{"id":1021,"date":"2015-09-16T05:00:50","date_gmt":"2015-09-16T05:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sjcmetheology.wpengine.com\/?p=1021"},"modified":"2015-09-16T05:00:50","modified_gmt":"2015-09-16T05:00:50","slug":"musings-on-the-practical-or-practical-musings-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/musings-on-the-practical-or-practical-musings-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Musings on the Practical, or Practical Musings?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Worth Revisiting Wednesday<\/strong> \u2013 This post originally appeared on March 30, 2014.<\/em><\/p>\n

On numerous occasions over the years I have been asked to \u201cmake a presentation on Scripture\u201d. The settings have been quite varied: a series on the Gospels or a particular Gospel; a talk to a group sponsored by a parish education program; a study group meeting at the homes of parish members; an RCIA program; members of men and women religious, and the like. One common denominator among all is a lack on the part of many of knowledge of the teachings from Vatican II, especially those contained in Dei Verbum<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Without trying to assess the reasons for this vacuum, I believe some suggestions for increasing the knowledge of the faithful regarding Scripture might be in order. One way to approach the problem is to develop an understanding of the various \u201ccriticisms\u201d that Scripture scholars have put forth. For the audience intended, this does not have to be full of technical jargon. But as the title of this article suggests, it must be practical.<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 A. Pagola, a Spanish Scripture theologian whose numerous books have guided me in this quest of the \u201cpractical,\u201d offers the following response to the question:\u00a0 What are the Gospels attempting to do?<\/p>\n

For followers of Jesus, the four gospels are a unique and irreplaceable resource. They are not textbooks, expounding an academic doctrine of Jesus. They are not detailed biographies, tracing his life in history. These stories bring us close to Jesus as the first generations of Christians remembered him, with faith and love. On the one hand, they show us the great impact Jesus caused in the people who first were attracted to him and followed him. On the other, they were written to inspire new disciples to do the same.[i]<\/sup><\/b><\/sup><\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

Pagola is in no way denigrating the academic study of the Gospels, for he is a scholar. Rather, he is finding a way to \u201ctranslate\u201d our studies in such a way that the widest audience possible will understand and be inspired.<\/p>\n

How do we approach the \u201cpractical\u201d; that is, how do we make the concepts real and compelling in the lives of those whom we teach, preach, and offer pastoral care and support? Three words come quickly to mind: gently, firmly, and spiritually.<\/p>\n

Gently<\/b>: It is imperative that we approach our faithful people knowing they are, in the words of Pagola above, disciples who must be inspired to follow in the footsteps of the original disciples. Thus we are to take the approach of Jesus who ministered to those he described \u201cas sheep without a shepherd.\u201d Doing this will require our own studies to lead us to bring the \u201cgood news\u201d in a manner that will not frighten these \u201cyearning disciples\u201d away. Our learning and intimacy with Jesus will provide the means to \u201cbreak open the Word\u201d to our audience. Our prayer to Jesus should be, \u201cHelp me, Lord, to tend to your most precious flock whoever they may be and at whatever stage of learning we find them.<\/p>\n

Firmly<\/b>: In this context, firmly is not to emit a negative or frightening connotation. When we bring the word of Jesus to any audience, we must search for an understanding of just \u201cwhere\u201d the audience is. If they are novices in the study of the Gospels, we must \u201cfeed them with the milk of Jesus\u2019 nourishment.\u201d If they are more learned we can guide them to and through the many techniques with which they can continue to grow in the knowledge of Jesus\u2019 message.<\/p>\n

Spiritually<\/b>: We can intertwine the message of the Gospels with the continual understanding that Jesus\u2019 teachings are designed to lead us to the Father. In this regard, our objective becomes to strengthen each person\u2019s relationship with the Lord. As Lectio Divina<\/i> teaches, we can read, meditate, pray, and contemplate. Perhaps no greater good can come from guiding our audiences to grow in following in the footsteps of Jesus and to teach them to be more than readers and studiers of the Word, but as the wise saying emphasizes \u201cto be doers.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus came, Jesus taught by word and example, Jesus reconciled us to the Father. What a splendid way he has given us to lead others to his Father.<\/p>\n

John Munroe<\/strong> teaches Sacred Scripture for Saint Joseph’s College.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Worth Revisiting Wednesday \u2013 This post originally appeared on March 30, 2014. On numerous occasions over the years I have been asked to \u201cmake a presentation on Scripture\u201d. The settings have been quite varied: a series on the Gospels or … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,23,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-spirituality","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}