Why India?

Hello everyone!

Many of you may still be wondering: Why did Blake go to India, of all places? In this post, I'll address that issue for everyone who is still unclear, and maybe tell you some more stuff about what life is like here.

The Why

Let's rewind in my life story back to JBU ca. 2006.

Young sophomore history major Blake didn't know a lot about his future except that he liked history and politics and such quite a bit. That fall semester of 2006, my experience in Church History 1 with Dr. Galen Johnson really captivated my love for history as well as simultaneously reinvigorating my faith with a sense of the universal power of the Christian message through the ups and downs of our history. This was a history I could latch on to.

Fast-forward through the rest of my time in college, and Church history and theological studies became more and more central to my education priorities and interests. And so it was that I arrived at St. Louis University in 2009 with a desire to learn about the early Church Fathers (Patristics). When I got there, I heard of new fields of study that intrigued me.

I've always been interested in the boundaries of the academic "mainstream", the fields of study that are less frequented and less well known. I enjoy discovering these uncharted territories and helping to bring them to greater attention. One of these areas that has stood out to me was the field of Syriac (Aramaic) Christianity. Although Syriac Christians today number only a tiny fraction of their former population, in the ancient (and medieval) world, Middle Eastern and Central Asian Syriac-speaking Christians were a massive segment of "Christendom." And after Greek and Latin, the form of the Aramaic language (spoken by Jesus) that was known as Syriac was a great written language of early Christianity.

And so, seeing a challenge, I of course decided I'd like to learn it.

After researching the options for learning the language in a summer program (and there aren't many), I decided to investigate the more adventurous route: St. Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute in Kottayam, Kerala, India. Apparently, I soon discovered, Syrian Christian missionaries took their faith across Asia, even to the southwestern coast of India. There - I was surprised to learn - Syriac Christianity lived on.

So, once I found that I would be continuing my studies at SLU (and that I had a decent assistantship salary in the pipeline) I figured I would spend a bunch of my money and come out to India for a few months this summer.

Now that I'm here..

It turns out that getting to India is the priciest thing!

-My tuition, room, and board while here: 2-300 dollars for two month

-If I want to go out to Kottayam town and have a meal...2 0r 3 dollars for lots of good Indian food!

-If I want to ride a rickshaw across town: 50cents-1 dollar

-Passenger boat down the river to the Backwaters of Kerala: 25 cents for a trip!

As nice as they are, though, those things are largely inconsequential.

The really neat things so far have been the people and the place. People here are some of the kindest you will meet. They are always eager to find out more about you and where you come from, and willing to help a couple of American students muddling our way through the language. Syriac Christians here are thrilled that we want to learn more about their language, worship, and traditions. The Institute is home to some wonderful characters, such as my neighbor across the hall, the monk and priest Mar Sleeva, the helpful librarian Babu, our language teacher Father Raju, and the Indian-American deacon studying here, Sean, who with his Malayalam language skills is such a help around town.

So, even though I don't have the best shower in my bathroom, and the electricity cuts out from time to time, I can't complain. This is a wonderful place, and I'm thrilled to be here!