Index
of Current Commentaries by Ian Elmer. Click HERE
for index to Older Commentaries
067 :
08 Dec 2007
St
Stephen This is Dr Ian Elmer's
last commentary for Catholica
for a while. He has been called to higher things and the long voluntary
commitment he has made to Catholica
since we started has come to an end. Catholica
is not an academic journal and in the new year Ian
will be moving on to write for academic journals where his work is subject
to the "peer review" which is essential to further consolidate
his credentials now that he has been awarded his doctorate. I trust the
readers of Catholica will join
me in extending our deep appreciation to you, Ian,
for the enormous contribution you have made to Catholica
Australia in our first 18 months of publishing. We will
certainly look forward to seeing your work in more august journals around
the world and, from time to time, borrowing from them to publish here.
Ian, we are already aware of the
wonderful reputation you have established amongst the young people you
have been teaching. It has been wonderful having here in Catholica
two gifted teachers like yourself and Dr Andrew
Kania who both have exceedingly high rapport with young people
as teachers. We need many more like you who can open up "the
Good News of Jesus Christ" in a world that has been
closing its ears to his "Good News".
We wish you well in now going on to enthuse much larger audiences. Ian's
final commentary for us today is a joy-filled Advent commentary looking
at the guy who helped start all this Christmas caper, St
Stephen. [more]
066 :
01 Dec 2007
Who
then were the founders of the Church in Rome? Over the last two
weeks Dr Elmer has explored two possible
candidates for the honour of founder of the Church in Rome, Paul and Peter.
His exploration of the material from Paul's letter to Rome suggests that
neither of these apostles can claim that title although the later
Roman apologists would make that claim for them. This week he looks
at further scholarly speculation about who the true founders of the Roman
church may have been and when Christianity first came to Rome.[more]
065 :
24 Nov 2007
Was
Rome really the See of Peter? Continuing on from his commentary
last week examining the origins of the Church in Rome, Dr
Ian Elmer explores the connections between Rome as the See
of Peter, and the notion that the Bishop of Rome can claim to be Peter's
successor. Both of these notions are the sort of issues that John Paul
II indicated as stumbling blocks in the path towards greater ecumenical
co-operation, if not reunification. [more]
064 :
17 Nov 2007
Looking
at a new question in a very old light Today's commentary
from Dr Ian Elmer builds on his series
from recent weeks looking at the Mythology in the Gospel of Mark. He now
turns his attention to looking at the origins of the earliest Church in
Rome. His examination casts a useful light on a contemporary challenge:
the present division in the Church between those who want a "strong"
version of their faith and those not attracted to "strong".
Poor yourself a strong coffee and sit back and enjoy this scholarly analysis
that will leave you seriously asking yourself whether Benedict made the
right choice or otherwise in re-introducing the Latin Mass in the way
he has done. [more]
063 :
10 Nov 2007
Reading
St Mark's Gospel III This is Dr
Ian Elmer at his very best providing a completely refreshing
analysis of words we've heard or read hundreds or thousands of times before.
He borrows from an insight Fr Richard Rohr
made in an interview on ABC radio last year to provide a new way of understanding
this shortest and seemingly simplest of the Gospel narratives. [more]
062 :
03 Nov 2007
Reading
St Mark's Gospel II Continuing the fascinating commentary
he opened last week, Dr Ian Elmer
takes us deeper into the meaning we can draw from what is the shortest
and perhaps deceptively simplist of the Gospel narratives. [more]
061 :
27 Oct 2007
Reading
St Mark's Gospel I Scholars believe the Gospel of St Mark
was the first to be written. It is the shortest of the Gospel accounts
and, apart from the empty tomb, has nothing to say about the post-resurrection
events recounted in the other Gospels. Today Dr
Elmer introduces us to a relatively new* way of understanding
this "short and pithy" gospel narrative. (*It's
about two decades since scholars came up with this way of interpreting
St Mark.)[more]
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