Dr. R. R. Reno: New Editor at First Things

I subscribe to far too many magazines and journals, but if I were forced to drop them all but one, First Things would be the one I'd keep.

The news this past week is that R. R. Reno, theologian and prolific writer, has been named the new editor of this, my favorite journal; and I can't think of anyone more qualified. A professor of theology at Creighton University (I believe he is currently on a leave of absence) and a fairly recent convert to Catholicism, Dr. Reno has written a number of books that occupy honored places on my bookshelves. He is a gifted scriptural scholar and writer, and I especially enjoyed his Commentary on Genesis, a volume in the new Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible. As general editor of the entire series, Dr. Reno is the guiding force behind the production of this wonderful guide to the theological interpretation of Holy Scripture. I only hope his new responsibilities will not have too negative an impact on his literary output.

By the way, if you don't read First Things, it you should. They also have an excellent website. To read more on Dr. Reno's selection as editor, check out the links I've provided below:

• Trustworthy Guides
• Read all about it 

...and if you'd like to read a sampling of his writings, visit this page with links to his articles published in First Things:

• R. R. Reno Articles

May the Spirit of knowledge, the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of love guide him as he takes on this challenging work. Pax et bonum...

Theological Interpretation of Scripture

Back in 2003, two scriptural scholars, Ellen F. Davis and Richard B. Hays, edited a most interesting book entitled, The Art of Reading Scripture (Eerdmans). The book was the product of 15 scholars who contributed to what was called The Scripture Project, an attempt to restore and renew a theological approach to scriptural exegesis. One result of the project were these nine theses:

1. Scripture truthfully tells the story of God’s action of creating, judging, and saving the world.
2. Scripture is rightly understood in light of the church’s rule of faith as a coherent dramatic narrative.
3. Faithful interpretation of Scripture requires an engagement with the entire narrative: the New Testament cannot be rightly understood apart from the Old, nor can the Old be rightly understood apart from the New.
4. Texts of Scripture do not have a single meaning limited to the intent of the original author. In accord with Jewish and Christian traditions, we affirm that Scripture has multiple complex senses given by God, the author of the whole drama.
5. The four canonical Gospels narrate the truth about Jesus.
6. Faithful interpretation of Scripture invites and presupposes participation in the community brought into being by God’s redemptive action–the church.
7. The saints of the church provide guidance in how to interpret and perform Scripture.
8. Christians need to read the Bible in dialogue with diverse others outside the church.
9. We live in the tension between the “already” and the “not yet” of the kingdom of God; consequently Scripture calls the church to ongoing discernment, to continually fresh rereadings of the text in light of the Holy Spirit’s ongoing work in the world.

As you can see by the above, these scholars are by no means slaves to the historical-critical method that has almost monopolized scriptural scholarship since the 19th century. Interestingly, these scholars, who come from a variety of Evangelical backgrounds, seem to reflect the teachings we encounter in Dei Verbum, Vatican II's Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation. The Council Fathers, while affirming the value of historical-critical interpretation, also realized that, by itself, such an approach often leads to serious error. Pope Benedict XVI has addressed this dangerous tendency on numerous occasions; for example...

"...Scripture has become a word from the past that each person tries in his own way to bring into the present day; without being altogether able to trust the raft he is using for the purpose. Faith declines into a kind of philosophy of life, which each individual attempts to distill for himself from the Bible as well as he is able. Dogma, from which the ground of Scripture has been pulled away, no longer stands. The Bible that has freed itself from dogma has become a document about the past and, thereby, itself belongs to the past." [Joseph Ratzinger, God's Word: Scripture - Tradition - Office (2005), p. 98-99]

And so, for too many today, total reliance on this approach has turned the Bible almost into an historical artifact, no different from any other ancient document. Recognizing this danger the Council Fathers insisted that scriptural interpretation must also be theological if we are to understand the text as God's people. Once again, Pope Benedict XVI offers a clear solution:

"Perhaps the problems of current attempts can help us to understand again that faith is in fact the spirit from which the Scriptures were born and, hence, the only door by which we may enter into them." [Joseph Ratzinger, God's Word: Scripture - Tradition - Office (2005), p.126]

What a novel concept! Approaching Scripture theologically, from faith! And, apparently, it's a concept that thankfully seems to be catching on. A few months ago I devoted a brief post to some of my favorite scriptural commentaries. Among them was R. R. Reno's wonderful commentary on Genesis published by Brazos Press. Professor Reno's volume is just one in a still incomplete series that offers a theological, rather than a purely historical-critical, commentary on scripture. I can't recommend this series highly enough. 

And then there's a book that I am currently reading: Holy People, Holy Land. Also published by Brazos Press, its authors are Michael Dauphinais and Matthew Levering, two theologians who teach at Ave Maria University right here in Florida. The book provides a well-written and compact theological introduction to Scripture. Indeed, it's subtitle is just that: "A Theological Introduction to the Bible." I'm about half-way through and already intend to recommend it to those who participate in my two parish Bible Study groups.

Reading and understanding Scripture isn't easy; rather, for most Christians it becomes the work of a lifetime. But it's a task that can be eased considerably by good commentaries that help us understand, experience, and live the holiness and joy that God wants for us. 

God's peace...

Interesting News

Here are some interesting items I stumbled across while checking a few news sites.

Quote of the Day: 

"It's impossible to consider oneself a Catholic if that person in one way or another recognizes same-sex marriage as a right." -- Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, Archbishop of Bologna (click here for more info)

Washington Archdiocese Ends Foster Care Program. The Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. has brought an end to its foster care program after 80 years. The reason? It refuses to license same-sex couples as foster parents. The decision is a direct result of the District's recent move to legalize "same-sex marriage," something that should become law as soon as Congress gives its approval. Three cheers for the Archdiocese. And, sadly, this is just a sign of things to come, as First Amendment rights as tossed aside in favor of politically correct social engineering. Let's pray that all our bishops have as much intestinal fortitude as Archbishop Donald Wuerl (photo above). They will need it.

Give Up Texting For Lent? Already Have. The Telegraph (UK) reports that the Catholic Church in Italy has launched a campaign encouraging Italians to give up texting for Lent. The idea, according to Monsignor Benito Cocchi, the bishop of Modena, is that young people, by renouncing SMS texting, could "detox from the virtual world and get back in touch with themselves." Probably not a bad idea. And so I have decided to join the campaign. Of course, the fact that I've never sent a text message in my life will probably make this a rather small sacrifice.

Reinvigorating Catholic Schools in Boston. Margery Eagen, a long-time columnist for the Boston Herald, writes an interesting column on an apparently successful plan to get the business community behind the support and restoration of Catholic education in the Boston Archdiocese. Cardinal Sean O'Malley's Campaign for Catholic Schools has already raised $50 million and transformed a number of schools, including Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy in Dorchester, the school Eagan highlights in her column. Three cheers for Cardinal Sean (photo above).

Australian Forward in Faith Anglicans to Join Catholic Church. As a direct result of Pope Benedict XVI's invitation to Anglican's to enter full communion with the Catholic Church, this Australian group of Anglicans have decided to do just that. Indeed, their vote to do so was unanimous. The group includes 15-20 Australian Anglican parishes that hold traditional views. 

They will enter the Catholic Church under the process set forth in the Apostolic Constitution, Anglicanorum Coetibus. By doing so they will be able to maintain much of their Anglican liturgy and traditions. In the words of Bishop Peter Elliott (see photo at left), a former Anglican who is now a Catholic Auxiliary Bishop in Melbourne, "As Catholics in full communion with the Successor of St Peter, you will be gathered in distinctive communities that preserve elements of Anglican worship, spirituality and culture that are compatible with Catholic faith and morals...In some ways, the Ordinariate will even be similar to a Rite (the Eastern Catholic Churches). You will enjoy your own liturgical “use” as Catholics of the Roman Rite. At the same time your Ordinaries, bishops or priests, will work alongside diocesan bishops of the Roman Rite and find their place within the Episcopal Conference in each nation or region."

 

I expect Forward in Faith will be followed by many more similar Anglican groups throughout the world. A small, first step toward the Christian unity desired by Jesus Christ.

R. R. Reno Interviews. A theologian whose writings have done much to educate me on a variety of topics is Dr. R. R. Reno, an associate professor of theology at Creighton University. I just discovered that some of his lectures on theology and apologetics are available online at the website of Catholic radio station  KVSS in Omaha. Included are a number of excellent interviews in which Dr. Reno discusses faith and reason in the lives and writings of such luminaries as St. Thomas Aquinas, Cardinal Newman, G. K. Chesterton, and St. Bonaventure. Take the time to listen to them. You can even download them and pop them on your iPod or similar device.

That's enough....I have to prepare a talk for a Lenten mission beginning tomorrow at our parish.

God's peace...

Early Morning Thoughts and Coincidences

I awoke early this morning, a little after 5 a.m. But that's not unusual. I tend to be an early riser. But lately I've been experiencing something unusual, at least for me. I can describe it only by saying I seem to be awakened by my thoughts. That's right, my tired, old brain seems to be kicking in while I'm still asleep and it's those first early morning thoughts that awaken me. For all I know this may be how everyone else in the world wakes up, but for me...well it's a bit weird. And I'm having a little trouble coping with the effects.

Previously, I would awake as if from a coma. I could barely put one foot in front of the other until I'd downed that first cup of morning coffee. The daily routine rarely changed. I'd throw on my bathrobe and try to exit the bedroom without waking Diane, stumble into the kitchen where I'd turn on the coffeemaker, make my way to the front door, walk out to the driveway and pick up the newspaper, then wander back to my big, overstuffed chair in the living room. There I would sit, newspaper in my lap, and await the miracle of fresh Seattle's Best French Roast. This entire process wasn't particularly challenging. It might have called on a percent or two of my few remaining brain cells.

But no longer. For the past year or so I've been waking up...well, awake!When those eyelids click open and I focus on the red digits of the alarm clock, I'm already in the middle of some usually pretty interesting thought.

At 5:14 this morning, for example, I awoke to find my brain already occupied with thoughts of our mainline Protestant friends and the crises plaguing so many of their churches. I assume these pre-conscious thoughts arose out of a conversation I had just a few days ago with a friend who was bemoaning the direction his church was taking. A member of a local ELCA Lutheran church, he was extremely upset over the church's recent decisions that seemed to support and encourage homosexuality. And he's no exception. Over the past year or so, I have had similar conversations with Episcopalians and Methodists on a variety of issues, both moral and theological. One Methodist jokingly said to me, "You guys, at least, seem to be holding your own against the onslaught. If it weren't for the pope, I'd probably become a Catholic." All I could think to say in response was, "It's only because we have a pope that we're able to hold our own." I probably should have stopped there and just let that thought germinate. But instead I launched into a monologue on the Church's teaching authority that caused his eyes to glaze over. I sometimes have a tendency to overkill.

Anyway, the coincidence occurred as a sipped my second cup of coffee, turned on the netbook, and inadvertently clicked on the wrong bookmark. Instead of checking the latest news out of the Middle East, I clicked on a link to "On the Square" a sort-of blog published by First Things. There, staring back at me, was an article by R. R. Reno on "The Agony of Mainline Protestantism". One can always count on Reno, who teaches theology at Creighton University, to write something interesting and thoughtful, and this article is no exception. I recommend it.

Can't wait to discover what I awake to tomorrow.

God's peace...