No Question I'm the Fool

Well of course, I'm the last to be introduced which is strike one against me for being the fool. I too am a 4th year seminary student at SFTS and am in the last week of the semester. Yeah, it's that time of the student life, but I love it. I actually think I do some of my best work under pressure so here it goes.

I'm Nicolas A. Larson, but you can call me Nick. I am not an ordained minster, although the Indiana region of the Disciples of Christ are getting really close to changing that one. I am married to a wonderful driven woman, Julia, who is an industrial engineer (well at least trained as one) who works for BioMarin doing supply chain and getting drugs to people that change their lives. We have a doolap of a dog named Zeke who likes sleeping and eating (man what a life). My background is in graphic design, so hopefully come January we can give this thing a major design overhaul (no offense Aric). I'm from Indiana and a born and bread chicago blackhawks hockey fan. I like to widdle away at my time playing World of Warcraft and reading theology (yes I am that much of a dork).

I'm totally into practical theology, "emergent" church stuff (although I always get hung up on that term) which is really about developing a faith that can be lived, practiced, and transform our lives here and now while looking for the ever inbreaking kingdom of God.

I'll probably be the one bantering back and forth with Aric and bowing to Doug's insightful comments. I get scared when Aric starts talking about big theological words and I'll be the one asking him the ever present "so what?" question. I remember back to my great days of youth ministry at Federated Church and those kids who didn't let me get away with anything. It's those guys and gals my theology has to live up too.

My motivations aren't any more complex than these two friars. I can't imagine my life without these two, and I can't think of any way better to keep a record of these conversations that have changed the way I view...well everything. I look forward to being able to track every discussion and being able to share it with all of you. So here's to a cool new project, but I'm most definitely the fool.

**PS: I'm a poor speller and not the greatest grammatical genius so don't be afraid to ask what??

Introduction: A Fried Fool?

While we're still in the early phases of planning and rolling this thing out, introductions are in order.

My name is Aric Clark. I am an ordained Presbyterian minister and pastor of a wonderful congregation in Fort Morgan, Colorado. I am married to a passionate teacher/traveler/dancer/mother named Stacia, and I have two young boys Avery (4) and Curran (18 months). My background includes a childhood in community theater, and even membership in a traveling repertory improvisational-comedy troupe. I have lived in various countries around the world so I am always homesick no matter where I am. I love movies, theater, dance, opera - all of the performing arts. I am a gamer and hopefully someday a game-designer.

The question is, am I one of the Friars? Or am I the fool? Of the three of us, I am probably the most likely to get excited about systematic theology. I think words like dogma and orthodoxy can be fun things. I am also the only one, thus far, to actually get ordained. All of this seems like strong evidence that I am probably the fool, but we'll just have to wait and find out.

Coming from me you can expect reflections on pastoral identity and ministry, pacifism, epistemology, biblical hermeneutics, ecumenism, and a lot of frothing at the mouth about the obscenities that pass for Christianity in this country. Hopefully I'll keep the frothing and obscenities to a minimum, but no promises.

My motivations for doing this are several. Primarily this is a great way to maintain close ties with my fellow friars/fools who I regard as two of the finest gentleman ever to descend from apes. But this is also a way for me to keep my mind and my passions active, and to explore the utility of this interweb of ours. I have previous experience blogging, which had its ups and downs, but which convicted me that there is something about this medium of communication, which is uniquely powerful. My aim here is to find a productive use for this bizarre electronic anonymous collective consciousness.

Introduction: Friar or Fool?

We might as well start off by introducing ourselves.


Hi, my name is Doug Hagler. I am a fourth-year student at SFTS/The Graduate Theological Union currently completing four units of CPE working as a chaplain at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital. I'm married to a preschool teacher/writer/historian named Pam and have a dog named Po. I like to read when I get the time - fantasy and science fiction, the occasional graphic novel, theology and philosophy and religion, plenty of popular science - and I am an avid player of games of all kinds. I come from a big, complicated family that is estranged and strange on so many levels. Specific to my position as Friar or Fool, I am interested in virtue ethics/bioethics, practical theology, pluralism, mythopoetics, nonviolence, covenantal anarchism...I'm also into more down-to-earth stuff, but these are the kinds of topics that I'll be most likely to talk about here. They are also subject to change without notice.


What do I want from this project we're putting together? I want to stay engaged with my close friends and colleagues, who may or may not be Fools. (If I'm not sure who the Fool is, does that mean its me?) I want to stay engaged with a community of thinking-types who share some interests and who also want to argue with us. I want to have extra motivation to keep reading those academic books that part of me wants to fling out the window. And maybe, just maybe, something will come out of this that is greater than the parts we put into it.


So that's it for now.

Pull Up A Stool

Welcome to Two Friars and A Fool. This space is a place-holder for what will eventually become a regular blog/podcast/forum for casual discussion of practical theology, the church, culture, and anything else we damn well please. We are three friends who share common interests, and divergent perspectives, who invite you to join our ongoing conversation.