Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Exam question option for my students in Christian Controversies and Creeds

This post will be of interest to my students in Christian Controversies and Creeds. This is an additional question I'm offering on the exam, and can be written in place of one of the questions I have already distributed. If you choose to answer this question, print this blog post and attach it and your answer to the exam.

In the Houston Chronicle on Saturday, there was a piece published on Lent in the Greek Orthodox Church, since Orthodox Easter is being celebrated on April 27. For Holy Week, congregants refrain from eating meat, dairy products, fish, wine and olive oil. They avoid malicious talk and many refrain from sex. Fasting is not a novelty among the Orthodox. They fast 180 days a year, including every Wednesday and Friday. But Lent intensifies the practice.

Here is what the priests and the lay people had to say when describing their tradition:
"People want a passive, entertaining, consumer-driven Christianity. That's not Orthodoxy."

"Lent helps me gain discipline. It is participating in the sacrifices Christ went through."

"Orthodox practices have changed me dramatically. It's about not living for myself but for others."

"Lent is a time of spiritual cleansing, renewal, purification. Life is not food. Life is not entertainment. Life is not earthly gratification. It is becoming more human, more like Christ...Lent reminds us that we eat food to live. We don't live to eat food. The true food is God."
Question: Which of the three paradigms we have discussed in class is reflected here? In three sentences or less, explain your choice.

2 comments:

Caitlin said...

Cool! I am glad I checked here while I was taking a break from studying!

April DeConick said...

Me too! Best of luck on your exam.