My Professors and Lent


I've just started my second semester as a doctoral student in Philosophy of Religion at Ankara University. I have five classes this semester:

1. Basic Concepts in Philosophy of Religion II
2. Epistemology of Religious Belief II
3. The Concept of God II
4. Causation in the Perpipatetic Philosophers
5. Contemporary Problems in Islamic Theology

The first three classes are continuations from last semester. The second two are electives, and in both of them I am the only student. The "Causation" class is taught by a well known philosopy professor. He's been teaching at Ankara University for 30 years and before that he did his undergraduate and graduate studies there as well. He's become part of the furniture of the place.

I arrived for my class as the only student and sat across from the professor's desk. He is a very nice man with a big smile and crazy gray hair that sticks up everywhere. He greeted me and then sat back down at his desk to continue puffing away at his pipe. Smoking has been illegal at the university for years, but I don't think that sort of news gets much attention in his corner of the world. We spent the first few minutes getting to know one another a little. When the first pipe was finished he lit up the spare one that was also sitting on his desk. Right next to his desk is a plant... well, more like a tree really. It's hard to miss because it looks like it has been growing there since the Jurassic period. Its branches reach over the desk as the professor lectures and puffs smoke through the leaves.

We had a good conversation about Islamic philosophy and when the professor offered me a cup of tea I politely declined. This year for lent, which started on Wednesday, I have decided to observe the kind of fast that my Muslim friends can relate to easily. Every day until Easter I will be fasting from food and drink from sunrise to sunset. When I explained this to my professor it created an opportunity to explain a little about the nature of Christian worship and fasting. In the end the professor smiled and said "Allah Kabul Etsin," which means, "May God accept it.

Today at my other two classes I also had an occasion to talk about fasting, since normally we drink tea or coffee as we discuss the readings for the week. I was very happy about the positive reactions of my professors and fellow students. One professor offered to buy me dinner at the end of the fast one day and another spent a some time talking with me about the nature of fasting. I shared with him Jesus' observation in Matthew 4:4: "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."

I explained that this is not the kind of lesson that can be learned on a full stomach.

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