St. Paul’s 2000th Birthday Inspires Catholic and Protestant Dialogue
The 2000th anniversary of the birth of St. Paul has inspired two theologians to take their private dialogue to the public beginning on July 25. Stephen Rives, the pastor of Eastside Church of the Cross in Louisburg, Kan., had been interested in having a public interfaith dialogue surrounding St. Paul. When the Catholic Church announced a year-long commemoration of the circa 2000th anniversary of St. Paul’s birth, Rives found a willing partner in Matthew Tsakanikas, academic director of the Benedictine College School of Faith.
(Media-Newswire.com) - The 2000th anniversary of the birth of St. Paul has inspired two theologians to take their private dialogue to the public beginning on July 25. Stephen Rives, the pastor of Eastside Church of the Cross in Louisburg, Kan., had been interested in having a public interfaith dialogue surrounding St. Paul. When the Catholic Church announced a year-long commemoration of the circa 2000th anniversary of St. Paul’s birth, Rives found a willing partner in Matthew Tsakanikas, academic director of the Benedictine College School of Faith. Together with Queen of the Holy Rosary parish in Wea, Kan., they will jointly host an ecumenical dialogue on “St. Paul’s Letters” beginning July 25. Archbishop Joseph Naumann, of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, will be their special guest and co-presenter on August 1.
“People are too accustomed to hearing debate over Saint Paul’s theology as only an either/or proposition,” comments Tsakanikas. “What I found in Rives was a ‘both/and’ approach from a highly intelligent and articulate person who transcends the labels Catholics apply as ‘protestant.’ It’s hard to beat listening to a guy who has led graduate studies in archaeology in Israel, developed software and new approaches to teaching Calculus, and who is willing to challenge both Catholic and Protestant authorities on St. Paul. On top of that, having the Archbishop join us for an evening says a lot about this being an effort to understand each other better.”
Rives and Tsakanikas first met through a mutual acquaintance in a coffeehouse in Kansas City and began a series of discussions that, over the past several months, developed a trust between the Southern Baptist minister and the Catholic educator. For Rives, who initiated the public dialogues idea, the reasons for opening his once private discussions with Tsakanikas to the public were really very simple.
“Many things motivate me in all of this, and some are quite simple,” Rives said. “My children play with kids in the neighborhood who are Catholic. These kids are going to grow up together and remain in different congregations. For their sake, I wanted to know: How can we help them remain close without forcing them to remain silent about their different churches, worship, and catechisms? If we adults can’t talk about Jesus – if someone as important as our King becomes a taboo topic because of historic debates – then we should expect that our kids will emulate our patterns. Can it be true that our common confession that Jesus is Lord, and our belief in the same Trinity, and our being filled with the same Holy Spirit, is insufficient for real fellowship? May it never be! So let’s talk. Let’s talk about Paul and his letters.”
“I also want people in the area to have a chance to hear Matthew speak about the Catholic Church,” he said. “Matthew has integrity. That means I can ask the hard questions and he does not retreat to mechanical responses. We have conversations that are meaningful even when we don’t come to the same conclusions.”
The first evening of public dialogues on July 25 will be hosted at Queen of the Holy Rosary Catholic School in Wea and all persons of good will are invited to attend. That evening the theme of “Justification: Were the Pharisees proto-Catholics?” will be addressed from 6:30-9 p.m. The next meeting will be at Eastside Church of the Cross in Louisburg on August 1, where Archbishop Naumann will be a co-presenter with Pastor Rives on the theme: “Ecclesiology and the Eucharist in Saint Paul.” Several more evenings follow as well as the opportunity to turn attendance at the dialogues into college credit for religious studies if attendees so desire. See www.benedictine.edu/sof for more information.
Backgrounder:
Benedictine College School of Faith:
The recently-partnered Benedictine College Institute for Religious Studies ( IRS ) and Holy Family School of Faith is now serving Archdiocesan ( KCK ) Catholic school teachers, catechists, and interested adults as the newly formed Benedictine College School of Faith. The mission of this institute of Benedictine College is to assist the on-going theological formation of Catholic school faculties, catechists, and interested adults. Its focus as an institute is separate from the specific undergraduate focus of Benedictine College’s theology department.
Stephen Rives:
In 2006, graduated from Midwestern Seminary Summa cum laude with MA in Biblical Archaoeology. Did doctoral course work in Israel in 2006 and served on senior staff with the Tel Gezer Expedition in 2006-07. Worked at Megiddo, Israel in 2004 where did research into the new archaeological chronology being proposed by Tel Aviv University. Read a paper on sacred space and the ancient Near East titled "Noisy Humans and Temples" at the Society of Biblical Literature. Published a review of an Egyptian grammar in the Midwestern Seminary Theological Journal. Undergraduate work was computer science and mathematics. Published in the Journal of Chemistry and Computing regarding ionization states of man-made elements. Active in math and computer technology as applied to ancient language research ( giving away research software at www.ugrt.com ). Pastor of Eastside Church of the Cross, emulating Paul's model from the book of Acts doing ministry alongside secular work ( not making tents, but doing software development ). Involved in Christian education and serves on the board of Christ Preparatory Academy, where also served as vice principal and math instructor. Presented papers on a new view of Calculus to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Married with four children.
Matthew Tsakanikas:
Director, Benedictine College Institute for Religious Studies becoming Academic Director Benedictine College School of Faith; and, professor with Benedictine College .Graduated Summa cum laude Pontifical Lateran University, Rome…Licentiate in Sacred Theology ( S.T.L. ) through the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in 2007. Graduate studies in theology John Paul II Institute in Melbourne, Australia 2004-2006. Delivered short paper “Reclaiming Deification in the Latin West” to international patristics conference concerning “Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church IV,” Australian Catholic University, July 2005. Published ‘Understanding Marriage Through Holy Communion: Rediscovering the Essential Meaning of Sexual Love,’ Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, Volume 7:2 ( Spring 2004 ), pp. 118-136 ( University of St. Thomas Centre for Catholic Studies ). Frequent contributor to Catholicexchange.com. Repeated guest national talk radio “The Barry Farber Show” 2001-2004 on bioethical and pro-life issues. Guest of Israel when with Catholic Press Association in 1999 to cover Jubilee 2000 preparations. Married with four children.
Benedictine College 1020 North 2nd Street Atchison, KS 66002 913.367.5340
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