I figured Third Isaiah, Haggai, Malachi, Joel, Daniel. I didn't know enough to place Zechariah with them (Ezra 5); my short list was a "good start."
There was the typical dance of "Does the bookstore have the required text?" / "We received the book-list too late to stock it." But now as president, he's permission to bring copies for sale? It always seemed ironic to me that a NJ publishing house couldn't get their books in the campus bookstore. And except for the bother of carrying a box-load from car to class, it's the sensible solution. Besides, I appreciate the 30% discount!
He said had this book been available two years ago, he would have used it instead of Miller. Or, rather, he couldn't use Miller for this class because Miller doesn't cover the post-exilic prophets. In fact, not much attention is given to the post-exilic prophets and it's surprising to him because their theology was influential upon St. Paul, is closest to ours and modern Judaism: interior conversion is more important than exterior ritual. But, then, we get it, mediated through Paul's Letters, it seems to me.
There was the obligatory chiding to those without Bibles, less harsh than in years past. I had an extra that I shared with a lady on retreat at the college, obviously unprepared as she simply, curious, wandered in after dinner. I hope she returns again tonight ... with her reading glasses. I helped her find the books we were discussing, not only because she hadn't her glasses but also because the NAB study Bible is so top-heavy with front-matter - the sacred text doesn't appear until better than halfway through! Any reasonable student of the Bible would figure they'd be well into the Psalms by then. No, not with our study Bible.
The lady on the other side of me was uncomfortable in her own skin, shaking our table as she lounged from elbow to elbow, sighing heavily, adjusting her glasses every second. I hope she sits somewhere else tomorrow night. Fr. Boadt recognized me from previous classes but, honestly, I think he has me confused with someone else. Yet, he noted my name as Mary Ann read attendance and called me by name a couple of times and told everyone that we'd had a couple of classes together.
During a break, a lady said privately to me, "You must be impressed with him to have taken so many of his classes" and I almost choked on the Twizzler I was eating, as if my estimation of him adds anything to his renown. I could have told her more, that I drove 60 miles to be here, leaving behind four young kids with a babysitter at $20 / hour, but I didn't want to jinx it. She confessed to being "into" St. Paul at the moment, a good year to be "into" him, and I told her that even though Fr. Boadt's specialty is the Prophets, he's a Paulist Father, so he has a warmth for the Apostle. "If he ever gets 'round to talking about St. Paul, you'll see how devoted he is to him."
It could be he breaks the prophets out by period so that he can talk about Isaiah each time. Catholics at a class on prophets expect to read from the one most familiar and he meets their expectation. Besides, he really seems to like Isaiah, 'though I suspect Ezekiel is his favorite.
There was the obligatory chiding to those without Bibles, less harsh than in years past. I had an extra that I shared with a lady on retreat at the college, obviously unprepared as she simply, curious, wandered in after dinner. I hope she returns again tonight ... with her reading glasses. I helped her find the books we were discussing, not only because she hadn't her glasses but also because the NAB study Bible is so top-heavy with front-matter - the sacred text doesn't appear until better than halfway through! Any reasonable student of the Bible would figure they'd be well into the Psalms by then. No, not with our study Bible.
The lady on the other side of me was uncomfortable in her own skin, shaking our table as she lounged from elbow to elbow, sighing heavily, adjusting her glasses every second. I hope she sits somewhere else tomorrow night. Fr. Boadt recognized me from previous classes but, honestly, I think he has me confused with someone else. Yet, he noted my name as Mary Ann read attendance and called me by name a couple of times and told everyone that we'd had a couple of classes together.
During a break, a lady said privately to me, "You must be impressed with him to have taken so many of his classes" and I almost choked on the Twizzler I was eating, as if my estimation of him adds anything to his renown. I could have told her more, that I drove 60 miles to be here, leaving behind four young kids with a babysitter at $20 / hour, but I didn't want to jinx it. She confessed to being "into" St. Paul at the moment, a good year to be "into" him, and I told her that even though Fr. Boadt's specialty is the Prophets, he's a Paulist Father, so he has a warmth for the Apostle. "If he ever gets 'round to talking about St. Paul, you'll see how devoted he is to him."
It could be he breaks the prophets out by period so that he can talk about Isaiah each time. Catholics at a class on prophets expect to read from the one most familiar and he meets their expectation. Besides, he really seems to like Isaiah, 'though I suspect Ezekiel is his favorite.
No comments:
Post a Comment