There is plenty of ice cream to be had in Iran—local brands, and the kind I always wanted most as a kid—the ones shaped to look like Mickey Mouse, or pandas, or smiley faces on a popsicle stick; there’s also drumsticks and sandwiches and the more upscale versions (like a Dove bar) for adults. I had the opportunity the other day to try a vanilla-and-saffron flavored ice cream sandwich, and while the wafers were a little soggy the saffron ice cream was incredible.
It was between this discovery and an animated conversation with two Islamic scholars about Reinhold Neibuhr and Ali al-Sharabiati that I managed to miss a step in the pavement and fell flat on my face. My knees and palms are a bit skinned and the past two days were rather sore and stiff, but otherwise I am fine except for perhaps a bit of my pride.
The talk about Niebuhr and Sharabiati began like this: in the coffee shop at Persepolis, where we were waiting for our bus, I noticed a poem near the cash register. The bottom of it was the familiar ‘Serenity Prayer,’ penned by Niebuhr for Alcoholics Anonymous. The top was written in beautiful Persian. I definitely hadn’t expected to see this in such a place and wondered if it was being sold in the souvenir shops or was simply popular for a people that like poetry so well. The shopkeeper brought a young man who explained that this poem on the bottom was a mystery to them, but the top was written by the poet Ali al-Sharabiati, who is a favored poet and writes verse to help motivate those who are struggling to overcome addictions. He then asked if I knew anything about a group called Narcotics Anonymous. We then talked about studying for the ministry, and working with people with addictions, and how Niebuhr came to write the poem at the bottom. That’s when they brought the young Islamic scholars to join us and discuss seminary life in Chicago and the museum of the Oriental Institute, and I was gifted with the ice cream and in the midst of a good chat fell off the curb.
Still, the opportunity for this and other conversations among young religious leaders are invaluable. I am continuing to think about how to make delegations like these feasible for seminary students. The major barriers are cost, timing, and the logistics of possibly organizing these travels for course credit. I’ve managed to develop independent study credit for my previous trips to Afghanistan, Syria, and Lebanon, though I didn’t need it for this one. We’ve talked a little though here about organizing a return trip to Iran, specifically for seminarians, within the next twelve months, and advertising it nation-wide. This might find us the critical mass or numbers necessary to make it happen for such a group.
It was between this discovery and an animated conversation with two Islamic scholars about Reinhold Neibuhr and Ali al-Sharabiati that I managed to miss a step in the pavement and fell flat on my face. My knees and palms are a bit skinned and the past two days were rather sore and stiff, but otherwise I am fine except for perhaps a bit of my pride.
The talk about Niebuhr and Sharabiati began like this: in the coffee shop at Persepolis, where we were waiting for our bus, I noticed a poem near the cash register. The bottom of it was the familiar ‘Serenity Prayer,’ penned by Niebuhr for Alcoholics Anonymous. The top was written in beautiful Persian. I definitely hadn’t expected to see this in such a place and wondered if it was being sold in the souvenir shops or was simply popular for a people that like poetry so well. The shopkeeper brought a young man who explained that this poem on the bottom was a mystery to them, but the top was written by the poet Ali al-Sharabiati, who is a favored poet and writes verse to help motivate those who are struggling to overcome addictions. He then asked if I knew anything about a group called Narcotics Anonymous. We then talked about studying for the ministry, and working with people with addictions, and how Niebuhr came to write the poem at the bottom. That’s when they brought the young Islamic scholars to join us and discuss seminary life in Chicago and the museum of the Oriental Institute, and I was gifted with the ice cream and in the midst of a good chat fell off the curb.
Still, the opportunity for this and other conversations among young religious leaders are invaluable. I am continuing to think about how to make delegations like these feasible for seminary students. The major barriers are cost, timing, and the logistics of possibly organizing these travels for course credit. I’ve managed to develop independent study credit for my previous trips to Afghanistan, Syria, and Lebanon, though I didn’t need it for this one. We’ve talked a little though here about organizing a return trip to Iran, specifically for seminarians, within the next twelve months, and advertising it nation-wide. This might find us the critical mass or numbers necessary to make it happen for such a group.
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