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September 28, 2008

God's Word spread at Scripture School

By Patrick Butler

CONTRIBUTOR

Over the past few decades, Catholics have taken up reading some important literature.

The Bible.

While Protestants have been reading the Bible since Luther, “until the Second Vatican Council there wasn’t that much interest on the part of Catholics. That’s changed quite a bit,” said Patrick Redington, interim director of the Chicago Catholic Scripture School that will be celebrating its 10th anniversary next year.

The CCSS offers in-depth Bible study at several locations throughout the archdiocese for anyone who’s interested and willing to make at least a two-year commitment, said Redington, previously a coordinator with the Office of Catechesis and Youth Ministry which runs the program.

The backgrounds of the 125 students enrolled at any given time are “very diverse, all ages. Everything from high school graduates to Ph.Ds. Even a priest,” he said, adding that Chicago’s is one of the few such courses offered by any diocese in the country.

Teachers include faculty from Chicago area Catholic universities and seminaries as well as other experts in theology or the Bible, Redington said.

The course’s first two years focus on methods of Biblical study and a survey of the major books of the Old and New Testaments. Students who fulfill the course requirements get a Certificate of Basic Biblical Studies from the archdiocese.

The remaining two years cover every other book of the Bible, and entitle those who finish this advanced program to a Four-Year Certificate of Biblical Studies.

After completing the basic course, 20 of last year’s graduates followed up with a six-evening mini-course on Biblical interpretation last spring at Mary Seat of Wisdom Church in Park Ridge.

Topics covered included Jewish, Greek, Medieval, Renaissance, Reformation and modern interpretations of scripture.

Also last March, 30 CCSS students spent two evenings examining the Gospel of John at the Carmelite Retreat Center in Darien. Among the speakers was Michael Cameron, CCSS’ original coordinator.

That same month, the Pentateuch (the five books of the Torah (or Jewish law) took on new meaning for 25 first-year students who attended Sabbath services at North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe. After the service, Rabbi Wendi Geffen showed students how to use a scroll, explained its decorative coverings, and described the work of a modern Jewish scriptural scribe.

The current debate over creationism versus intelligent design and evolution came into sharp focus during a CCSSsponsored talk by Pauline Viviano, an associate theology professor at Loyola University. Catholics, she explained, differ from some other Christians by not reading Genesis as scientific fact, but to spell out the correct relationship between man and God,using expressions that were common at the time the account was written.

While creationists deny the theory of evolution, the Catholic Church since the 1950s has increasingly accepted evolution while maintaining the God set the process in motion, Viviano told her 110 listeners.

At another special CCSS event, Franciscan Father Leslie Hoppe, a former professor at Catholic Theological Union, used the relatively new science of Biblical archeology to explain the culture of ancient Israel at Sacred Heart Parish in Palos Hills.

Archaeology, Hoppe explained, has moved from trying to prove or disprove the historical value of scripture to using “the garbage everyone leaves behind” to explain the society of that era.

CCSS also hosts special events open to the public such as a Saturday, Nov. 15, talk on the “Life and Letters of St. Paul” at Holy Family Church, Inverness, Il; and a follow-up Saturday, March 14, talk on “Paul the Apostle: Early Christian Community and Theology in First and Second Corinthians” at a to-be-announced location.

Since the first classes were held in 1999 at Dominican University, more than 90 students have completed the four-year program. Classes are held on weekdays and Saturdays at five locations throughout the archdiocese.

Tuition is $500 a year, with the first payment due by Sept. 15 and the second by Dec. 1. CCSS uses the Catholic Study Bible, the New American Bible Translation used in the liturgy. Students also use a Bible dictionary and atlas. Book costs can range from $50 to $100.

Questions? Call (312) 243-3700 or email [email protected].