Spirituality

Over the past two years, through moments of deep reflection I have come to appreciate the reality that the journey of the seminarian is replete with the necessary work of deconstructing and reconstructing formative behaviors, thoughts, and theological ideologies. Through plenaries, readings, discussions, research, and practice, seminarians are provided the critical tools to help sharpen awareness, inspire passion, bring clarity with regard to the specificity of ones call, and finally, enhance…

There is indication that belief does not have to be verifiable. There are some ideas that religion may not be accurate, however that is how someone applies their faith into practice. It is believed that belief depends on the specific individual. For example, belief can be applied through personal experience of how God has been faithful in their life or others’ life. In the article, “The Lost Legacy of Anselm's Argument: Re-Thinking the Purpose of Proofs for the Existence of God” explains about…

A spiritual experience is an event or moment that defines or changes a person and is usually experienced within the context of the person’s faith or belief in something. There is no set place or time for a religious experience, it can be in public or private, some are even when the person isn’t even awake. Gini Brumble had her spiritual experience over the course of a year, Jaken Bautista’s was during an afternoon nap, and my own spanned about nine months. Each of these experiences showed us…

The rubber meets the road when it comes to observing our spiritual disciplines. Do we genuinely believe the truth of the Holy Scriptures? Do we faithfully desire to obey Jesus? Will any of this make a difference? Undoubtedly, some form of these questions arises to our mind when engaging with spiritual disciplines. For me, this has been an area for me to humbly cry as the loving father in Mark 9:24 cries out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” Personally, I strive to take II Peter 1:5-7 seriously and…

Prompt 1 (A): The human experience and theology interreact to create our understanding of religion while helping us to make sense of the world around us. From people’s experiences, they develop different interpretations of religion and different ways they feel it should be studied and reflected upon. Gustavo Gutierrez and Soren Kierkegaard, although differing in their approach to understanding, maintain the same purpose in reflecting upon the study of theology— to develop a connection between…

The poem “The Thought-Fox” is written by Ted Hughes’ in 1957. The poem exists out of descriptive and figurative language; this language is used to emphasize the intrinsic and complex relationship between a poet and the poet literary creations. The poem is a six-stanza poem that is all quatrains, with one or two full end rhymes. The poet carefully used different punctuation and enjambment to the rhythms of the fox as it moves onto the page come through. The poem deals with 6 stanzas and 4…

Every piece of writing has its own genre. The purpose, audience, topic, and other factors all contribute to which conventions the author will use in order to convey the genre or message. For example, if the author is trying to persuade his audience to believe in let’s say, his religion, he might use a personal experience that changed his life to explain why they should consider believing in his religion. In Jonathan Foer’s personal essay ‘Against Meat’, he uses personal anecdotes and a nostalgic…

Religion has existed since the beginnings of humanity. People have always yearned for a divine being that is both distant and familiar to the common man. While religion stems from the spiritual teachings of a religious leader, it can also be defined merely as an outlet or activity pursued with keenness and dedication. Much like music, art, and dance, which is open to interpretation, religion allows people to escape reality. However, because of the ideas and beliefs that religion entails, it is…

When I first heard other people sharing from a top table or the body of the hall about their spiritual awakening, I didn’t believe them. I wanted to quiz them on it so that I could catch them out. I thought they were just repeating parrot fashion what they had heard other people sharing so that they would appear clever. Then I heard a woman sharing about hers who previously I had met, chatted to a wee bit and heard sharing from the body of the hall about how she was struggling to stay sober and…

If I could describe myself in one word, I have to choose the word, “energetic”. Experiencing ADHD contributes greatly towards my liveliness and how I think. This year I have discovered to appriciate my ADHD because God gave it to me for a reason. Before I accepted it, I tried to suppress the eccentricities that came with my mental drive. This led to anxiety along with other issues such as not being able to make friends or do well in school. During what felt like the most agonizing parts of my…