It’s always good policy, I suppose, to start with a disclaimer. So here goes: I’m technically a theologian “in training” and not a full theologian with letters sprawling after my name…yet! How far into my training am I? Er…let’s just say not that far. But I am fortunate enough to be studying at a very sound institution, the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology up in Berkeley. Don’t be put off by the namesake association: they are sound, as in, faithful to the Church in terms of what most of the professors teach. But since it is affiliated with the Graduate Theological Union at UCBerkeley, and the GTU faculty nearly all seemed to have become tenured during the late seventies and eighties, there are always some blatantly obvious exceptions to this.
I consider myself fortunate this semester to be taking a course in Theological Anthropology from an extremely knowledgeable Dominican priest. Oh, Dominican Order…dear, dear Order of Preachers, how they make my day! They turn me into the nerdy sort of Catholic who can’t get enough of school! At this point in my life, I don’t think I would or could study with any other religious if given the choice.
And so even though I do not yet have the full qualifications of a Master in Theology I hope that those who read this blog will allow me some theological musings interspersed with various laundry metaphors and analogies aware that, indeed, I do know some things already and am learning even more at the moment. Plus, anyone familiar with the Dominicans know that studying with them is a bit like diving off of a high cliff into such a vast ocean of theological knowledge that it's nearly overwhelming. Beginner or not, you are forced to swim with the most knowledgeable of them. Sitting In class you just hope they toss you a St. Thomas Aquinas life jacket* at some point. (*this is where you get a very knowledgeable, trustworthy Dominican to just tell you what St. Thomas taught, saving you the trouble of looking anything up).
Still I love studying at a place where when the instructor asks, “Who has this (relevent Church document being discussed at the moment) in the original Latin?", half of the students (mostly Dominican brothers) say “Aye!”, they proudly produce their translations, we read it, and then everyone goes, “Ah!”... In other words, there is truth, and we’ve just found it.
I’ve never been this excited about learning in my life.
So as you can see, I stay home, do laundry, and I study theology in my spare time…which occurs between the hours of 9pm-11pm at night. So when do I have time to blog? Naptimes and only the times I don’t need the nap myself. Or probably when I should be folding the laundry.
