Following Staples’ address Bishop Loverde offered Mass and delivered the homily, which was then followed by a lunch. Beginning the afternoon session, Christendom College Professor of Theology Eric Jen-
islawski spoke on the challenges facing modern Biblical interpretation. “Modern methods of interpretation often yield results that either cannot be reconciled to the Catholic faith or are spiritually sterile, not so much heterodox, but useless for preaching, spiritual meditation, or theology,” he said. “Biblical studies today could be described as ‘Christianity as reconstructed by a post-Christian generation of archaeologists.’” Jenislawski proposed that St. Paul can help put things back together again. “If we want to overcome today’s crisis in Biblical interpretation we must renew ourselves in our Catholic tradition of Biblical interpretation and the foundation of that tradition is the writings of St. Paul,” he said. “If we want to rejuvenate Biblical studies we need to make Biblical studies more Pauline.”
Christendom Theology professor Eric Jenislawski delved deep into the topic of Biblical interpretation.
In the next talk, Sebastian Carnazzo, a professor of theology at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary, explained that it was essential to read the Acts of the Apostles in order to understand the epistles of St. Paul. “Acts tells you the story behind the Pauline epistles,” he said. “If you want to understand the epistle to the Romans, you have to understand the history of the Church in Rome. You have to understand that he is writing from Corinth. You have to understand what happened to him on that journey.”
Sebastian Carnazzo gave some insights into St. Paul as seen through the Acts of the Apostles.
Convert and author of many books, including By What Authority?: An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Tradition, Mark Shea brought the conference to a close examining St. Paul and his influence on evangelization and apologetics. “When it comes to evangelism there is one commandment of Christ that all Christians are ready and eager to obey: Mark 1:44, ‘Go and tell no one,’” Shea quipped. Shea explained that there are two popular schools of evangelizing: one which tells you to shout on the street corner, and the other that says, simply live your faith, also known as lifestyle evangelizing. Shea proposed that you had to do both.
Convert and author Mark Shea talked about St. Paul’s influence on evangelization.
“The faith never asks us to make a choice between incarnating the Faith and talking about the Faith. St. Paul never saw a difference be-
tween living the Faith and talking about the Faith and we shouldn’t either,” he said. “We live in a culture that is so post-protestant that the Gospel really is news again.” Shea petitioned all to imitate Paul in his missionary fervor. “Paul was successful because he did what he was commissioned to do, and God does not command us to do something and then not give us the power to do it.” All of the above talks can be ordered by contacting National Media Services at 540-6354181 or downloaded for free from Christendom on iTunesU.
Hear Exciting Talks at iTunes U Website
Christendom digitally records many of the lectures that take place throughout the year and uploads them to its iTunes site where anyone interested may download the various talks or music for free. Currently, people may hear lectures from Dr. Timothy O’Donnell, Fr. James Schall, Dr. Warren Carroll, Francis Cardinal Arinze, Tim Staples, Dr. Scott Hahn, all of the talks from Christendom’s last four Summer Institutes, as well as all of the tracks from the Christendom choir’s four CDs – all for free! Go to www.christendom.edu/itunes_u.shtml to listen to these faith-filled, educational talks and inspiring musical offerings.
INSTAURARE
Published quarterly by the Christendom College Admissions & Marketing Office. Managing Editor: Tom McFadden Contributing Editor: Niall O’Donnell Copy Editor: Maria O’Brien Christendom College 134 Christendom Drive, Front Royal, VA 22630 800.877.5456 ~ www.christendom.edu Copyright © 2009. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided the following credit line is used: “Reprinted by permission from INSTAURARE, the quarterly magazine of Christendom College (www.christendom.edu).” SUBSCRIPTION FREE UPON REQUEST.
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