Being married for less than a year, there are certainly more exciting things going on than this paper...
But I digress.
I find myself spending a great deal of time on writing a paper on an element of the Belgic Confession. Of course, it deserves a certain amount of time, but I would love to spend all the rest of my school year working on this paper. I am working on the following two sentences from Article 27 of the Confession, and focussing on the aspect of the unity of the Church:
"Moreover, this holy church is not confined of limited to one particular
place or to certain persons, but is spread and dispersed throughout the entire
world. However, it is joined and united with heart and will, in one and
the same Spirit, by the power of faith."
I have delved into Roman Catholic Theology, and am now looking through other 16th Century confessions to find similar phrases and arguments. I think I could spend a long time at this, if I had the time. After this section, I will look into John Calvin's theology, and hopefully, after that, be done with it.
I am up to 23 pages so far, and have probably 10-15 to go. We'll see how long it is at the end.
But I am very glad to have this paper to write. Otherwise, this year at the Theological College would be much less exciting. Lots of memory work, lots of Greek and Hebrew.
Anyways, it's about time for bed, and I am starting to ramble. I'll try to post a summary of my findings once I am done this paper. The whole paper will most likely be too long to post.
Update: (April 28) The paper is complete, printed out and ready to hand in. It is 40 pages long, and approximately 11,500 words. This is my way of getting back at Dr. Gootjes for giving me a couple hundred pages of notes over this year!!
9 comments:
Sounds exciting Stu! I would love to read your paper when it's done. Maybe you can e-mail it to us? I can't imagine writing 20 pages on 2 lines of the BC., but I'm sure you'll do a great job.
wow...that sounds awesome, stu...
i can't even imagine what else you could be doing that would be more exciting than that...can't imagine at all...
Well, Joel, I'd get into it, but this is a family blog, you know, PG something or other...
Someday, when you're old enough, ask your mom or dad.
I'm curious whether, in your paper, you've dealt at all with the impact that this part of the BC should have on worship. I've long struggled with confessing that we're part of a Church from all times and all places, but worshiping as if sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe, especially Geneva, was the be-all and end-all, the apogee of worship music.
I will not be getting into that, since then my paper could be much longer. And what we have to do for the assignment is to, essentially, exegete the text of the Belgic Confession. So I have to deal with the early editions, the Roman theology it is reacting to, what the Reformers said about it (especially Calvin) and discuss what the Confession means when it uses the words it does.
At the end I hope to get into some relevance for today, but I can't go too far afield, for I have to stick with the text. The worship issue seems to belong more to Article 7.
Liturgy, though, is an area I would love to study some day.
Congrats on finishing your paper, Stu! Now what are you going to do with all your free time??
Study for all 6 of my upcoming exams!!
Good plan!
Take a break.
You've been tagged.
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