Chaitanya Jyothi Museum Opening, 2000
RAMANAM
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen
Countrymen,
ORBIS NON SUFFICIT
SOLUS DEUS SUFFICIT
Contents of this post comprise the axis of my career as a theologian,
which is to say, an educator and mystical philosopher.
A precursor of this post I sent Dr. Holland Hendrix,
then-President, UTS, in January 1995.
Everything to which my time in this breathing world has been
devoted converges at the subject of Union’s vitality.
Pedagogical Framework
Theology — Botany — Engineering
People — Plants — Parks
Systems — Trades — Physical Culture
Mission Statement
The lump will not come to the leaven. So the leaven must go to the lump.
Embodiment Of A Graduate
Full-Spectrum Skill
A UTS graduate can exegete the Bible, build a house,
clean a house, correlate theology with systems theory,
lead a competitive athletic team, design and build a bridge,
shoot straight and safely, mix in and lead any kind or rank of persons,
defend the Faith in public, plant and harvest crops and husband animals.
Residence Degree Programs Offered
Bachelor of Divinity (BD): Six years, uninterrupted, starting NLT 18 years of age.
Doctor of Theology (ThD): Six years, uninterrupted, starting NET 36 years of age.
UTS provides simultaneous learning to mastery of: (1) Christian Theology and History plus Systems Theory, (2) Botany and Trades and (3) Engineering and Physical Culture. Daily study occurs at dormitory, kitchen, refectory, classroom, studio, laboratory, shop, farm and playing field.
This pattern or regime of learning persists through both BD and ThD programs.
Expectation Of Graduates
BD graduates will be able to lead to feed, clothe, shelter, educate and protect 36 to 54 people. Three years after graduation, BD graduates will be able to provide that leadership for five times or more that many people.
ThD graduates will be able to lead to feed, clothe, shelter, educate and protect 1-2000 people. Three years after graduation, ThD graduates will be able to provide that leadership for five times or more that many people.
Location
Rural area with farming, light industry and tech/trade school(s): Indiana, Nebraska, Ohio or Tennessee, in that order of preference. Next a clean, flowing river but not down in a flood plain. Copious trees, space for gardens and accommodations for domestic animals, to include horses. Dependable potable water, clean food, law enforcement, electricity and electronics.
New Harmony, Indiana has deep UTS affiliation, through Paul Tillich. Jane Blaffer Owen, Paulus’ friend and benefactor, and her ancestors stamped the town with ecumenical rather than partisan Christianity. Her heirs just might be interested in helping UTS locate there. The area, while depressed economically, is rural with both farming and schools of various kinds. And it is chock-a-block with Jane Blaffer Owen’s seminal architectural and horticultural embodiments of New Being (and here) and The Religion of the Concrete Spirit.
New Harmony, Indiana sits on the east bank of the Wabash River, which is both beautiful and, shall we say, impetuous. The town’s devotion to general education and independence, particularly of women and workingmen, is centuries deep and in keeping with its Christian ecumenism. Its utopian socialist roots and more recent Episcopalian ethos — from Jane Blaffer Owen — align with UTS’ century-old socialist bias and modern majority Episcopalian cohort.
Architecture
Cloistered with wide verandahs inside and outside the cloister, for thermal protection and aesthetic appeal, American Classic architecture, with heat pumps and other energy-efficient devices and materials.
The architectural tone of the campus is monastic, charming, spare and simple.
Richard Manion might be interested in architecting the grounds and buildings.
Classical proportions should govern. These would be, primarily, the Golden Proportion (1:1.6180339), which describes the pentagon and many structures in nature and engineering, and the Pythagorean Proportion (27:4 / 108:16), which describes the lower visual field of the Nave at Notre Dame De Chartres. There are other classical proportions available for use.
The architectural focus of the campus is a prayer hall for all believers. Its main quality is quiet. Around the prayer hall are buildings devoted, one each, to inquiry among the five dimensions of the Quintivium (see below, and updated here). Around those are buildings devoted to sleep, study, sustenance, recreation, administration and livestock and implement shelter and maintenance.
The campus is graced by gardens and walkways, small shrines and memorials, and surrounded by farming, riding and playing fields.
Administration
Lean, clean and lissome.
Finance
Seminary and Sponsors support all Students all the way, regardless of their personal resources, with zero tuition and a living stipend calibrated to their marital status. This is the only way to foster equality and minimize hauteur, on the one hand, and honte, on the other.
Not allowed as Sponsors: hegemonic clergy or religions, sovereign wealth funds, US federal funds, to include through fronting entities, the which, in consequence, require astringent vetting to guarantee they are USA private, law-abiding and patriotic.
Admissions
No students admitted from institutions practicing grade inflation.
Pre-requisite for admission to BD program:
Top secondary education proficiency in Mathematics through Geometry and Trigonometry, English and American Poetry, American History and Civics, Music Theory, Music Instrumental, Building Trades and Athletics, and at least two years each of (1) Latin, (2) Spanish or Italian and (3) German or Russian.
Pre-requisite for admission to ThD program:
(1) Top proficiency from UTS BD program, or, ordinary BA/BS and MA/MS programs and leadership experience UTS faculty deem comparable to UTS BD program plus 12 years leadership experience, or, full spectrum skill from life experience UTS faculty deem comparable to UTS BD program plus 12 years leadership experience.
(2) Minimum 12 years leadership experience outside UTS — and schools — in the world, prior to matriculating as a ThD candidate.
Curriculum
Quintivium demonstrates the integration of inquiry as guidance for the pedagogy of UTS graduates, who must embody full spectrum skill.
Of special interest to me over the decades of my life — as going to why USA and UTS have come to the pass of decrepitude and impoverishment they have, and what would pull them up and out of same — are these subjects: authority, national sovereignty, grand national goal, strategy and tactics, domestic affairs and foreign affairs. These subjects, integral each with all, Great Britain just grasped, as does US Senator Jeff Sessions. What has been of interest to me is of decisive, vital import to USA and UTS. After Paul Tillich, I am the chief Theologian of these times, the wish-fulfilling tree for those who yearn for rest and the bane of those who yearn for riots.
Pedagogy
For the Theology, History and Systems facets of the curriculum, daily: recitation rather than lecture method. Curriculum content (lessons/formerly lectures) is absorbed prior to class meeting. Class time is for recitation of lessons learned and answering doubts and other questions.
For the Trades facet of the curriculum, daily: the method used by the local tech/trade school, farmer, craftsman, tradesman, etc.
For the Engineering facet of the curriculum, daily: laboratory, shop and recitation methods. Field trips and field experiments also will occur.
For the Physical Culture facet of the curriculum, daily: coached and individual preparation for regular intramural and/or interscholastic athletic competitions and/or Rippetoe and Taubes fitness training [the writer has no financial or other interest in Rippetoe or Taubes].
Obligation
To be determined by UTS and individual Sponsors. But there must be an obligation of substantial duration and responsibility; for example, minimum five years for a BD graduate and ten years for a ThD graduate.
A student’s obligation to finish a program and complete its obligation or repay its costs-to-date starts when they enter their first class on the first day of their third year in that program. A student who leaves a program after attending the first class on the first day of their third year in that program repays the cost of all their years in that program up to the date of separation from it. Papers to this effect are signed by the student before they start a program.
Sponsors
UTS, Farms, NGOs, Denominations, Businesses, Industries, Families, Foundations, Parishes, Schools.
Not allowed as Sponsors: hegemonic clergy or religions, sovereign wealth funds, US federal entities, to include through fronting entities, the which, in consequence, require astringent vetting to guarantee they are USA private, law-abiding and patriotic.
Βασιλεία του Θεού
Kingdom of God
Update 1: ‘Absolute theological bankruptcy’: Union Theological Seminary students pray to plants
AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA
