maverick's truth

My paper has been accepted to the religious studies undergraduate conference in Lethbridge at the end of April.

Yay for more stuff to do in the next couple of months. If I can find the abstract I submitted, I'll post it here.

"On behalf of the Undergraduate Research Award Selection Committee, I am pleased to advise you that you have been selected as one of 58 recipients of these new Awards for summer 2006. We received a total of 186 applications from 12 different faculties: the fact that yours was one of the successful applications speaks to the strength of your proposal and of your sponsor’s support."
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And here's my winning proposal....
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Baptism was one of the most important rituals in early Christianity; however, much is still unknown about how baptism was actually practiced. Using primary texts, together with archaeological records, I will work towards reconstructing an actual baptism ritual in the 3rd and 4th centuries CE.

Using archaeological evidence, I will study the physical layout and artwork found in pre-Constantinian house churches – and their baptisteries in particular – in order to determine how the rituals could have functioned within the physical environs. Studying the extensive documentation of Dura Europos, the oldest known house church, will allow me to understand these environs. The frescos and artwork found at this site, as well as other contemporary sources, will allow for a detailed analysis of the interaction between the ritual participants and the ritual places.

Framing the discussion in terms of ritual studies will allow me to examine primary sources by early Christian authors for evidence of how baptismal rites would have actually been performed. This will involve careful readings of the texts, in order to distinguish between the idealistic representations of the rituals described by the authors and the actual lived religiosity of early Christians.

When this study is complete, I will have compiled the information necessary to digitally recreate the early Christian baptism ritual in an interactive environment. I intend to create a simplified digital model of my findings, which will visually paraphrase my findings. This model will serve as the foundation for the more comprehensive and detailed three-dimensional environment which I will build for my undergraduate thesis. Building a simplified model will also allow me to begin an investigation into the use of technology as the basis of a methodology for the study of religion.

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This summer, I intend to research early Christian baptism rituals, in preparation for my undergraduate thesis. My thesis will be an interdisciplinary project, incorporating ritual studies, art, architecture and early Christian beliefs and practices. I will create an interactive 3D environment on computer through which a researcher could experience an early Christian baptism. Determining actual ritual behavior from textual rituals, as well as how such descriptions fit into the archaeological record, requires a great deal of preliminary research, which I intend to complete this summer. Working with primary texts and archaeological resources, I will attain the necessary academic foundation for a digital recreation, as well as compiling the results of my research for submission to a number of undergraduate essay competitions. This summer's research will not only help prepare me for my undergraduate thesis, but also for a master's program in which I will investigate ways of using technology in the study of religion. I hold a BSc (Great Distinction) in Computer Science, and, combined with courses I have taken in early Christian studies, I believe I can contribute a great deal to the development of a methodology for integrating the study of religion with technology. The research I will perform this summer will help prepare me by building upon my already strong foundation in both computer science and early Christian studies.

I like this new look, though I must admit I didn't create it ... But it's nicely understated, I think. I've also changed the sidebar a bit; the "About", "Last Posts" and "Archives" are the same as they were, but I've added some new sections as well.

"My Del.icio.us Tags" -- these are the categories of website that I've bookmarked using the social bookmarking website del.icio.us If you want to find out, say, what sites I've bookmarked that have to do with Latin, the Latin link would give you the list. The size and orange-ness of the link references how many sites I have bookmarked in a particular category (bigger and more orange means more sites bookmarked).

"Recent Bookmarks" -- the most recent 10 pages that I've bookmarked, for reference, later reading, or just because.

"Wishlist" -- this is the top items from the wishlist linked to by the TTIW button at the top of the page.

I'll also point out a new blog that I've started (no, not the one I mentioned a while ago -- that one is still in the works, but probably won't start until summer): http://www.3pointgame.blogspot.com ... Here's a snippet from the opening post:

The NHL has what can only be considered an odd way of assigning points for games... in some games, 3 points are distributed between the two teams. In other games, only 2 points are distributed. With the playoff races heating up, many people are wondering how those 3-point games are affecting the standings -- and more importantly, how it affects who is in and out of the playoffs.

Every day, I will post updated standings, showing how the standings would look if the points were distributed differently. I'll show the rankings sorted by points under the current system, and under two additional systems:

• PTS - NO OTL: 2 points for a win (regulation, overtime or shootout), 0 points for a loss (regulation, overtime or shootout)
  
• PTS - 3PTS: 3 points for a regulation win, 2 points for an overtime or shootout win, 1 point for an overtime or shootout loss, and 0 points for a regulation loss
  

Alright... back to the grind. But hey, two posts in a week! That's gotta be some sort of record, doesn't it?

Well, suffice it to say, I'm no longer hobbled, nor am I in the first week of classes.

Yes, I realize it's been that long since I updated. I wish I could say that I was terribly busy every minute of every day, and so I have a justification for not updating, but... alas, 'twas not the case.

So what have I been up to, then, if not slaving away at all hours of the night and day?
Well, same as always, of course. Work, sleep, eat, school, sword-swinging, repeat. Not necessarily in that order.

This past week did feature a bit more excitement: went to the Flames game on Tuesday v. Nashville .... great seats, free (well, airmiles), right on the red line (and I do mean right on) at about the height we were at last time.  Now if only they had won....

Then yesterday, the religious studies undergraduate student club visited a Franciscan Monestary, and afterwards, we went to one of the prof's houses for food and hanging out. Good times were had by all.

And, I'll close off with the long-promised updated review of my classes (all are out of a possible 5-stars)

Death and Afterlife: *
Daoism: ***
Methodologies: ***
Latin: ****+1/2
Greek: ***


Oh, and just so y'all know, I am aware that it is no longer Christmas... I just haven't got around to changing the design yet.