Personal Update

    At the American Academy of Religion, one of my mentors, Wolfhart Pannenberg, made a presentation today entitled, "An Intellectual Pilgrimmage."  It highlighted his journey from a young man in a home that had dropped out of church, through a short period of atheism, to an awakening of Christian faith under an influential teacher, and on to his life as a well-known theologian.  He was in his last semester at the University of Munich in 1993-94 when I had the remarkable opportunity to study for a term with him.  He and his wife have been good and gracious friends ever since, and he was very kind to write a generous introduction to my book (over in the margins, under recommended books) which deals largely with his theology.  We also had the opportunity to eat with he and his wife last evening, and today several of us gathered together over lunch.  I have a couple of pictures below:
Professor Pannenberg is in the middle, I'm to his right, Professor Phil Clayton to my right, and then my wife, Bobbie.  On the opposite side is a young lady whose name I did not catch, and then Professor Keith Brewer and Professor Cornelius Buller.

Same cast of characters, but now Frau Pannenberg is to my wife's right.

And, a good time was had by all.
chuck gutenson

Comments

[jerry]

Very cool, Chuck. Thanks for sharing with us.

[Kate]

Wow Chuck, I was in Frankfurt when you were in Munich. Did I read that correctly that you went to Munich?

[Matt]

Wow, Phil Clayton, Pannenberg, et al. What's wrong, couldn't you find any intellectual heavyweights to hang out with?! ;-)

[chuck]

Gladly, Jerry, maybe a few more late this evening. I'm in a friend's hotel room taking a break right now.
Yep, Kate, from late 93 through early 94. Actually used an apartment in Petershausen, one stop out from Dachau. Sara, my daughter, found a friend who did not speak any English, Sara spoke no German. They were playing together one day and Sara came out of here room, put her hands on her hips, and said, "Dad, playing with somebody who doesn't speak your lanaguge is really hard!" miggt be a lessonn in their somehwere.
Matt, this was the best I could do:>)

[Kate]

I lived in Frankfurt from 1992 through 1994 give or take a few months. I only made it to Munich once for the the last day of Oktoberfest.

We went to Dachau in 2000 when my sister and her husband visited but I stayed in the parking lot with P-log and GooGoo. :) We pretended our van was the magic school bus. That's telling isn't it?

[zero]

i don't know, kate. the magic school bus the pecan log and googoo would be gentler than dachau. the other night i watched the movie "a beautiful life" for the first time.
wow. that was affecting.

[chuck]

Then you were there when we were. Where did you live? I met Professor Pannenberg at the Universitat Munchen, and road the train in from Petershausen. My family and I attended an english speaking UM congregation in down town Munnich. We'd stop to eat at a Chinese place in Haupt Banhof on the way home. Cheap, but it was good. ummmmhhh.

[jerry]

How cool is this - I was on a European press tour for a company I worked for in 1994 and Munich was one of our stops (spent a couple nights there). Nothing like real Weinerschnitzel! :-) Also, not sure of the distance, but as a child, we lived in Bad Toelz for a couple years - I spent a partial year of kindergarten at a German-speaking school.

[chuck]

We could have unwittingly run into each other on the streets of Marienplatz:>) (que up Twilight Zone theme song:>))

[Matt]

What a coincedence! About this time, I learned "Mein Hut, der hat drei Ecken" in junior high. :-D

[jerry]

Matt: now we officially know that you're just a kid! ;-)

[jerry]

and shouldn't you have learned that song in pre-school?

[Kate]

We are going to have to break down and tell ages at some point. Well you guys are. I give my age away all the time on this site. ;)

[zero]

54

[jerry]

Here's 3 hints: 101101 (binary), 55 ( octal), 2D (hex).

Ok, Chuck may be one of the few that gets this...45 :-)

[chuck]

49 going on 25 for me:>)

[Kate]

I did say that you guys were telling and not me right?

[jerry]

Kate: I could do the conversion to a different numbering system if it would help ;-)

[Kate]

Jerry: What like dog years? ;)

[chuck]

Yeah, and then I could convert it back. I'm guessing 25 at most, and remarkably articulate and wise 25, I might add:>)