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Emory University School of Theology and Holy Cross Church joined
in a recent and successful experiment in theological education. Father Jeremy
Miller, O.P., Professor of Theology at Emory, and Father Joseph Baxer, M.S., of
Blessed Sacrament parish, conducted a seminar entitled Theology and
Spirituality of Marriage at Holy Cross this past year. Fifteen Methodist
students from the School of Theology met with couples from the Marriage
Encounter Movement in weekly seminars to discuss various aspects of Christian
marriage.
Chuck and Pat Bianco (Corpus Christi), Bill and Barb Poole
(Immaculate Heart), Dick and Ann Suever (Holy Cross), Ray and Thea Jarvis (Holy
Cross), and Ken and Diane Thelen (Lutheran Church) were, in a sense, co-leaders
of the seminar, providing experiential insights into issues raised by Fathers
Miller and Baxer. The course met for 10 weeks with everyone meeting on Tuesday
evening, and with the theology students meeting with Professor Miller in
Wednesday reflection sessions.
The School of Theology has received a large grant from the Lilly
Foundation to conduct experiments in theological education, and this seminar
was one of its efforts. The students from Emory are all preparing for the
ministry, and they found this one of the most practical and insightful courses
in the university curriculum. The seminar met with such warm response that it
will be run again in the fall.
Two themes emerged in the seminars which the divinity students
found most helpful for their future ministries. The first was the need seen for
a very serious preparation for marriage, perhaps something lasting four to six
months. This pre-marriage preparation period is to assist couples to discern in
what direction their vocation lies, and if it is to marriage with
this particular person, then to prepare themselves for the necessary
flexibility, communication, and support such a vocation requires.
The need for affirmation was the second theme which
surfaced strongly. Marriage is a vocation which God creates and
blesses. One receives Gods gift through the gift of the other person. As
a result a marriage grows and deepens as much, and probably more, through the
affirmation of the spouses as through confrontation of weaknesses and growing
edges. These themes emerged as motifs running through more particularized
topics such as conjugal prayer, sexual communication, parenting, listening
techniques, issues in interfaith marriages, etc.
It was clearly a learning experience for everyone clergy,
couples, and divinity students and above all it was enjoyable, which is
not always an easy feat for a graduate seminar in theology. |