Tuesday, October 13

The theme of our seminar is “I believe in God the Father;” while at first I had had in mind to do quite a bit of work with them about the relatively difficult to grasp questions about God's existence, the Trinity, etc., we've seen that the students varying levels means that we need to stay closer to the questions that arise directly from relevant Biblical texts. As it turns out, I see how fruitful it would have been if I had started this way with my students in Novosarataovka, too, in those days when I taught Systematic Theology. Knowing the Biblical base and the wide variety of Biblical voices as the texts speak about and describe God helps in a lot of ways – it makes us humble in our claims to “know” what is really unknowable about God; it helps us open up new sides of the witness of the faithful about God (i.e.., when looking at OT names for God, I saw that Hagar calls God “the God who sees me;” it is an image that I really like and that will stay with me for a while); it helps us understand Jesus and his witness about the Father. At any rate, I'm liking it.