Anthropology for the American Church

Please allow me to introduce Dr. Michael Rynkiewich, our professor for Anthropology for the American Church. Dr. Rynkiewich (pronounced RINK-UH-WICH) received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Minnesota in 1972. He received his M.Div. from Asbury in 1994. He joined the Asbury faculty in 2002 after serving as a missionary in Papua New Guinea with the Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church.

Amazing. With all of that education and all of that experience he still hasn't figured out that he is wearing a dress. Actually, it is the traditional clergy clothing in Papua New Guinea and it is called zulu or a lapalap. He only wore it the first day. I happened to notice, though, that he had sock indentations around his ankles. He copped to the fact that he didn't wear it to campus. He changed in office right before class. Here Jim is holding a pandanus leaf pounder (or rikininar). It is the counterweight for a large clam shell. They are passed down from generation to generation.

Here I am holding it up for a different view.