evans latest update

March 11, 2011, Friday from Shanghai

Dear Ones,

This day dawned with possibility. Fortunately for me, it was all on Steve’s shoulders. I slept wonderfully Thursday night. Steve slept fitfully, imagining scenarios and answering hypothetical questions. We had our now well planned out breakfast of Cheerios, yoghurt, orange juice and coffee, gotten from a combination of stores that are open before 8:00. We were ready to go to the university by 9:00.

In significant contrast to my supposed lectured yesterday, there was a line up of folks waiting for the room to open up for Steve’s lecture on Kierkegaard’s critique of modern philosophy. By the time we were all assembled there were about 15 students and 2 faculty members there. I have never seen Steve better. He was passionate and clear. He managed to articulate the essence of the gospel while describing Kierkegaard’s view of epistemology and ethics. The questions were from many different angles. I also have never seen the breadth and depth of Steve’s philosophical knowledge displayed. (Ok, I’m a little OTT in my estimation of things, but, hey, I am his wife!) He showed his understanding in service of the truth he was conveying. I was so proud of him!

We were hosted for lunch at another of these Chinese restaurants where the biggest challenge is ordering your meal. It’s one thing if the host just takes it into his or her hands, it’s another if you are invited to make a judgment about all those different possibilities pictured in living color in the menu. This time our host was a woman, and I was more comfortable being forceful in my wants. We had a nice combination of beef and shrimp dishes with a soup that was very tasty. The chicken we had as an appetizer could have been kept in the kitchen. It was more bone than meat to eat. But never mind. We had a delightful garden to look at and very lovely company with our faculty host.,

The big event of the day, however, was Steve’s culminating seminar on the basis for morality. He had worked all week to represent various views, but today was the day to give the group his view that the ground of morality is God—and divine commands. He had such a diverse group to talk to. He had questions from the atheists about how this could possibly work for someone who didn’t believe in God to a young woman who was clearly a seeker who wanted to know how he responded to Romans 1. In all it was a perfect venue to speak the truth in grace, and he and I are most grateful for the chance to be in this place at this time. Only God knows what fruit will come of this labor.

So tonight we were in the mood to celebrate and do something special for dinner. We invested in the cab ride to get to an Italian restaurant in the French concession that had been recommended in our guidebook. When you get into a cab with just an address (written in Chinese characters for assurance) you do take your life into your hands. But all went well, and we arrived at the restaurant with little delay and so enjoyed our leisurely dinner.

Tomorrow we get to be totally tourists. Thanks so much for reading through all of this. We continue to be grateful for your prayers.

Love, jan

proof

While I prefer the traditional proofs for God's existence (cosmological, ontological and teleological), the piece at the link below makes for interesting reading.

The rub with the proofs is that they may suggest a god, but they cannot detail who that God is.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-adam-jacobs/a-reasonable-argument-for_b_831185.html

evans update #4

Thursday, March 10, 2011 Shanghai

Dear Family and Friends,

I woke up many times in the night, but the one at 4:00 am had me worrying a lot about my lecture today. Would I be able to answer questions adequately? Was my talk too religious? I was beginning to wish that they had never arranged the lecture, but I kept assuring myself that God was in control and would be with me.

So we got up and got showers before we went out to the KFC for our egg/burger breakfast. The best part of KFC is watching the crowd outside dance. The men are older than the women. One comes dressed to the 9’s in red blazer, vest and tie. Another is so old that he and his partner just hold hands and just shuffle their feet. I love it. This group is distinct from the tai chi group down the mall.

I worked on my paper, marking smooth transitions until 9:30. Then I demanded that we leave, even though it only takes 10 minutes to get to the university and we knew exactly where we were going. We arrived very early. No one arrived before 9:58. Xiang Huang was the philosophy faculty member assigned to chair the session and take us to lunch. The door to the room was not open so he managed to find the secretary to make that happen. It was a gorgeous room with an oval mahogany table and more rectangular tables on the edges for an overflow crowd. There was no need. By 10:15 it was clear that no one was coming to my lecture. I was disappointed, for sure. I had worked like mad on the translations of the quotes and then at the last minute adding a 3 page introduction to Unamuno who was probably unknown to the audience. It was my chance to learn a lesson in humility and be gracious. Our chair, Xiang, was very chagrined that no one came. He was very interested in the talk, even though he is a philosopher of science and technology, because he lived and worked in Mexico for 16 years and had read Unamuno under the mentorship of Mexican friends who nonetheless had little patience for Unamuno’s religiosity, having imbued Ortega y Gasset’s attitude toward Unamuno entirely. We chatted for more than a half hour and then determined that it was a losing cause. We agreed to meet for lunch at noon.

Xiang plied us with a hundred questions at lunch. I had given him my paper and a copy of my book. We first talked about Kierkegaard and Unamuno—more specifically Kierkegaard and San Manuel Bueno, mártir, which he had read a long time ago. We talked about everything from Spanish history in the late 19^th century and early 20^th century to evolution, evolutionary ethics and Jorge Luis Borges. He is incredibly well read for a philosopher of science! He told me that he regretted the fact that no one came to my lecture but he knew the chair of the Spanish literature department at Beijing University and he would be contacting him on my behalf. He was sure that they would want me to lecture there. Lunch was the usual Chinese affair of multiple dishes, from fish to veggies and pork. Most were edible (the tiny fish was only bones, no flesh) but we were given grace to use a knife and fork instead of chopsticks.

We found out later that there were at least a couple of Steve’s present students who had wanted to come to my lecture but whose schedules prohibited it. I’m going to believe that the lack of attendance was just poor scheduling and the fact that no one is interested in Spanish anything here. I was tempted to think in conspiratorial terms about the fact that I had sent my paper ahead of time to our host and I had worried that he would find the themes too religious for Chinese tastes. I will never know, but he said that he had just been overly busy the day before and had not even opened the email that had my text.

Steve will speak at the same time tomorrow morning. He has worked very hard to develop a brand new paper for this audience, which he sent to be duplicated this afternoon. We’ll see if he has anyone to listen. Our host assures him that there will be much more interest in Kierkegaard and in Unamuno.

This afternoon I took some time to go shopping while Steve taught. I’m amazed at the prices of things--$75 for a basic blouse, $150 for a simple skirt. It seems to us that there are so many people that have menial jobs that can’t pay much. Who buys this stuff? I also spent some time looking for a place for us to have supper. We could have tried to get another taxi out of the university area, but that’s relatively expensive and time consuming, so I was determined to find a restaurant where we could eat something other than Chinese in pleasant surroundings. I found a restaurant called the Bullfighter Steak House that had beef tenderloin or lamb chops for 98 RMB, about $17. The beef was ok, but not HEB good. The lamb was tasty but full of a lot of gristle. The saving grace was that it wasn’t expensive and we could walk there.

So now we wait to see if folks will show up for Steve’s extra lecture tomorrow. After his afternoon seminar he will be completely done and we will look for a nice restaurant in which to celebrate. WE hadn’t decided entirely what we will do with Saturday. We’re both wishing that we had planned to go home, but we can’t change the reservations now, so we need to enjoy.

Thanks for your prayers on our behalf. They certainly were with me this morning as we dealt with an awkward situation.

Love, Jan

evans update #3

Wednesday, March 9, 2011 Shanghai

Dear Ones,

We had hoped to get away from the university area this morning and do some sight seeing, but we both felt we needed to accomplish some significant tasks before we could go and play. Steve had been writing the outlines for his lectures on Thursday and Friday in his head all night. He’s been preparing a hand out for each class that has the basic outlines of what he will say. I needed to work on my lecture which I will give tomorrow. We had gotten a request from our host for the full papers to be copied ahead of time for the students and those in attendance. I had an electronic copy of mine but Steve didn’t of his. We did have to think for a moment if what our host wanted was just to see what we were going to say to make sure it was politically correct.

In any case, after a breakfast in our room with the good Cheerios from Walmart and oj from the local equivalent of 7-11, we were ready to work. At about 11 we went out for our first and maybe only run of our time here. Last evening, when we were struggling with the crowds, I couldn’t imagine trying to run here. We did find a track, so this morning we made a bee-line for the track and it was quite pleasant since no almost no one was there.

We ventured into the food court again for lunch and found a bakery that had savory sandwiches and good pastries. That was all we needed. Steve taught his class which has proved to be wonderful and challenging. The students are bold with their questions, and they have a good time going around the issues.

We determined that we would get out of the area for dinner. It was a little bit of a leap since last night we were overcome with the huge hordes of people who didn’t move very quickly f or anything. But we made a reservation for 8 at a restaurant we had visited before in 2006. It has spectacular views over the river and is in the formerly colonial area. The lights are dazzling and we had a table that could take in the buildings as well as the activity on the river. It wasn’t cheap, but it was exactly what we needed at this juncture in our trip. I’m so grateful.

Tomorrow at 10 I lecture. I will appreciate all your prayers for the day ahead. I have no idea how many people may show up. My session is scheduled for 1.5 hours. I have about 45 minutes of material, so that should work out find.

I hope you are well. We miss you all!

Love, Jan

evans update #2

Tuesday, March 8

Dear Ones,

We started the day with the brilliant idea of going to Walmart to buy breakfast stuff. Cereal isn’t a part of the Chinese world, evidently, because they had just two different kinds sitting on the shelf and fortunately, one of them was Cheerios. We spent some time trying to figure out which of the milks was skim (we never did). Oh, and then it was time to find plastic spoons. Hah! If the culture doesn’t use spoons normally (they use chopsticks, of course) why would they have plastic ones? We scoured the paper plates/paper cups aisle to no avail. Finally I pointed to the plastic paddle/spoon that was included in the yoghurt that we were going to buy and asked a clerk where we could find such in the store. She understood my gestures and waved me over to the other side where there were, in fact, the plastic sort of scoops that they use for soups and also real stainless steel knives, forks and spoons. We decided to get the real deal and spent a dollar on two spoons.

Having made our purchases at Walmart we went back to the Paris Baguette to get coffee and a pastry. Both of those were superb but expensive—and we think the personnel there just really don’t like foreigners because they have been brusque and inhospitable to us, though, in truth, they were that way with everyone. Warm, personal attention is not part of the Chinese employee’s outlook. He/she is there to do a job and that’s it.

We enjoyed our purchased breakfast to the max, but it wasn’t long until sleep overtook us again. We were awakened at about 10 by the phone. Tongdong Bai, our host from Fudan U, was calling asking if we wouldn’t like to go to lunch with him. Of course! He explained that we could go to a “proper” restaurant, but he wanted us to have the local color experience in a food court. Food court? We didn’t know what he was referring to since we have seen lots of food on the streets and didn’t know if that was what he had in mind or a shopping center food court.

We needn’t have worried. . .or maybe we should have. It was a shopping center food court, but oh my, it was totally Chinese. There was a place at which you could place an order and then it was just the survival of the fittest for a table. We were instructed to hover over the tables and descend upon a table whenever it looked like it was near to being vacated. Our host ordered food at the concession where we would be entitled to park at one of the tables. He explained that the really wonderful food was from another place, but at least we had a space we could call our own. To say that we wouldn’t have attempted all this by ourselves is to say the obvious. So we watched while the most aggressive Chinese got a spot to sit at this particular venue. It wasn’t pretty. But our guide was as good as the rest and within 10 minutes we had a place to sit down. We waited another 10 for food to come and another 10 for our main host to arrive. He had wanted us to have the authentic Shanghai dumpling that is fried. We will attest to the fact that it was absolutely delicious and well worth the wait, the best food we’ve had since we came to Shanghai. It’s hard to describe the overwhelming population here.

After Steve’s class we determined that we would go out and walk for at least 45 minutes. It was rush hour and just crossing streets was a matter of taking life into your own hands. Even though there are lights and “zebra” crossings, Shanghai drivers are really oblivious or disrespectful to pedestrians, so one needs to be constantly vigilant. There is a tendency of drivers to lay on the horn at the slightest provocation. Thus, all of rush hour is a cacophony of car horns.

Since we had eaten considerably at lunch we were not in a mood to go downtown and get a high end meal tonight. After we took our walk we went to the local Pizza Hut. Oh my goodness. There were so many people, and people who do not know how to wait for their turn. There was a line outside the building and a line inside, but plenty of people who were willing to disregard any line and barge ahead on their own. We took one look at the situation and said that we would “take out.” I’m so glad we did. We waited 30 min for the pizza as it was, and we would have waited that for a table. I know you must think, “How could they go all that way and eat Pizza Hut pizza? Well, you just have to understand the press of the people and the craziness of the situation. We were incredibly grateful to be back in our little sanctuary of our hotel room after running the risk of losing our lives crossing streets in rush hour traffic.

We are hoping to get to some of the historic areas tomorrow morning. Steve is ahead on his preparation for his class so we should be able to do that. He’s working very hard, and the students are responding well.

Sleep well! Until tomorrow.

Love, Jan

Evans update from China #1

Monday, March 7, 2011 Shanghai

Dear Friends and Family,

The day started well. We awoke feeling rested and ready for adventure. Had to be answers to prayer. We both felt better than we normally do going to Europe. We were out looking for breakfast before 7:00, which meant that the only thing that was open was the KFC. It was fine. After Steve got a handout prepared for his class we actually slept a little more, but that was probably good. We got our exercise duds on, but really just went walking. We have an extensive shopping area near us, of which we’ve just scratched the surface. It includes a Walmart, believe it or not, and we made a stop there to get some plastic glasses and napkins. Napkins are in short supply in this country. You just about have to ask for them in restaurants. (The shopping area also includes KFC, Burger King, McDonalds (but only their ice cream) Pizza Hut and Starbucks.) We decided to go for a long walk toward the university.

The university was founded in 1905 by Jesuit priests, but that fact is pretty much etched out of any public history of the institution. It’s clear that the buildings on campus that are attractive are either from before the cultural revolution or from the last 5 years. After showers it was lunch time and we had a delightful repast at a place called the Paris Baguette.

The graduate student who met us at the airport came to get us at about 2:30 in anticipation of the 3:20 class start. Steve’s class is taking place in a lovely room with an oval shaped table. The building is brand new and boasts marble everywhere—much different than the worn buildings of Beijing U that we were at in 2006. I had just wanted to find out where he was to be so I left about 5 minutes before his class. He had about 12 when the hour was to begin but added another 10 in the next 10 minutes. It’s a very interesting group with one person who is 10 years out of her degree and is an editor of a major journal for the university and who had read 3 of Steve’s books. There are several who have studied in the States. Steve says that some of the students really wanted to hear him lecture on Kierkegaard, but this is a course in ethics, which will include SK but will not be exclusively about him. Steve couldn’t deal exclusively about SK because of the constraints of the grant from Templeton that brought him here. The seminar had to be about ethics or science and religion. Steve will lecture on Friday at a special time about SK. I will lecture on Thursday.

When Steve got back to the room it was clear that we had no one to host us for dinner. This is very different from our first visit here. We were taken care of so well then. This time we seem to be entirely on our own. I asked Steve what the difference was. Before the lectures were arranged by an evangelical in Hong Kong who knows Christians in the universities here. He contacted his friends, who set up the lectures in 2006 and who treated us so well. This time the arrangements are all made through “channels” that are strictly secular.

So we were game to find dinner on our own. What a hoot! We did not do very well. The restaurants around us are all just local places that are not accustomed to having tourists who speak only English. It didn’t matter at the Paris Baguette where we went for lunch because it was largely a self serve place. Tonight we went to a bustling, huge restaurant for which we had to wait about 15 minutes. They had a pictured menu with a little English, so we thought we could order ok. Wrong. The only thing that was edible was the veggie dish we ordered. The pork was dry and leathery. The lamb dish had parts of the lamb that we never eat. The rice that we ordered turned out to be greasy rice noodles! We just laughed all the way through. Everyone around us was having such a good time and enjoying themselves. I’m sure we didn’t go hungry, but we were wishing that we had had a host who could help us order better. Tomorrow night we will go to a more western restaurant and pay more than twice what we did tonight but the food should be a little more familiar.

Ok. I’m fading fast. I hope you have all had a good day. We so appreciate your prayers!

Love, Jan

May 21

An interesting article on yet another end-of-the-world prediction using biblical numerology:

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-06/living/judgment.day.caravan_1_rvs-dish-world-ends?_s=PM:LIVING