Open letter to the Verbum powers that be

MJ. Smith
MJ. Smith Member, MVP Posts: 53,042 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited November 20 in Resources Forum

I am pleased with the success of Verbum in seminaries -- a good way to build a financial base. However, I am not pleased that more hasn't been done to give Verbum a Catholic flavor. The small things are still overwhelming evangelical in terminology and perspective. We have been told for several years, "yea, yes, we agree, it's coming" .... and what we have seen is zip, nada, nothing.

Here are some things, not for the seminarian, that would help give a Catholic flavor - just the top few to nudge you along and to remind you it's not always the big things:

  1. A distinctly Catholic Bible reading plan such as the two years of scripture readings for the Office of Readings from the Christian Prayer volume
  2. The Lenten reading plan for St. John Climacus
  3. Reading plans for the Catechism including one tied to the liturgical year
  4. A Catholic books of lists for the new Factbook: 7 deadly sins, gifts of the spirit, last words on the cross, sorrow of Mary, stations of the cross ....
  5. More workflows for scriptural prayer Methods of Praying with the Scriptures (catholic-resources.org) includes: Ignatian, Taize, Centering, Lectio Divina, Biblical meditation (rational)
  6. Workflows based on traditional Catholic (4 senses, typology) and Jewish methods as encouraged in Williamson, Peter. Catholic Principles for Interpreting Scripture: A Study of the Pontifical Biblical Commission’s The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church. Vol. 22. Subsidia Biblica. Roma: Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 2001. ... as many of the 16 or so methods included should have workflows
  7. Workflow based on multiple passages ... at a minimum the comparison of parallel passages as a first step
  8. Okay, this is a biggy but the alignment of the Vulgate to the Hebrew/LXX/Greek NT as appropriate [Think of Tov as example]
  9. A mapping of the Lexham Systematic Theology terminology to Catholic/Orthodox terminology so one doesn't struggle to find topics.
  10. Finally --- I shouldn't have the only word -- this is for others to supply.

Note a few of these e.g. the Catholic Book of Lists could likely be crowd sourced in this forum.

Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

Tagged:

Comments

  • David Wanat
    David Wanat Member Posts: 1,826 ✭✭✭

    👍👍

    WIN 11 i7 9750H, RTX 2060, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD | iPad Air 3
    Verbum Max

  • Kevin S. Coy, OFS
    Kevin S. Coy, OFS Member Posts: 309 ✭✭

    This is good stuff MJ.  

    I will try to find some things that might be added to the list.

    Thanks,

    KSC

    “Let us begin, brothers, to serve the Lord God, for up until now we have done little or nothing.”  St. Francis of Assisi

  • DMB
    DMB Member Posts: 3,087

    8. Okay, this is a biggy but the alignment of the Vulgate to the Hebrew/LXX/Greek NT as appropriate

    Nice list.

    But I'm not sure what you mean by alignment. Rick ran the latin against the hebrew (OT), and greek (duo/NT), to include BWS and even latin roots. Granted, the inline display doesn't include sense, without the bottom ribbon.

    From threads last week, it would be nice if they'd aligned latin to the LXX as you mention, instead of just hebrew. As much as Jerome tried to use hebrew, the latin fathers were often working off the greek.

  • SineNomine
    SineNomine Member Posts: 7,043

    The elements that I would most like to see are the ones that I think would be most often used, which are 3 and 4.

    “The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith Member, MVP Posts: 53,042 ✭✭✭✭✭
    https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1156372#Comment_1156372

    But I'm not sure what you mean by alignment. Rick ran the latin against the hebrew (OT), and greek (duo/NT), to include BWS and even latin roots. Granted, the inline display doesn't include sense, without the bottom ribbon.

    Thanks for making me clarify -- I was thinking along the lines of Tov rather than an interlinear. I would have liked to include the Peshitta to complete the project but I had to allow for some realism.

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • Fr Devin Roza
    Fr Devin Roza Member, MVP Posts: 2,409
    https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1156469#Comment_1156469

    This is a great list, MJ, not just as punctual items, but also as examples of the types of projects that the Verbum team should be constantly pushing for! Thanks for putting this together! [Y]

  • Donald Antenen (Logos)
    Donald Antenen (Logos) Member, Logos Employee Posts: 405
    https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1156519#Comment_1156519

    It is a great list. Thanks, MJ.

  • Angela Schira
    Angela Schira Member Posts: 14 ✭✭

    Nice list!  I would also love to have an interactive rosary tool.

  • Bede
    Bede Member Posts: 44

    That's a good list, MJ. I'd particularly appreciate 4-6 and 9.

Categories