TMC Welcomes Dr. Michael Waldstein to Campus for Faculty Seminar | Thomas More College

TMC Welcomes Dr. Michael Waldstein to Campus for Faculty Seminar

Thomas More College had the pleasure of welcoming Dr. Michael Maria Waldstein to campus from June 20–24 for a week-long faculty seminar on the Gospel of John, thanks to an endowment for visiting scholars established two years ago by an anonymous benefactor. The seminar included time for personal reflection, the celebration of the Holy Mass, and a period of group study in the afternoons. For Dr. Waldstein, the goal was “to give an example of a close reading of Scripture, and then in the last two sessions reflect on what Scripture is, what it means for it to be the Word of God, and what its appropriate place is in a liberal education.” “We could have asked for no better guide,” said Dean Walter J. Thompson. “Dr. Waldstein has studied John for four decades, has written extensively on it, and has acted as peritus for the Twelfth World Synod of Bishops on the Word of God.”

The Fellows of the College found the seminar to be illuminating and, at times, deeply moving. “Studying the Gospel of John with fellow faculty, under Dr. Waldstein’s expert guidance, was such a profound experience. We spent five days of intense discussion together, yet I feel like we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of the theological, literary, and structural riches of this gospel, in which Christ so lovingly reveals to us the inexhaustible nature of His Glory,” said Dr. Amy Fahey. She continued, “I am so grateful to Dr. Waldstein for opening up the meaning of this Gospel for us, and to my fellow faculty for their insights and observations.” For Mr. Fred Fraser, “Studying the Gospel of John for a week as a community of scholars deepened not only my appreciation of the Gospel, but also of my colleagues, who generously showed their common interest in and love for the Word of God over the course of our weeklong study together.” “It was immensely important for all of us to together engage the word of God with Michael, who has spent so many years contemplating this Gospel,” stated Dr. Denis Kitzinger.

The study of Holy Scripture has pride of place in the TMC curriculum, since, according to Dr. Waldstein, “If Scripture is the Word of God, then it has a unique architectonic place in education.” “We take very seriously the Church’s teaching that ‘the study of the sacred page is, as it were, the soul of sacred theology,’” said Dean Thompson (quoting Dei Verbum, 24). “All our students spend four semesters reading and ruminating on the Word of God contained in Sacred Scripture. Moreover, because students’ learning is nourished by their teachers’ understanding, we expect all faculty to devote time to the ongoing study of the great works found in our curriculum.”


 
Beyond more intellectual pursuits, the seminar was a wonderful experience of community. “I can’t remember an occasion with a similarly congenial group of people,” Dr. Waldstein remarked. “It’s fantastic to have a small place where everyone can know everyone else really well.” For Dean Thompson, the seminar has been the latest installment in a career-long friendship: “Very early in my own career, I had the great good fortune to co-teach a seminar on John with Michael. He was (and has remained) for me the model of a Catholic exegete. He combines profound faith with extensive learning, literary sensitivity, and intellectual rigor. His example of faith seeking understanding has inspired my own love for the Gospel and for Scripture generally.” Dr. Amy Fahey summed the week up in this way: “The entire experience beautifully expressed the collegiality and communitas that are a hallmark of what we do at Thomas More College.”

Dr. Waldstein is the founding president of the International Theological Institute in Austria and is the translator of Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body. He and his wife, Dr. Susan Waldstein, who accompanied him on his visit to Merrimack, previously served on the Pontifical Council for the Family after being appointed by Pope St. John Paul II. Both currently teach at the Franciscan University of Steubenville.

 

For further reading:

Senior Seminar on non-Christian religions

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