Among those with whom I talked in Chelsea yesterday was a very agreeable chap called Fr Hemer, who teaches Old Testament. Perhaps I was over-mellowed by the excellence of the food and wine, but I found myself thinking that there would be worse things to do than listening to a Refresher Course from him. Though why I say "Refresher" I can't think. At least in my time, we Anglican seminarians were quite appallingly taught about the Bible; a load of improbable bilge about source criticism and pseudonymity and God only knows what. I never believed a word of it. Dogmatic Theology and Moral Theology and Church History, it would be a waste of time to revisit. But the Bible ... and, I have to admit, Canon Law ... well, that would fill some gaps.
To summarise, then: the prospect of free food at Allen Hall, combined with some intellectual stimulation ... would be very tempting.
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4 comments:
Well worth it! Fr. John lectured at Oscott on the Permanent Diaconate Course. I would recommend a refresher!
Old Testament? Do you mean books like the four Kings, Paralipomenon, Esdras, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom and the MacHabees? I'd do that for a free lunch too; and did you say wine?
Pardon my ignorance, Father, but what is pseudonymity?
Pseudonymity is the theory that the books of the New Testament were written, not by the person whose name is associated with them, but by someone else or some other group. "The Johannine community" versus simply St. John.
http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article_nt_gempf.html
It goes hand-in-hand with the theory of a later (2nd century) gospel. It is also related to various theories that say the NT does not depict actual events, especially in John's Gospel.
In short, "improbable bilge".
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