Faith seeking understanding

How do Christians understand the Resurrection—and how does that understanding serve as a source of motivation for world transformation? Scholar Sandra Schneiders, I.H.M., says the issue of the Resurrection is often skirted in theology because it’s very difficult to imagine, and yet, the Resurrection is arguably the most central tenet of the Christian faith.

In 2011–12 Schneiders, a professor at the Jesuit School of Theology who has taught at the school since 1976, will be at work on a project that addresses that question. As the recipient of a Henry Luce III Fellowship, she will be taking a year off from teaching to write the monograph Risen Jesus, Cosmic Christ: Biblical Spirituality in the Gospel of John.

The Luce Fellowship is awarded to scholars who make innovative contributions to theological studies and strengthen the link between higher education and religious communities.

This June, Schneiders joined Teresa Pleins M.A. ’94, an alumna of SCU’s graduate program in pastoral ministries, for a panel presentation at the meeting of the Catholic Theological Society of America held on the Mission Campus. Schneiders and Pleins, who serves as chaplain to the Catholic community at Stanford University, discussed the hopes, challenges, and vocation of today’s theologian. For centuries, Schneiders reflected, to study theology meant passing on the same body of static doctrine. Now, “No longer are we only learning or teaching theology, but now we are doing theology,” she says. “We are not merely trying to master a prescribed and limited body of knowledge, but we are engaged in the adventure of ‘faith seeking understanding.’”