{"id":33741,"date":"2016-08-29T12:20:33","date_gmt":"2016-08-29T17:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=33741"},"modified":"2016-11-10T20:03:15","modified_gmt":"2016-11-11T02:03:15","slug":"how-many-times-do-i-need-to-read-genesis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/08\/29\/how-many-times-do-i-need-to-read-genesis\/","title":{"rendered":"How Many Times Do I Need to Read Genesis?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It seems appropriate that the Feast of St. Augustine, himself a scholar extraordinaire, falls in the midst of our first week of classes here at our university.\u00a0 Granted, St. Augustine\u2019s day, August 28<sup>th<\/sup>, was a Sunday this year.\u00a0 But, in some schools I\u2019ve experienced, a university-wide Mass is even held on St. Augustine\u2019s day, as a way to inaugurate the new year in the light of the Christian tradition of study, of conversation, and of longing to more deeply understand the living God by celebrating a saint whose life\u2019s work was driven by such seeking.<\/p>\n<p>This noble quest to \u201cseek to understand\u201d God is, in our academic world, known as Theology.\u00a0 Theology is a required subject at many Christian and Catholic schools, which is both a blessing and a curse for our many students.\u00a0 Among the blessings they bring, courses in Theology allow a university to emphasize its Christian identity; such courses introduce students to a disciplined method of making sense of the Christian tradition and ask them to employ skills in critical reading of sources; Theology courses encourage dialogue about crucial aspects of being human; and, such courses both serve to cultivate and shape faith of those who identify as being persons of faith, as well as to provide an interesting insight into a large segment of humanity for those who do not identify as persons of faith, or of any faith whatsoever.<\/p>\n<p>More grimly, Theology, and particularly, \u201cIntroduction to Theology\u201d courses may also be deemed as the \u201ccurse of the first-year college student.\u201d\u00a0 Students who have had absolutely no Christian \u201ctheology or religion\u201d courses whatsoever approach the subject (in my experience) with <em>at least <\/em>some nervousness, if not a pre-expectation that they will not do well.\u00a0 On the other extreme, students who have had 12 years of Christian, or Catholic, education sometimes enter the classroom with a confident boredom which wonders at the logic of a school <em>requiring<\/em> them to take such clearly remedial courses.<\/p>\n<p>As a teacher, I find nervousness far easier to assuage than boredom: I assure my students that, when one walks in without preconceptions, one may have a clearer vision, notice new things, and make connections which others in the room have never had opportunity to do, as they have already learned \u201cTheology\u201d by rote, or by some previous experience.\u00a0 Personally, I am grateful when a student shares that he or she is from a faith background other than Christian; some of my most memorable classes were made so by the presence of a Jewish student who gave us a new perspective on the \u201cheroes of the faith\u201d in the Old Testament; a Muslim student who explained with passion that \u201cIslam\u201d is an Arabic word for \u201cpeace,\u201d and an atheist student, whose logical way of reading texts provided an utterly clear presentation of the function of Jesus\u2019 parables.<\/p>\n<p>Far more difficult, though, is the student who feels that the rudiments of Christian Theology have already been adequately canvassed in the past and, having already read Genesis, feels that an Introductory course to Christian Theology is not useful.<\/p>\n<p>While I recognize the value and, in fact, great need, for Christian and Catholic education through elementary and secondary school levels, such education does not satisfy the need to \u201cintroduce Christian Theology\u201d on a collegiate level.\u00a0 The college experience of Theology places students in a new context of adulthood, demands greater development and engagement of material, and requires a level of reading which does not merely seek to \u201creport\u201d the content, but to \u201cexegete\u201d the content, that is, explain, develop, and reflect upon the content discussed in light of the Christian tradition.\u00a0 Even if a student has had an excellent theological education as a child and teenager (and many have!), one will always learn more and grow further, by picking up and reading <em>again<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Certainly, in the theological world, it is impossible to say that one has completely and adequately described the living God.\u00a0 Our engagement with revelation\u2014from Genesis to the traditions of faith cultivated by the Christian churches\u2014can never stop, rest, or cease, but only continue.\u00a0 So, to the student with strong background who wonders \u201chow many times to I need to read Genesis?\u201d I wonder in return, \u201cHow many times do you suppose St. Augustine read Genesis?\u00a0 I wonder if he ever felt that he fully understood the breadth and depth of God\u2019s revelation in Creation?\u201d\u00a0 I suppose that part of Augustine\u2019s ceaseless pursuit of knowledge, of reading and teaching the same passages of Genesis again and again, was paired with that ceaseless desire to know God, to teach others of God, and to live always in the City of God.<\/p>\n<p>As we enter this new academic year, may our own hearts be restless\u2014loving and seeking knowledge that might perfect our faith\u2014until they rest in you, O God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our engagement with revelation\u2014from Genesis to the traditions of faith cultivated by the Christian churches\u2014can never stop, rest, or cease, but only continue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1137,379],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-teaching-liturgy","category-young-adults"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How Many Times Do I Need to Read Genesis? - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/08\/29\/how-many-times-do-i-need-to-read-genesis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Many Times Do I Need to Read Genesis? - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our engagement with revelation\u2014from Genesis to the traditions of faith cultivated by the Christian churches\u2014can never stop, rest, or cease, but only continue.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/08\/29\/how-many-times-do-i-need-to-read-genesis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-29T17:20:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-11-11T02:03:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/pt.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"411\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"90\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Katharine E. 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