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HagiaSophia
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By the time students finish taking Santa Clara University’s theology of marriage class, the professors are pretty sure these students will be able to tell the difference between romantic notions of love that are constantly thrown at them and the real thing.
“We break down the ‘knight in shining armor’ idea that there is one person just for you,” said Frederick J. Parrella, a religious studies professor at the Jesuit-run university who has been teaching the popular marriage course, which constantly has a waiting list, for more than 15 years. “We’re all made in God’s image,” the theologian stressed, adding that based on that idea, there is not necessarily one soul mate out there for everyone.
Finding the right person for a committed relationship involves meeting people, making the right decisions and not just going by feelings, which are bound to go away, he told Catholic News Service in a Feb. 4 telephone interview from Santa Clara, Calif.
One of the first assignments Parrella gives his students, who are primarily seniors, is to write about their deepest fears about relationships. Many of them say they are afraid to be alone or worried that they will choose a spouse too quickly while the person better suited for them remains at large.
In the span of the 10-week course, Parrella steers his students through the sometimes tricky love terrain by juxtaposing current books and movies that deal with love with deeper theological writings that delve into marriage as a sacrament and a reflection of God’s love.
The students watch clips from popular movies that present romantic love, such as Disney films, or Oscar-winners such as “American Beauty” and “As Good as it Gets,” and read “I and Thou,” by the late Jewish scholar Martin Buber, and “The Good Marriage: How and Why Love Lasts,” by Judith Wallerstein and Sandra Blakeslee.
Parrella points out that many people influenced by modern culture tend to idealize both the person they love and the whole notion of love.
catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0500733.htm
“We break down the ‘knight in shining armor’ idea that there is one person just for you,” said Frederick J. Parrella, a religious studies professor at the Jesuit-run university who has been teaching the popular marriage course, which constantly has a waiting list, for more than 15 years. “We’re all made in God’s image,” the theologian stressed, adding that based on that idea, there is not necessarily one soul mate out there for everyone.
Finding the right person for a committed relationship involves meeting people, making the right decisions and not just going by feelings, which are bound to go away, he told Catholic News Service in a Feb. 4 telephone interview from Santa Clara, Calif.
One of the first assignments Parrella gives his students, who are primarily seniors, is to write about their deepest fears about relationships. Many of them say they are afraid to be alone or worried that they will choose a spouse too quickly while the person better suited for them remains at large.
In the span of the 10-week course, Parrella steers his students through the sometimes tricky love terrain by juxtaposing current books and movies that deal with love with deeper theological writings that delve into marriage as a sacrament and a reflection of God’s love.
The students watch clips from popular movies that present romantic love, such as Disney films, or Oscar-winners such as “American Beauty” and “As Good as it Gets,” and read “I and Thou,” by the late Jewish scholar Martin Buber, and “The Good Marriage: How and Why Love Lasts,” by Judith Wallerstein and Sandra Blakeslee.
Parrella points out that many people influenced by modern culture tend to idealize both the person they love and the whole notion of love.
catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0500733.htm
) but God doesn’t want us to wait until we’ve got everything fixed. He wants us to come to him right now because he can teach us and fix us and help us much better than we ever could.
