Thursday, September 27, 2007
Week 1 Homework
Reading Assignment:
Read Chapter 1 of Theology and Sanity, “Religion and the Mind”—pp. 21-30.
Questions:
These questions are meant to help you understand the reading. Writing down your answers is a good way to find out if you really understand something. Some of the questions will be more challenging than others.
1. What is does Sheed say his concern is in this book?
2. What are the two faculties of the soul? What is the work of each?
3. Which of the two faculties matters more?
4. What, according to Sheed, does it mean to have a Catholic will and a Catholic intellect?
5. What follows logically from the fact that we are made from nothing? (p. 23)
6. Define “rigidity”. (p.24)
7. How is seeing God everywhere a matter of sanity?
8. What was the point of Sheed’s example of the human eye on page 26?
9. Explain Sheed’s fire analogy on page 29.
10. What is one practical consequence of seeing as the Church sees?
Reflection Questions
1. On page 22 Sheed says, “[W]e have not so much Catholic minds as worldly minds with Catholic patches.” Do you agree with this statement?
2. On page 28 Sheed says, “Many…find the use of the intellect in religion actually repellant…” What has been your attitude towards the use of the intellect in religion?
Read Chapter 1 of Theology and Sanity, “Religion and the Mind”—pp. 21-30.
Questions:
These questions are meant to help you understand the reading. Writing down your answers is a good way to find out if you really understand something. Some of the questions will be more challenging than others.
1. What is does Sheed say his concern is in this book?
2. What are the two faculties of the soul? What is the work of each?
3. Which of the two faculties matters more?
4. What, according to Sheed, does it mean to have a Catholic will and a Catholic intellect?
5. What follows logically from the fact that we are made from nothing? (p. 23)
6. Define “rigidity”. (p.24)
7. How is seeing God everywhere a matter of sanity?
8. What was the point of Sheed’s example of the human eye on page 26?
9. Explain Sheed’s fire analogy on page 29.
10. What is one practical consequence of seeing as the Church sees?
Reflection Questions
1. On page 22 Sheed says, “[W]e have not so much Catholic minds as worldly minds with Catholic patches.” Do you agree with this statement?
2. On page 28 Sheed says, “Many…find the use of the intellect in religion actually repellant…” What has been your attitude towards the use of the intellect in religion?
Worldviews and Amateur Theologians
Everyone has a worldview, that is, a philosophy. There's no escaping this. Even if you are resolved to not think philosophically, that is a philosophy.
Some people see the world only in terms of money--everyone is involved in a class struggle: rich vs. poor; haves vs. have-nots; the common man vs. The Man. Others see the world in terms of evolutionary struggle (Darwinism), sex (Freud), or physical matter (materialists). The Church denies the fatalism of these views and affirms Man's freedom. What's more, the Church affirms the Common Man's ability to know and make sense of the world around him. She affirms our ability to develop an accurate and sane worldview.
This is good news for you and me.
Last Monday I related something that happened the other day at the bookstore. A lady from our class asked me if she'd be able to understand the book we're using in class, Theology and Sanity. I said, "yes", but she remained a little skeptical.
Did I mean by this that I was a fraud? No. I simply meant that I'm not a professional theologian--someone who studies Theology for a living. I am an amateur--one who studies Theology out of loving.
Karl Barth, a famous Protestant theologian, once said, "The Word became flesh and, through theologians, it became words again." Sadly, many of us can attest to the truth of that statement. Or, at least we can agree that a lot of our religious training has felt more like curling up with a dictionary than going for a walk with a friend. But, just because so many professional theologians have complicated things, there's no reason to dismiss Theology as a useless subject, a field of inquiry for elitists and snobs. On the contrary, our Church has an illustrious history of amateur theologians.
From St. Peter (a Galilean fisherman) to St. John Vianney (a notoriously bad student) to G.K. Chesterton to Mother Theresa, the Church is full of people who loved God without PhDs and who sought to know Him to the best of their abilities. We can all do this. We can all strive to know God better and to see reality from his perspective.
Frank Sheed asserts that a Catholic worldview is the only sane worldview. Why? Because it sees the world the way it really is. The Catholic Church has confidence that all of us can do this.
As amateur theologians in this Monday School class, this is ultimately what we're after--to know God and understand the world He gave us.
Some people see the world only in terms of money--everyone is involved in a class struggle: rich vs. poor; haves vs. have-nots; the common man vs. The Man. Others see the world in terms of evolutionary struggle (Darwinism), sex (Freud), or physical matter (materialists). The Church denies the fatalism of these views and affirms Man's freedom. What's more, the Church affirms the Common Man's ability to know and make sense of the world around him. She affirms our ability to develop an accurate and sane worldview.
This is good news for you and me.
Last Monday I related something that happened the other day at the bookstore. A lady from our class asked me if she'd be able to understand the book we're using in class, Theology and Sanity. I said, "yes", but she remained a little skeptical.
"Well, you're a real theologian."
"No," I replied, "I'm a fake theologian."
Did I mean by this that I was a fraud? No. I simply meant that I'm not a professional theologian--someone who studies Theology for a living. I am an amateur--one who studies Theology out of loving.
Karl Barth, a famous Protestant theologian, once said, "The Word became flesh and, through theologians, it became words again." Sadly, many of us can attest to the truth of that statement. Or, at least we can agree that a lot of our religious training has felt more like curling up with a dictionary than going for a walk with a friend. But, just because so many professional theologians have complicated things, there's no reason to dismiss Theology as a useless subject, a field of inquiry for elitists and snobs. On the contrary, our Church has an illustrious history of amateur theologians.
From St. Peter (a Galilean fisherman) to St. John Vianney (a notoriously bad student) to G.K. Chesterton to Mother Theresa, the Church is full of people who loved God without PhDs and who sought to know Him to the best of their abilities. We can all do this. We can all strive to know God better and to see reality from his perspective.
Frank Sheed asserts that a Catholic worldview is the only sane worldview. Why? Because it sees the world the way it really is. The Catholic Church has confidence that all of us can do this.
As amateur theologians in this Monday School class, this is ultimately what we're after--to know God and understand the world He gave us.
What is Monday School?
Monday School is a “Theology for Beginners” course.
Many of us stopped actively learning about our faith when we finished our childhood Sunday School classes. So, while our knowledge of secular subjects has grown and matured throughout our lives, our knowledge of Church teaching is often very elementary. Monday School is a remedy for this. It is what should have come after Sunday School but didn’t.
Even though we will look at Scripture, pray for each other, and learn how to give reasons for our faith, this class is not a Bible study, a prayer meeting, or an apologetics class. In the Scripture passage quoted in this blog's header, St. Paul speaks of giving up childish ways once he became a man. That’s what Monday School is all about: how to think and act like a grown-up Catholic.
Many of us stopped actively learning about our faith when we finished our childhood Sunday School classes. So, while our knowledge of secular subjects has grown and matured throughout our lives, our knowledge of Church teaching is often very elementary. Monday School is a remedy for this. It is what should have come after Sunday School but didn’t.
Even though we will look at Scripture, pray for each other, and learn how to give reasons for our faith, this class is not a Bible study, a prayer meeting, or an apologetics class. In the Scripture passage quoted in this blog's header, St. Paul speaks of giving up childish ways once he became a man. That’s what Monday School is all about: how to think and act like a grown-up Catholic.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Monday School is Underway!
We had our first meeting last night and I was pleased to see so many faces. This blog will be updated regularly throughout the course of the class, so come back often!
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