Dear friends in Christ,
Today, Father Daniels and I have the 2nd session in our series on The Mystery of Reading Scripture. Last week’s classes were full of people and questions — and I expect we’ll continue to have much of both, for these are deep and interesting topics. Today’s question is the question of typology. When a New Testament writer says, for instance, that Hosea was talking about Jesus when he said, “Out of Egypt have I called my son,” isn’t that problematic? When we’re studying Hosea, should the aim of our study be to understand the text in its original context? … But, Leithart argues, there is nothing more natural than reading texts the way the apostolic writers did. We’ll look at some of his arguments for “the text is an event” and try to learn from the Bible what is going on when we read (indeed, when we read anything). The class is at 10 o’clock on the 5th floor, where you’ll find not only people and questions but also coffee and tea.
For those who cannot make the class on Sunday, and for those who work in the area, I will repeat it on Monday at 12:40pm on the 2nd floor.
Looking a bit ahead: Romeo and Juliet will be the first tragedy to be discussed in our upcoming series on Shakespeare. For several years, I’ve had more or less monthly seminar discussions, which we call “Good Books & Good Talk.” They last for 90 minutes each. These are real seminars (i.e., they aren’t lectures), in which I ask an opening question and the conversation goes from there. Anyone who reads the play is welcome to the conversation, which will be on Monday, June 1, at 6:15pm.
Blessings in this Ascensiontide! We are in an in-between time, a time of sadness in a way (although not in any deep sense of sadness): our Lord has returned to heaven and we await, liturgically, the coming of the Spirit in eight more days. There are (as our preacher suggested Thursday) three in-between times. The first was between the crucifixion and Easter Day, a time of true sorrow. There is the Ascension-to-Pentecost time, a time of separation (traditionally noted by having a separate Ascensiontide season). And there is the in-between time of our own lives, between Jesus’ Ascension and his return in glory at the end of all things.
Blessings to you, fellow pilgrims of the in-between times!
Father Austin
