Life at the Seminary

There are few people as unique as Jewel. I’ve been a big fan for almost 15 years now. If you know her story, the things she went through to get where she is now, it’s really amazing. She has a really great character, and she is very creative. People around her keep finding lyrics written on just about everything. Pieces of paper, beer coasters, bags, even hotel sheets!

Jewel just posted this beautiful song on her blog the other day, and I thought I’d put it up here so all of my lucky visitors can watch it as well. It’s really about being stuck in a fight with someone (Jewel explains it herself at the start of the clip) and how you can get beyond that point:

“Sometimes getting over it doesn’t mean working things through
Sometimes it’s just deciding that you want to
by remembering why I love you.”

Isn’t that so true, though? That often we just need to take a step back and realize the other person really means something to us. When you put things in the perspective of love, everything seems puny, small, unimportant.

Anyway, enjoy the song. I am just so in love with that voice!!!

We’re at the end of the ride here for this year. Tomorrow I’ll have to take one more exam. Afterwards our Reverend Teachers will hole themselves up in the large meeting room and discuss the results of this semester’s exams. When white smoke comes out of the room, we know the meeting is over and hurry to the rector’s room to get our grades. Then, we celebrate together in our back yard… or else drink away our sorrows Either way, it’ll be a great evening!

I wonder whether it will be same in the future… you know, what will it be like 50 years from now? The seminarians from Missouri answered the same questions in the 1950s and made this (rather entertaining) videoclip. Enjoy!

Well, it’s that time of year again! This week and the next I’m struggling to pass several exams. Once that is over, I have finished my three years of philosophy at the seminary and the holidays can begin! I can barely think about what that will be like….

In the interest of occupying oneself when one is not studying, I decided to get behind my harp and tape a few songs I have been working on of late for the ordination of a friend of mine. He asked that I play at his feast afterwards, and I might as well share a bit of my passion for this beautiful interest with all of you.

Below, you can watch a video (sorry for the terrible recording quality of the sound) where I play a prelude of George Friedrich Handel. Handel lived around 1700 and, along with Bach, can be seen as the most influential and accomplished composer of his age.

I really hope you enjoy this one… it’s really become one of my favorites!

The Pope has declared that the pastor of Ars year will begin on June 19 this year. This means the Saint Paul year we have been celebrating is coming to an end. In recognition thereof, all the seminarians here worked on an aspect of St. Paul’s life, writings, teachings and his impact on Christianity throughout the ages. As for me, I have delved deeper into what has become known as the new perspective on Paul.

What is this new perspective? It is in fact a shift in the way our protestant brothers and sisters see St. Paul in their theology. This ‘new perspective’, in short, means that Luther’s doctrine of justification in which the individual stands before God, was erroneously based on the writings of St. Paul, without taking into account the social structures of first century Judaism.

The conflict surrounding St. Paul’s justification has remained a relevant subject since the 16^th century. The new perspective holds that the rejection of ‘all good works’ is in no way a correct interpretation of the letters of Paul. As true as it may be that someone cannot earn his salvation before God, this was not what Paul was trying to say. By studying Paul’s letters in their historical context and social structures of the time, we can appreciate that the letter to the Romans was meant for the first century Christians in Rome: a church that found itself in the midst of an ethnical and social conflict, in which issues such as circumcision, Jewish holidays, meat that was sacrificed to heathen gods, etc. all played a very real role.

This means that when Paul speaks about the ‘works of the law’, he does not mean you should not perform them because of your faith and out of fear you would take pride of them and not Gods grace. He was in fact speaking about the heathen Christians who had begun to observe the Torah so they could become part of the chosen people of God. According to Paul, one was already part of this covenant if one had accepted the redemption through Christ, the Messiah, and not because of the works of the law, such as circumcision. Once one was part of the covenant, however, one was still obliged to remain in it by performing good works. Not in the way the Pharisees did, but from Paul’s anthropology, that the things you do come from the person you are.

I have written a little article about the new perspective for those of you that are interested. You can download it here. I would especially enjoy comments (through my contact page) regarding spelling and grammer issues with the text, as I am thinking about sending it in for publication somewhere. Enjoy!