Posted on by Kurt Bodling

silence isn’t empty

Note:
The spiritual discipline of silence is not an empty void. Emptiness like that could be viewed as a lack, a dearth, a gap, something missing. Spiritual silence, however, is richly full of the presence of God. In the Bible we read that Elijah seriously needed refreshment. He went off by himself (solitude!) and eventually heard the Lord speak to him in that “still small voice.”

Quote:
“At first the quiet may feel like just another place of emptiness. We may even feel a sense of dread or fear that we are going to be judged or punished for parts of ourselves we have now brought into the light of day.

“But if we stay in this moment, eventually — like Elijah — we begin to notice that this silence is qualitatively different from the emptiness we experienced before. The silence that comes after the chaos is pregnant with the presence of God.”  (p. 110)

Source: Barton, Ruth Haley. Invitation to Solitude and Silence: Experiencing God’s Transforming Presence. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2004.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

what we should study

Note:
Connected to yesterday’s post, French Dominican Antonin Sertillanges is clear that pretty much any field of study can be consecrated in the Christian scholar. There is freedom and responsibility in choosing.

Quote:
“It is not possible to give any exact advice as to what should be studied, and still less as to the proportion of the different elements to be included in a plan of work. St. Thomas makes no mention of these things in his Sixteen Precepts. In reality, this is a matter of personal vocation, closely dependent on the object in view.” (p. 101)

Source: Sertillanges, Antonin G., O.P. The Intellectual Life: its Spirit, Conditions, Methods. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1987.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

Christian scholarship

Note:
Christian scholarship could mean scholarship of Christian topics. Or it could mean scholarship carried out by Christians. Theodore Graebner here first means study of Christian subjects (Bible, church history, doctrine, etc.) as carried out by pastors — he was writing at a seminary to pastors and to future pastors — but he also means their scholarship of any subjects OR that by any other faithful people.

Quote:
“Christian scholarship is but organized and well-proportioned knowledge, imbued with lofty purpose and spiritual ideals. And to treat it as if a contrast existed between its acquisition and practical usefulness is in itself an indication of undisciplined thinking.” (p. 42)

“So comprehensive are the labors of the ministerial calling, and at so many points do they touch human life, that there is hardly conceivable a domain of human knowledge which may not contribute its quota to the efficiency of pastoral labor. This is, indeed, a wonderful thing.” (p. 44)

Source: Graebner, Theodore. The Pastor as Student and Literary Worker: Lectures Delivered at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. Second, revised edition. St. Louis : Concordia Publishing House, 1925.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

irreconcilable differences

Note:
Yesterday the commonplace carried a hopeful note that because Lutherans and Catholics do theology in the same way and are both careful to write theology precisely, the two have made progress on bridging the gap between them. He specifically referred to the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification as evidence. The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) didn’t sign on to the Joint Declaration and today’s author knows better than to make the same kind of hopeful praise.

So, in a slight counterpoint to yesterday’s post I note that, as a respected seminary professor in the LCMS, Charles Arand clearly knows of what he speaks, but I sure wish he hadn’t called the differences “irreconcilable.”

[And, as I don’t know who is reading this post, perhaps I need to explain that “second and third articles” below refers to the second and third parts of the Apostles’ Creed, which confess our faith in Jesus and justification, and in the Holy Spirit and the Church, while the “first article” confesses our faith in the Father and his act of creation.]

Quote:
“We have irreconcilable differences with Rome on the second and third articles related to the work of Christ and justification by faith alone that date back to the sixteenth century. But we share a number of common convictions regarding the first article of the creed as it relates to the moral issues of society and God’s continuing work in creation (creatio continua).” (p. 308)

Source: Charles P. Arand, “Tending Our Common Home: Reflections on Laudato Si’.” Concordia Journal Fall 2015, vol. 41, no. 4,

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

precision talk about God

Note:
A former Lutheran pastor now converted to Catholicism writes about a similarity between the two traditions: they “do theology alike.” Particularly, both bodies put a high premium on the words they use in official documents. The theological task – thinking, writing, speaking about God – needs to be done with care and precision.

Quote:
“What impressed me was how close Lutherans and Catholics really are in basic doctrines and in the respective theological formulations. We ― Romans and Lutherans ― do theology alike, and possibly in a way nobody else does. We pay close attention to our words. Each word is weighed and compared to alternative words that might be used but pose less precision. Precision in wording, it seems, will keep us out of theological hell, and if the exact words aren’t the exactly proper words placed in the exact proper order, well, do not doubt it, we are all certainly doomed.

“When you think about it, it’s actually a pretty charming approach. It also means that when Lutherans and Catholics do sit down together, they have a common language and speaking it together often results in surprising outcomes, as in 1999 with the doctrine of justification.”

Source:

Russell E. Saltzman,”Former Lutheran Pastor: ‘Why I Am Becoming Catholic …’.” viewed online on the Aleteia website < viewed 18 March 2016 > at:
http://aleteia.org/2016/03/18/former-lutheran-pastor-why-i-am-becoming-catholic/

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

keeping on

Note:
Thomas mentions a series of activities, spiritual activities, that he wants his reader to persist in. Perseverance in “writing, reading, singing, lamenting, keeping silence and praying” will eventually bring a reward to the believing disciple: peace everlasting.

[Side note: at the end of my Lutheran school 6th grade, we were each assigned a topic for a one minute ‘speech’ we were to deliver at graduation. My topic was “perseverance.” I’ve wondered over the years whether my teacher was signalling that this was something he thought I needed to learn about.]

Quote:
“Continue on with what you are doing; labor perseveringly in My vineyard, and I Myself will be your reward. Continue your writing, reading, singing, lamenting, keeping silence and praying, and bearing your troubles bravely; for eternal life is worth all these combats and more.

“Peace shall come at a time known only to the Lord. And it will not last a day or a night as we calculate time; there will be light everlasting, infinite glory, unbroken peace and undisturbed rest.”

Imitatio Christi, Book 3, chapter 47, paragraph 2

Source: Thomas à Kempis. The Imitation of Christ: in Four Books. Newly ed. by Clare L. Fitzpatrick. NY: Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1993.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

theologians must pray

Note:
Cardinal Dulles says theologians must pray. It would seem like a ‘no brainer,’ but I’d bet he knew of some theologians who said they didn’t. Or maybe it was his way of saying that theologians can’t only be book-learning head-knowledge people.

Quote:
“So the theologian must participate in the prayer life of the church and be a praying person himself or herself in order to think the thoughts of God, as we theologians try to do. A theologian who does not pray could hardly be a good theologian.” [emphasis added]

Source: Dulles, Avery Cardinal. “Reason, Faith and Theology.” Interviewer: James Martin, SJ.  America. 5 March 2001 issue. Viewed online 12 December 2015.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

turn to the contemplative

Note:
John Burroughs, certainly no Christian, notices that as we grow older, we naturally pull back from the noise of society and turn more toward things of lasting value. That is, we become more contemplative the more we mature. This reminded me of something I read recently in Falling Upwards a book by Richard Rohr where he talks about ways in which the spirituality of attentive Christians changes as we age.

Quote:
“The longer I live the more my mind dwells upon the beauty and the wonder of the world. I hardly know which feeling leads, wonderment or admiration. After a man has passed the psalmist’s dead line of seventy years, as Dr. Holmes called it, if he is of a certain temperament, he becomes more and more detached from the noise and turmoil of the times in which he lives. The passing hubbub in the street attract him less and less; more and more he turns to the permanent, the fundamental, the everlasting. More and more he is impressed with life and nature themselves, and the beauty and grandeur of the voyage we are making on this planet. The burning questions and issues of the hour are for the new generations, in whom life also burns intensely.” (vol. 15, p. 1)

Source: Burroughs, John. “The Summit of Years” in Volume 15 of The Writings of John Burroughs. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1913.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

simplicity a safeguard

Note:
Yes, of course, evangelical poverty and evangelical simplicity are looked upon as stupid eccentricities (at worst) or reserved only for the holiest (at best). But that doesn’t mean that followers of Jesus should skip over them. The aims of simplicity are aims of love, Maundy Thursday aims. Surely these are on-going processes in which there is always one more next step to take. And the aims are easier to reach when we don’t have inordinate attachments to stuff.

Quote:
“What has happened to the Franciscan or Buddhist ideal of the rich person who voluntarily becomes poor? Who lauds the one who sets aside life’s complicating muchness for a heart more devotedly and simply given to life’s truly satisfying values? Sad to say, such thinking is relegated by most to the spiritually bizarre edge of cultural appreciation.

“Courageously we need to articulate new and more humane ways to live. The spiritual discipline of simplicity has been a recurrent vision throughout history. It doesn’t need to remain a lost dream; it can be recaptured. In this case, why should not that which can be, be?

“The spiritual discipline of simplicity may be the only safeguard that can sufficiently reorient our lives so that possessions can be genuinely enjoyed without their destroying us.

“A changed life-style in the direction of simplicity is a faithful witness to a better way to live at peace.” (p. 135)

Source: Sager, Allan H. Gospel Centered Spirituality: An Introduction to our Spiritual Journey. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1990.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

formative reading

Note:
What Sager calls “formative reading” is what we would call lectio divina. It isn’t our regular mode of reading (see the first paragraph below). It is slower; receptive rather than acquisitive; meditative rather than argumentative. It seems that so, so many of our reading experiences are, instead, either merely for entertainment or mostly to ferret out where the other guy is wrong so that we can triumphantly correct him. That’s not lectio. Even when we say that we are reading to learn, aren’t we usually in a disputatio mode? What could we learn if we were truly open to the text before us?

Quote:
“Formative reading is the kind of reading that nourishes the life of the spirit. Contrast that with other more typical approaches to reading. Often our approach is informational as we look for ideas and facts to enlighten the mind. Or our approach may be recreational as we just relax and enjoy the story line. At times our approach may be literary as we appreciate or analyze the text for its intrinsic quality and attributes. Or again, our approach may be exegetical when we try to understand the ancient text in its “there and then” meaning.

“Formative reading is slowed down and reflective. It is inspirational rather than informational, and more qualitative than quantitative.

“Formative reading calls for an attitude of receptivity, the grace of appreciation, and participatory engagement.

“The chief requirement of formative reading is to move from a mainly argumentative, rationalistic fault-finding mentality to an appreciative, meditative, confirming mood. We are called to move past challenging or rebuffing the text to a savoring of its timeless values. We are called to listen with inner ears of faith to what God may be saying or doing.

“Formative reading calls for a posture of docility and humility as we accept the gift of enlightenment coming from beyond our control. We expect not only to be touched by what is read, but transformed by it.” (p. 101)

Source: Sager, Allan H. Gospel Centered Spirituality: An Introduction to our Spiritual Journey. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1990.