Thank You, Stan. - Part 1

Well, Stanley Hauerwas was in Winnipeg last night. To give you a glimpse of the scene..the church was packed by 6:20, which meant there was a lot of interest in what Hauerwas had to say, which is hopeful. I must say i did expect something else...i mean when ever i read his books...i imagine i big man, or at least hefty. But he is the opposite. He is a small balding man with a Texas accent.

I think this surprise just added to the night. He started with a poetic reading that expressed a world that wished to escape suffering. That people in this time had an eagerness to avoid pain if at all possible. The interesting part is that this was a speech given by Pope Leo the Thirteen. I would say this is still the case today, we avoid suffering....interesting how in the last 100 years not much has changed on that regard.

The opening remarks turned into a questioning on how we want to die. Many people responded by stating some form of 'sudden death', which probably would be the consensus in the world. We desire to go quickly.

Hauerwas stated that in the medieval times it was always the priest before the physician, which seems to have reversed. That the reason of death was to have time to reconcile with the world. However, the sudden death world we live seems to point to the opposite..we no longer have time to be with our love ones and get right with God and others.

Sudden death is not a christian practice says hauerwas....where is the hope in that? If Christian are people of hope...how does our way of dying depict what is central to our lives.

He pointed out the difference between secular and divinity schools( divinity students are only there because they have failed in another line of work). That typically at med. school one has a specifics set out that one needs to know( you can't become a doctor if you fail at certain disciplines..that's just common sense). But at divinity school we let people go around..if you aren't into christology this year you can take something else. The view this gives is that its ok to have incompetent priests but not doctors. Stating that this points north America in a form of practical atheism...that if it is more important for our doctors to be trained than priests. I think that maybe sheds light on the state of the church in North America.

I think this point is important to notice. I have had many discussions with friends about people they allow to go through seminary. In one instance there was a friend of our who had major issues with telling the truth..and even after confronting him on this it seemed that he continued to lie. But, at no point did anyone in the seminary confront him on this or tell him he would not be allowed to go on. I just question the integrity of that. Maybe what is more hilarious is that the counselling program in the seminary kicks people out of the program if they don't feel the person can cut it...or might do people harm. Wonder why that is not the case for other program?

Medical professionals were always there for care..but hauerwas believes we have actually given them the authority of cure...if that is not practical atheism i don't know what is....i think part one will stop here...i hope to make this a 3 part series..hope this give some insight into what hauerwas is getting at..feel free to question me or hauerwas...