanity and love. This
has turned my life into an adventure. If only one of my students ‘gets ‘ this,
then I have done my job.
When I teach I am aware that in order to engage the
young mind there must be an element of risk.
I welcome tangents and especially pre-class banter. My goal with such exchanges is to see if I can steer the conversation to a place where there is a connection with what we are doing in class. Every once in a while this actually works and I can move from a discussion on health care to the use of Nazi propaganda, or a discussion on the iPhone 5 will segue into Freud’s idea of the ‘prosthetic god’. I will also chase down a reference on youtube if I think that there is something to gain from the excursus. It creates an environment where students sense a connection between our world and the world we are studying. The art of teaching comes in negotiating the classroom space so that I am always in control, but verging of chaos. It is as close to creating Jazz as I will come. When this works, it is thrilling, and I believe very effective.
I want to push against the tendency
I see in many students to regard their coursework as a series of facts to be
memorized or that their education as something disconnected from their ‘real
life’. At the risk of sounding ephemeral, I do believe that all of life is
connected. This can be a terrifying notion for my students in the genocide
class: How am I personally connected to what happened in Rwanda and Congo and
Nazi Germany? Being able to connect our humanity demands capacity and empathy.
It is the key that unlocks so much.
Increasingly, I find myself saying “I
have the best job in the world.” and not just during the breaks! I love the
opportunity that the university classroom affords. There is no place like it and
I treat this privilege and responsibility with the utmost seriousness, even if
my demeanor is sometimes less than dour. For me, teaching is more about
uncovering than imparting, asking rather than telling, pulling instead of
pushing. There is no question too dangerous to ask and no scenario too
impossible to imagine.