Lisbon

This morning we arrived in Lisbon after three days on the sea.   Barry met his Liberation Theology class twice and the World Religions sections once in those three days.  Sunday evening, for the second time, Barry led a Protestant worship service.  There are a number of loyal Episcopalians onboard, including a number who are members at St. Paul's in Charlottesville, and they have been pleased to have the opportunity to take communion, even from a United Methodist.  We will be in port the next two Sundays.  Whether or not we have worship will depend on how many folks are actually on ship those days. 

 Barry's classes are going well.   He has realized that the readings for the Liberation Theology class are over the heads of the students for the most part (We've just finished Gutierrez's A Theology of Liberation), so the student presentations haven't been as good as he'd hoped and he's spending a bit more time explaining things than he expected.   He's going to be trying to read ahead while we in port in Lisbon and Cadiz to try to shorten and focus the reading assignments.  Next up is Daughters of Anowa,  by a Ghanian feminist theologian.

 In the World Religions class we have covered Judaism and Christianity and are staring on Islam.  Part of the challenge there has been preparing the students for what they may see in Portugal and Spain.  We will be in areas that were under Moorish (Muslim) rule before the "reconquista" that culminated in 1492.  They will see lots of architectural evidence of the Moors, but Barry is hoping they will gain some understanding of the history of the interaction between Christians, Muslims, and Jews here.

 We have no formal plans here in Lisbon.  We do hope to familiarize ourselves with the city a bit today.