KJ: Congratulations on your appointment. Have you noticed any changes...? JB: Other than my wardrobe? KJ: ...from the last time you were here. As a student. JB: The students now ask me the questions they're afraid to ask Fr. Paul Tarazi. KJ: Do you always answer? JB: Always. I've not yet learned discernment. But seriously. The project of biblical criticism is an especially important one for us today. Unfortunately, it is often viewed with suspicion, if not outright hostility. And the extreme examples of academic discourse, which have entered our popular culture, have only made matters worse. When the results of the latest Jesus seminar are advertised on the covers of our national weekly magazines, it becomes urgent that we prepare our future leaders and teachers to respond thoughtfully to the excesses of criticism, while at the same time appreciating the value of proper exegesis. It is my hope that the students will be patient long enough to discover that a close reading of Scripture, guided by a careful application of the interpretive tools of our time, truly does serve faith. KJ: Do you have any strategies for encouraging patience? JB: I learned from my teachers, Fr Paul Tarazi, Professor Kesich, and Fr John Breck, that unless the New Testament comes alive for the students, the work of a teacher is impossible. My job, therefore, is primarily to teach them how to ask the right questions and then to show them how to use the proper tools to answer their questions. Last year I had one student who used to write all of his important questions in a notebook, so as not to forget them. Imagine how those questions must be percolating inside his head even today. Some day he'll answer all of them. KJ: Is that how you measure success? JB: Exactly. KJ: You're currently completing your dissertation. What's the topic? JB: I'm examining the role of the Pharisees in Matthew's gospel. I'm convinced that unless we realize that we are the Pharisees, then the gospel is not addressed to us. And if the gospel is not addressed to us, then we're in big trouble. KJ: Would this be similar to a sermon in which the priest admonishes us to be like the publican and not like the Pharisee in Luke's gospel? JB: Yes. Except that our status as baptized complicates things. When we receive the gift that surpasses all understanding, we no longer recognize our unworthiness. The gift becomes our possession. And (more often than not) we end up praying within ourselves, "Lord, I thank you that I am not like the Pharisee who is thanking you that he is not like the publican." In other words, we only become like the publican the moment we recognize that we are in fact like the Pharisee. KJ: John, you also recently got married...to an alumna of SVS. JB: My return to seminary, Ken, has truly been more eventful than I could ever have imagined. Laura Jacobson and I were married last summer at St Theodosius Cathedral in Cleveland, Ohio. Since then she has resumed her many jobs. Laura is the director of a music school, teaches early childhood music, and directs the choir at Holy Resurrection in Wayne, New Jersey. Recently she introduced an innovative music program for the children at Holy Resurrection. KJ: How to sing the tones? JB: Eventually. For now the program is designed to give children the aural skills they need to build a strong foundation in music. Laura teaches classes for 2-4 year olds and 5-7 year olds, based on the work of the theorist Edwin Gordon. The purpose of the program is to take advantage of the children's "window for learning" music, thereby building a strong foundation in music and at the same time nurturing their natural love of singing and learning. She still has to negotiate with Fr Paul Kucynda whether her future tenors will serve in the altar or sing the responses. KJ: You both sound very busy. Do you ever get to see each other? JB: Sometimes...from across a crowded room. Crestwood, NY
June 1997 | 
