The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2016 73 credentials; would he take me on? He did, solely on the basis of my Foreign Service disciplines! I did not finish the book while in Oxford, but I acquired sufficient momentum to carry it to comple- tion later. That enabled not only continuing contact with my Oxford mentor but also acquisition of an American one, similarly world-famous. At the latter’s urging, I wrote Theology and the Disciplines of the Foreign Service . It was reviewed in the April 2015 issue of The Foreign Service Journal , and its Unite d Kingdom launch in Oxford the following October was well received. My experience shows that Foreign Service disciplines are, in fact, applicable beyond its ranks, at least where theology is concerned. But what about the sense of purpose that the Foreign Service conveys? Can this, too, be found elsewhere? With regard to theology, I would answer as follows. Its issues may not have the immediacy of those in the Foreign Service. They are not quite like crises in a particular country to be dealt with or urgent queries fromWashington to be responded to. But I have found the issues themselves, involving as they do final questions, to be no less serious. In fact, their resolution may be regarded as bearing on eter- nal life and death. Accordingly, theology, instead of diminishing my sense of purpose, has enhanced it. That my experience can be replicated in fields other than theology I cannot be sure. But it certainly seems possible. My only caveat would be the need to develop an interest in such a field prior to retirement. This could serve not only as a preparation, but also as a balance for the exigencies of one’s Foreign Service career. The Rev. Theodore L. Lewis spent 29 years in the Foreign Service. After an initial assignment in Washington, D.C., he served in Vietnam (twice), Australia, Pakistan, Congo, Korea and Laos, ending with another Washington assignment. He retired in 1984. The Reverend Theodore L. Lewis. COURTESYOFTHEODORELEWIS