A video of the 10 a.m. theology class from Sunday, December 10, is available. Subscribe to our theology playlist on YouTube.
Our Theologian in Residence, the Rev. Dr. Luigi Gioia, continues a year-long course to dive into all the main areas of theology: Faith, Scripture, Tradition, God, Christ, Salvation, the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, and the Church – always with an eye to their relevance for spirituality and for everyday life.
A saying I often heard in my youth as a monk is that “Saints are to be admired but not to be imitated”. Indeed, the way saints are usually portrayed emphasizes the heroic character of their dedication, the extraordinary character of their achievements and often the baffling extent of their self-denial. It must also be said that hagiography (the ways saints are represented in writings and figurative arts) has a tendency to hyperbole. From a theological viewpoint, holiness is not something to achieve but to welcome because only Christ is `the Holy One of God’ (Mk. 1.24) and, as Paul says, only him is “our sanctification” (1 Cor 1.30). To take an image from nature, flowers bloom to the extent that they remain exposed to the right amount of light. In the same way, holiness for us depends on how much we let ourselves to be forgiven, loved, and regenerated by the grace of God.
The Adult Education program at Saint Thomas Church offers sound Christian teaching presented with intellectual vigor, teaching that is grounded in Holy Scripture, mediated by the catholic tradition that is the inheritance of Anglicanism and set forth in the Book of Common Prayer. For more information about our theology program and to receive links for weekly Sunday Theology Talks, please contact Fr. Gioia.
