Wednesday, August 10, 2005

A New Friendship

Yesterday I had a long conversation with Dr. John Wright. He's holds PhD in Christianity and Judaism in Antiquities from the University of Notre Dame. He is editor of Conflicting Allegiances: The Church-based University In A Liberal Democratic Society. Dr. Wright studied under the guidance of Robert Wilken & Stanley Hauerwas, which are two of my heroes. He is also very familiar with the thought of David Burrell, George Lindbeck, and John Howard Yoder. At somepoint in the future he will be making posts (and possibly writing a book) on the profound connection between the "Yale School" within Protestantism, the Second Vatican Council and the Ressourcement movement. Here are some older posts from his blog, which you will find of great interest. Ensure to read the comments as well.

General Assembly and General Superintendents -- After the Trip

Church of the Nazarene General Assembly, Internationalization, and Catholicity

Ressourcement: More than Thinking Old Theology Anew

The Thought of Benedict XVI

More on Benedict from Radical Orthodoxy series author

Rowland Interview: Part II Excerpt

More Aidan Nichol's on Benedict

Resident Aliens: The Apostolic Fathers and Congregations in Liberal Cultures

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi David!

Thank you for your kindness. Indeed, Christ is with us! The conversation yesterday was wonderful, and I look forward to many more. As I said, your blog has helped me immensely.

Lest some of your readers get the wrong impression, I am not exactly "close friends" with either Professors Wilken or Hauerwas. I had the opportunity to study under Professor Wilken as a young PhD student at Notre Dame before he went to UVa, but have seen him rarely since. Likewise, I met Professor Hauerwas at Notre Dame before he went to Duke. Professor Hauerwas has been very gracious in personal contact and correspondance since. Ironically, back in 1983, I did not fully understand the gift that I received in that year of study. God is faithful beyond what we can plan -- sometimes painfully so! But indeed, you are right -- Notre Dame at that time was a point of interaction between a type of Ressourcement thought and the "Yale School." I do hope to work on this some day. I think it is important to a commitment to a catholicity that transcends the shattering of the unity of the body of Christ in the 16th century and on in the West, rather than seeking to turn back the clock to a time we no longer can achieve.

Thank you so much.

Peace,
John W.