See http://greenspringsretreats.blogspot.com for more details.

The chapel is due for completion and dedication in the spring of 2012.

1/31 – 2/2 John at Hope

2/7 – 2/9 Nancy at Eastern – presentations at 7pm Tues the 8th and 12:30pm Wed the 9th – V.I.P. Room

2/7 – 2/8 Doug & Heather at Calvin – presentations at 4pm both Mon the 7th and Tues the 8th -  Hiemenga 316

2/9 – 2/11 Doug & Heather at Goshen – presentations at 4pm Wed the 9th and 6:30pm Thurs the 10th – AD room 35

2/14 – 2/16 Nancy at Messiah – presentations at 4pm both Tues the 15th and Wed the 16th -  Boyer 231

2/14 – 2/15 John at St Olaf – presentations at (7pm Mon the 14th) and 4pm Tues the 15th – Buntrock 222

2/16 – 2/18 John at Bethel – presentations at 7pm Wed the 16th and 3:45pm Thurs the 17th – CLC 134

2/16 – 2/18 Jessie and Mike at EMU – presentation times and locations TBA (email oregonex@aol.com for info)

Note: OE 2011 begins Sunday, August 28 and  ends Sunday, December 11

Paul Tough, Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America

Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

James Gilligan, Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic

Sunny Schwartz, Dreams from the Monster Factor

Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

James Alison, Raising Abel: The Recovery of the Eschatological Imagination

Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish (selections)

Susan Bordo, Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body

William Stringfellow, Ethic for Christians and other Aliens in a Strange Land

Grace Jantzen, Becoming Divine and Foundations of Violence (selections)

Simone Weil, Simone Weil Reader (selections)

Will Campbell, Brother to a Dragonfly

Jane Smiley, Ordinary Love and Good Will

Toni Morrison, Beloved

Etty Hillesum, An Interrupted Life: The Diaries 1941-43 …

Gianni Vattimo & Rene Girard, Christianity, Truth, and Weakening Faith

Concerning her experience at the Oregon Extension, Debbie writes:

“I had always been a consciencious student, able to get A’s and turn things in on time but until the OE I had never really learned to roam freely in my mind. The professors weren’t feeding us the pre-packaged, the well rehearsed, the preconceived (they weren’t striving to make tenure or sell their ideas). It seemed to me that they were hoping to free us to form honest, penetrating questions—one’s that had been languishing about in the cracks and corners of our minds and hearts, our histories and bodies.

We also roamed physically: the desert, the wilderness, San Francisco. There was nothing in my education at Wheaton or Yale Divinity School that quite matched the vivacity and honesty of my education at the OE. I still live in community with friends I met there, and am grateful, daily, in my role as a minister, for the way I learned to engage with the Biblical text. I wouldn’t have considered working for the church if it weren’t for the possibility the OE opened up for a lively and bumbling sort of faith.”

–Debbie Blue, OE 1985, pastor at House of Mercy, author of Sensual Orthodoxy and From Stone to Living Word.

David James Duncan

“Several Decembers ago I was invited, in my capacity as a novelist and freelance writing teacher, to a little Christian college extension built out of a converted logging camp in tiny Lincoln, Oregon.  I’m not too big on Christianizing efforts, generally speaking, but if there is anything on earth I like seeing converted it’s logging camps…”

So begins “Wonder; Yogi; Gladly,” an essay written by David James Duncan after his first visit to The Oregon Extension in the 1990s.  You can find the rest of this essay in Duncan’s most recent collection of nonfiction, God Laughs & Plays: Churchless Sermons in Response to the Preachments of the Fundamentalist Right (2006).  And you can find Duncan himself at The O.E. this fall (2009), spending a few days with us at Lincoln.

We’ve loved Duncan’s books here at the O.E. for a long time.  His bestselling novels, The River Why (1983) and The Brothers K (1992), have held spots among our core books nearly ever year for over a decade, and this year The Brothers K will once again be our summer reading.  Duncan’s essay-and-story collection, River Teeth (1996), and his memoir, My Story as Told by Water (2001), generally circulate as favorites among student cabins as well.

So what’s the big deal about this writer?  What is it about his baseball and fly-fishing narratives that gets us so excited?  That’s hard to say.  If you invite an O.E. alum out to coffee and pitch him or her that question, you’re bound to get an earful.  It could be the deep spiritual issues that Duncan explores with humor and honesty in his stories.  It could be the mess and beauty of the families that people his books.  It could be the unique variety of mysticism that shows up in his pages, wearing waders and casting a fly rod and singing a gut-wrenched love song to wild salmon and to Montana’s Blackfoot River.  It could be all of the above.  Or something else altogether, something impossible to pinpoint and impossible to forget.

David Duncan is currently hard at work finishing his new novel.  We’re grateful for his willingness to carve out some time to come and chat with us at Lincoln.  We welcome him heartily, and we welcome you, incoming students.  We look forward to the conversation.

OE Group Photo, Fall 1997

From Nate Windon (OE’08): 

Not having a cell phone in Lincoln is a good thing. At first, the transition will be eased by the new environment and new people. Later, when you start to feel the phantom vibration in your pocket from a cell phone that isn’t there, you’ll make some decisions all based on the question: do I really want to talk to _____? If the answer is yes, then you will find a way to communicate. During my time at the OE, I wrote a lot of letters and made a good amount of phone calls. While they were inconvenient methods compared to a cell phone, they made me more aware and appreciative of my relationships. The fact that I deliberately chose to communicate allowed my relationships with loved ones to grow. For me, the lack of cell phone didn’t make me feel distant; it actually made me more deeply connected to friends and family.

From Allison Rivers (OE’08):

Personally, I was kind of excited to get rid of my cell phone for a semester. And don’t get my wrong – I loved my cell phone. I still do. But I was looking forward to getting to know people without the distraction of having my phone ring constantly. It was a way to be more fully present to this new experience around me. There are plenty of ways to keep in touch with friends from home while in Oregon, and you’ll see them soon enough. You’re only in Oregon for three and a half months, and you won’t want to miss out on any of it. I know if I had my cell phone on me the whole time, I would have been more focused on things going on at home than on getting to know my classmates, having amazing conversation with my cabin mates, and enjoying the incredible experience at hand. I’m really glad I was so deeply involved in my community while I was in Oregon.  I have new friends for life and new memories to cherish. I’m so relieved I didn’t spend my whole time out in Lincoln on the phone. I know it seems ridiculous, but you can go a whole semester without your cell phone.

From Grace Olson (OE’08): 

Life at the OE is a little quieter and much less distracting than usual college life. To preserve that quiet space, we agree not to use cell phones except on trips into town. This keeps cabins open for studying or being present to the people at the OE, instead of withdrawing into the safety of cell phones. It’s not difficult – you can substitute emails for phone calls, or make more infrequent calls to people at home, or take up the art of the handwritten letter. It makes communication precious, and it prevents conflicts in the cabins. You’re welcome to use your phone during the few days in San Francisco, but it’s not necessary. I had no phone at all, and that didn’t hamper my ability to get around, meet up with people, or enjoy the city. You can also use your phone to travel to and from Oregon, but again, I traveled without a phone and made it to Lincoln and back home without a problem (I even managed to reschedule my flight). So, to those of you attached to your cell phone: this will be a nice break. You will learn to separate yourself from it, and you will find yourself becoming better friends with people at the OE because of it. And to those of you not attached to a phone: enjoy these few months. It’s delightful to spend real time with people.

From Sarah Grimes (OE’08):

At first, I was worried about having limited cell phone access for a few months. After all, at home our phones are constantly on us, like a security blanket. The first few days at the OE were definitely a challenge, but after a week I had to admit I liked living without my phone. I didn’t feel stressed or pulled in so many different directions. Instead, I could concentrate on the beauty of each moment as it came. However, the most important thing was the relationships formed with both students and faculty. Without the distraction of excess technology, people were able to give their full attention to one another and truly listen. I’m convinced this is why our community was so tightly woven. It was incredibly refreshing to be around such authentic people at the OE. I would encourage anyone to try living this way, even only for a semester.

Nancy Linton
Gordon College Mon, Jan 26 – Wed, Jan 28
Eastern University Mon, Feb 2 – Wed, Feb 4
Messiah College Mon, Feb 9 – Wed, Feb 11

Mike Van Eerden
Goshen College Mon, Feb 9, Tues, Feb 10

John Linton
Calvin College Wed, Feb 11 – Fri, Feb 13
Hope College Mon, Feb 16 – Wed, Feb 18
Bethel University Mon, Feb 23 – Wed, Feb 25
St. Olaf College Thurs, Feb 26, Fri, Feb 27

Doug Frank & Mike van Eerden
Eastern Mennonite University Tues, Feb 17 – Thurs, Feb 19
King College Mon, Feb 23 – Wed, Feb 25

Join us for a week of quiet conversation and contemplation in the restful atmosphere and natural beauty of the southern Oregon mountains [July 8 update - the August retreat is now full]

June 19-26, 2009 and August 1-8, 2009

An invitation to slow down…

The world moves at an inhuman pace, compelling us to move with it. We have too little time for remembering the spirit that brought us to our place of work or study, too few opportunities for replenishing the inner resources upon which the genuine expression of our gifts depends. Before we know it, we are living at the surface, running on empty. Why not step back and take some time out for self-recollection? Spend a rejuvenating week in our serene mountain community, in the company of others who wrestle with similar challenges, who are on a similar journey. Let the silence and the solitude bring you closer to yourself, awaken what is deepest in you, reconnect you with what you love. Allow the experience of contemplative listening and the practice of contemplative prayer to animate deep thought and real talk about life in our world, the world in which we work, study, and seek to be true to our calling.

The June Retreat:

Dates: Friday, June 19 through Friday, June 26.

Travel: We will shuttle you to and from the Rogue Valley/Medford, OR airport. Flights should be arranged to arrive before 3 p.m. on Friday, June 19, so as to accommodate the retreat’s opening dinner at 6 p.m. Return flights may be scheduled for any time on Saturday morning, June 27.

The August Retreat:

Dates: Saturday, August 1 through Saturday, August 8.

Travel: We will shuttle you to and from the Rogue Valley/Medford, OR airport. Flights should be arranged to arrive before 3 p.m. on Saturday, August 1, so as to accommodate the retreat’s opening dinner at 6 p.m. Return flights may be scheduled for any time on Sunday morning, August 9.

Cost:

Each 8-day retreat costs $750. This includes housing (two to a residence, one per bedroom) and three meals each day (except for one evening meal on the ‘break’ day, when most participants visit the nearby town of Ashland). This amount does not include your transportation to and from the retreat, except for our shuttle from the Rogue Valley/Medford airport. We’ll ask for a non-refundable deposit of $100 with your reservation.

Learn more and reserve a space at: http://greenspringsretreats.blogspot.com/

Explore this unique alternative semester for Christian college students and other honest seekers.

Every autumn since 1975, several dozen college students from across the country have taken a step “out of the mainstream” for an unusual semester of vigorous intellectual exploration. Students earn 16 credits, but focus on one topic of study at a time. Daily reading, small group discussion, and one-on-one conversations with faculty members comprise the heart of the OE program. In a fresh academic atmosphere, students discover new intellectual energies within themselves. Naturally, they begin to identify and explore the issues that matter most to them.

Learn more