The Encouraging Thomist

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.      He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;      he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths     for his name’s sake.  Even though I walk through the darkest valley,     I fear no evil; for you are with me;     your rod and your staff—     they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me     in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil;     my cup overflows.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me     all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord     my whole life long. - Psalm 23, NRSV                         There is no easy way of describing the first year of seminary.       It was both fun and challenging....

All we like sheep have gone astray;     we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him     the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,     yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,     and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,     so he did not open his mouth. By a perversion of justice he was taken away.     Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living,     stricken for the transgression of my people. ~ Isaiah 53:6-8 NRSV When is the last time you had a rousing discussion about death? Death is a subject that is often not something one brings up in pleasant company. Its not exactly the "go-to" subject to start an everyday conversation. In fact, it is a subject that we like to encase in large concrete walls so that we do not have to look at it.  To confront death is to recognize...

When you first went to school (high school, college, or other), what was the first conversation you had?  What were the first questions that were asked of you? If you are like me, it is the same questions ANY student is inevitably asked. "Where are you from?" "What major are you?"  Perhaps the teacher's favorite ice breaker: "What is your favorite  ________?" Then you begin to stress out over whether your favorite _______ is as cool as everyone else's favorite _______ and then you wish you were somewhere else ( personal experience speaking right here ). In all these cases, questions are a good way to get the ball rolling and the ice broken in the conversation. However, when your major concentration is based within Christian studies and theology, like mine was, AND when you are attending a broadly Protestant university, there was also a third standard question: "What (Christian) denomination are you?" When I would happily ...