(no subject)

[cellio]

I met with my rabbi this morning. More about our rambling philosophical conversation later, but one outcome is that we're going to study talmud together. (This arose from my saying that in order to make informed decisions I need to develop the tools, and how do I do that?) I know it's traditional to start with Bava Metzia, but most of the issues I brought up in passing, to illustrate points, were about Shabbat, so we're going to start there.

I've never done one-on-one talmud study before; this will be neat. I've taken a couple classes with Rabbi Staitman over at Rodef (where I was by far the most engaged person in the class, to the point of feeling self-conscious about it), and I receive "classes" via the net that are not very interactive at all (lectures, really, though questions are taken). But this will be much better, and will let us ramble in whatever direction seems most appropriate.

Comments

[seanmcguire.livejournal.com]

That's really cool.

I wonder if there are similar interactions in Christianity. Christianity is more and more attractive to me, but I'd need to really think about it and study it hard, and having someone to work with to do that could be very helpful...

[cellio]

I wonder if there are similar interactions in Christianity. Christianity is more and more attractive to me, but I'd need to really think about it and study it hard, and having someone to work with to do that could be very helpful...

I would expect so. (I bet our mutual friend Mike could offer some advice here, if he's listening.) Many churches have adult-ed programs, which might be bible study or might be something more. I would recommend showing up at some of these to see if that fulfills your initial need
and, if not, if you can find a prospective study partner among the attendees (priest/minister, lay leader/teacher, etc). I know some Christian clergy locally who would be really into this, and others who are probably busy, so you just have to poke around.

Of course, this requires that you find one or more candidate congregations first, which means addressing the denomination question. The approach I took with Judaism was simultaneous investigation of all major branches, but we've only got 3 of those and Christianity has a lot more. You'd want to do some homework to narrow the field, and then just explore from there. Unless someone offers an inter-denominational bible study or the like, in which case you could postpone this step.

This is all by way of finding a study partner; you don't actually have to join a congregation if you don't want to, and might not be permitted to anyway until you are of the correct religion (baptized and whatever other entry requirements there are).

[mrpeck.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if I can offer much help since I usually don't seek and search in quite that way.

Reading the catechism (the newer one not the Baltimore Catechism) helped me a lot. Later I took some classes and that helped some more. At this point, I'll take a class if it is an enrichment class or if it helps me complete my certification. I'm making an effort to got to the Oratory to attend discussions on different topics. There are a lot of programs done by various parishes or the diocese. From what I gather from friends, other churches have programs and bible studies too.

I go back and forth with myself sometimes trying to decide if I should look for a spiritual advisor. That would be someone who you talk to about your life and they help you to determine your path and guide you down it. One of the things they do is provide a perspective on your spiritual life outside your own. This is useful because sometimes our own perspective can get in the way of us making progress. I know of one or two people that I would consider asking but that doesn't seem to be my way. Though, maybe it should be.