The Final Lecture

 

 

July 13, 2016

So if I told you that part of the highlight of today was going the Final Lecture of a professor of theology at Humboldt University and the lecture was entirely in German (of which I speak none, not even a bissel), you would say “What?” Get out of here!   But so it was.

Sometimes being part of an event transcends the specifics.

Antje is a theology student at Humboldt University, studying to become an Evangelical minister.  In German, Evangelical (unlike in the United States) means Lutheran.  In our somewhat brief discussions about religion, she and the school generally are very liberal in their approach to religion – inclusive, not rigid.  The Old and New Testaments were not written in German or English, they were written a long time ago in languages whose then-meaning can’t be known for sure, so even though she is studying Hebrew, Greek and Latin, no one can know what the exact true meaning is, yet people insist theirs is the word of God and do hateful things to people who don’t agree with them.

As I mentioned in a previous post (The Kindness of Strangers), she asked me to meet her at her office for coffee.  She had told me she wanted me to attend the final lecture of a favored professor who was retiring.  Part of her job is to help make sure that a woman is given fair consideration in the selection of his replacement. The address was Burgstrasse 36.  It was so easy for me to find the location that I arrived an hour early.  When I arrived, I was amazed.  Humboldt University school of theology I was stunned by the location.  The building is across from Museum Island. It only took me 13 minutes to get there by train (Hackescher Markt station).  I strolled around a bit.  Initially, because I didn’t want to barge in on her early but soon because I was fascinated by what was before me.  I found out some information about taking a river cruise, saw a bronze sculpture of a boy at a desk with an armadillo on it (and I am still wondering about that).

She has four jobs (and she is a watchmaker).  One of her jobs is director of gender diversity at the school of theology.  With that job comes an office.

I just sort of took in the scene, the river, people in the park, people sitting at outside cafes, people walking around, no one in a hurry, people, people, wonderful people surrounded by beautiful architecture and a river.

About ten to three, I got a WhatsApp chat that Antje had seen me from the street, so I went to her office. She has four jobs (and she is a watchmaker).  One of her jobs is director of gender diversity at the school of theology.  With that job comes an office.

It a room with a view –  a dramatic view overlooking the Berliner Dom.

 

 

We had coffee in the student center, a modest place with a long counter, a small foosball table, with two teams of two jammed together, in furious competition, several couches, on one of which a student was fast asleep, and one large window, admitting the sun.  All the students, including her, take turns working there, making and serving coffee, cleaning up, etc. When we finished getting my train tickets to Hamburg (previous post), we took a train to Friederickstrasse.  Close to the station is an underground grocery store, Reve, that had about a million beers.  She picked hers out and helped me pick out two dark beers.

Then she said “we will take a walk, drink our beer and go to the final lecture.”  I asked her if she was sure she wanted me to go, she would be among all her fellow students and maybe something else (sort of looking for an excuse to back out).

She said “Absolutely I want you to come and see.  It’s my reality.”

That was heavy.  How could I say no.

The first of my beers which she said was a secret beer, Schwarzer ABT, was simply delicious.  I would say it is the best beer I ever had, but I’ve said that before about other beers.  Clown Shoes Unleaded comes to mind.  But I was loving Schwarzer ABT and like the song says, “Love the One You’re With.”  We sat drinking our beers on a stone bench facing the Alte Museum and then walked to where the lecture was given, which was in the main Humboldt University building, a stately stone structure and not so close to the building the school of theology is in.

https://www.hu-berlin.de/de/ueberblick/campus/mitte

By the time we got there, a few minutes before the scheduled starting time of 6:00 p.m., to A’s surprise, it was standing room only.  We took our places along the wall opposite the door and next to a window overlooking a beautiful plaza.  There were four introductions (40 minutes, all in German except one) including one by Prof. Dr. Sabine Kunst, the President of Humboldt University, a woman, the only woman president of a university in Germany.

One of the presenters was in English, a person from South Africa.  He wasn’t that easy to understand either.

Then the professor, Prof. Dr. Cilliers Breytenbach gave his lecture.

None of which I understood but I could tell he was an enlightened person and a good lecturer.  It was quite well received.  At one point my friend said the retiring professor was specifically critical of the headmaster of the Lutheran Church in Germany, who isn’t open enough.  She and others responded very favorably to his criticism.

When it was over there was long enthusiastic applause but it was a while before people stood.  I asked and was told that is German.  As people left the lecture hall, the professor greeted people smiling and shaking there hands as if each was his best friend.  A reception in the hall outside the lecture hall.  Wine and hot pretzels were served.  In the hall were photographs and descriptions in German and English of physics professors who taught at Humboldt.  These included Max Planck, Schroedinger, Heisinger, Otto Warburg and Albert Einstein.  Can you imagine?  Just walking along the walls and seeing the photographs and the descriptions was thrilling.

And consider the influence of Humboldt, not just in Germany, but America (e.g. Humboldt University in California, Saul Bellow’s Humboldt’s gift, elsewhere.

• Born: 22nd June 1767 · Potsdam, Germany
• Died: . 8 April 1835 · Berlin, Germany

I had  a fascinating time.  It was the event obviously since I didn’t understand a word of the lecture.    Earlier this summer,  I took my granddaughter Carly to her first outdoor concert in Wilmington NC.  The band was a Led Zeppelin cover band called Red Zeppelin and they were pretty good, but the crowd was many and friendly and nice and in to it.  Some danced and there were food trucks.  I told her that sometimes it the entire event is that is thrilling and memorable and the whole scene was greater than the parts.

And that’s how the Final Lecture was.  So what if it was in German and I didn’t understand a word.