Classes begin
Today Summer Term 1 began. I have two classes each day for four weeks.
I'm with an extraordinary group of people. There are priests and religious sisters from Uganda, Nigeria, Vietnam and Hong Kong, as well as priests, religious and laity from the US. I feel like the dumbest person in the room when I realise that some of these people have three degrees and speak four languages (English is usually their second or third), and do some challenging ministries, such as in the case of Fr Peter from Nigeria, ministering to people who have been attacked by Boko Haram.
My first class is The Call to Holiness, which our lecturer describes as "a romp through the communion of saints". My knowledge of the saints is rather piecemeal, so I'm looking forward to discovering depth and context. One of the resources we'll be using is a series of podcasts, such as this one on Saints Perpetua and Felicity, whom I knew were 3rd century martyrs but not much else. http://cucatholicctr.org/2010/03/perpetua-and-felicitas/
The second class is The Biblical Foundations of Spirituality, which will be a revisiting of the gospels through the lens of spirituality. Our teacher, Dr Sue Calef has a remarkable, almost manic energy, which is just what is needed for after lunch time classes.
Creighton has high standards of academic rigour, with 3 hours of reading and writing expected per hour of class time (20 hours per week plus 60 hours per week), but with a reflective focus where we are always to ask ourselves: what is God saying to me through this?
An example is our first assignment: Imagine that all the bibles in the world have been destroyed. You, as a Christian have to reconstruct a gospel in 2500 words or less. But! you can only use the words of the four gospels, that is, to cut and paste from the bible. But this is only the starting point. Once this is done, we are to write a reflection paper on what gospel material we used, and what we left out. Did we use more of one gospel than another? Did we emphasise healings, miracles, parables, teachings? Did we emphasise Jesus birth, death, resurrection? All of this is to discover what lens we already view Jesus through, and to note our conscious, or unconscious biases. One thing I think I'll be finding is that when I was younger I was fascinated with Jesus' miracles, now I am attracted more to Jesus' character than his power. So I'll be including Jesus' compassion for the crowds who were "like sheep without a shepherd, his love for the rich young man, his forgiveness for the woman caught in adultery, his lament over Jerusalem, etc.
It's due this Friday. I'd better stop blogging and start writing. Oh, and do some reading. Here are this term's books:
plus another 300 pages of articles.
I'm with an extraordinary group of people. There are priests and religious sisters from Uganda, Nigeria, Vietnam and Hong Kong, as well as priests, religious and laity from the US. I feel like the dumbest person in the room when I realise that some of these people have three degrees and speak four languages (English is usually their second or third), and do some challenging ministries, such as in the case of Fr Peter from Nigeria, ministering to people who have been attacked by Boko Haram.
My first class is The Call to Holiness, which our lecturer describes as "a romp through the communion of saints". My knowledge of the saints is rather piecemeal, so I'm looking forward to discovering depth and context. One of the resources we'll be using is a series of podcasts, such as this one on Saints Perpetua and Felicity, whom I knew were 3rd century martyrs but not much else. http://cucatholicctr.org/2010/03/perpetua-and-felicitas/
The second class is The Biblical Foundations of Spirituality, which will be a revisiting of the gospels through the lens of spirituality. Our teacher, Dr Sue Calef has a remarkable, almost manic energy, which is just what is needed for after lunch time classes.
Creighton has high standards of academic rigour, with 3 hours of reading and writing expected per hour of class time (20 hours per week plus 60 hours per week), but with a reflective focus where we are always to ask ourselves: what is God saying to me through this?
An example is our first assignment: Imagine that all the bibles in the world have been destroyed. You, as a Christian have to reconstruct a gospel in 2500 words or less. But! you can only use the words of the four gospels, that is, to cut and paste from the bible. But this is only the starting point. Once this is done, we are to write a reflection paper on what gospel material we used, and what we left out. Did we use more of one gospel than another? Did we emphasise healings, miracles, parables, teachings? Did we emphasise Jesus birth, death, resurrection? All of this is to discover what lens we already view Jesus through, and to note our conscious, or unconscious biases. One thing I think I'll be finding is that when I was younger I was fascinated with Jesus' miracles, now I am attracted more to Jesus' character than his power. So I'll be including Jesus' compassion for the crowds who were "like sheep without a shepherd, his love for the rich young man, his forgiveness for the woman caught in adultery, his lament over Jerusalem, etc.
It's due this Friday. I'd better stop blogging and start writing. Oh, and do some reading. Here are this term's books:
Goodness me Jim. Sounds like the retreat fallow time was absolutely necessary for surviving the onslaught. There's no way you could ever be the dumbest person in the room though! Thanks for the food for thought. Interesting about your changed focus on the Gospels. I am thinking about what version of the Gospels I would reconstruct, but if it was to be a new Bible for everyone, I think I'd be calling you and my other wisest friends to help - we need a balance of all the bits which speak to different people at different times, don't we...
ReplyDeletewow what a week mate. Your pragmatic approach will help you I'm sure. I like your approach to the humility and empathy and compassion Jesus had for those who were thrown in front of him to test his loyalty to the laws of Moses et. al. But every time he showed the purity of love that God has for us, while diplomatically redressing the audience. Good luck on Assignment 1. Cheers
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