"Faciendi et Credendi" means, in Latin, "Believing and doing." For the Christian, this should evoke the Letter of James: "What good is it if someone says he has faith but does not have works?" (2:14). It also evokes the idea that the study of religion involves both the beliefs and practices of a religious community. Finally, it recalls that students of theology and religious studies are engaged in both classroom learning and active participation in volunteer service, ministry, etc.

Faciendi et Credendi is the blog for the Religious Studies/Theology Program at Loras College. It is an ongoing, public account of student progress that the program requires of all its majors. The blog provides an electronic “space” for students to reflect on their experiences as a major and on the relationship of those experiences to other facets of their life at Loras.

In order to post to the blog, first find the appropriate topic by clicking on the Blog Prompts tab. Find the prompt based on how long it has been since you declared your religious studies/theology major. Then, return to the Home tab and click on New Post in the top right corner of the page. This will open an html editor where you can type your post.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

First Semester

When first coming to Loras, I had a different idea of the content a religious studies major studied than what I have been learning currently. I thought I would be studying the life of Jesus and looking at different bible stories and interpretating those stories and fitting them into our busy lives. I also thought I would learn about the many saints and how we can look up to them. The reason for thinking this is because my religious education program back in my hometown wasn't all that great and I learned very little. Everything that I knew coming into Loras, were things that I taught myself and read up on. The classes that I am currently taking and the one I took last semester (Intro to Theology) are/were quite hard. The Intro class did not seem like an intro at all, but that's probably because I don't have the background like everyone else has. The content we learned in class didn't seem relevant to the future career that I hope to have, a youth minister. However, there were some things that I learned in that class that I not only understood, but help deepen my faith. Watching the movie God on Trial, and learning about the different theodicies really opened my eyes to what religion and faith is all about. At some point during my first semester, I thought to myself if I would ever learn about other religions and what makes those religions different from others. J-term came around and I enrolled in World Regions. One of the most interesting and funnest classes i have taken! I learned how similar Judaism and Islam is to each other and also  Christianity. The classes am taking now, Foundations of Ministry and Empowered Catholic Women, couldn't be more different and yet so similar. One class is about learning the place of different people within the church and the other focuses on different women and their spirituality. Many concepts cross over and I am beginning to see the link with everything.
In the future, I really hope to learn more about the history of Jesus and the Catholic faith. I still really want to learn more the bible and the many bible stories and I believe I can in a class called God's Literature, or something like that. I also really want to learn about how to be a youth minister. I'm not sure what specific questions to ask about that, but I want to make sure that I can be the best youth minister and do my job right.
I am very excite for what the next three years hold for me and to broad my knowledge of my Faith, Hope in humanity, and Love for God. God Bless!!

 posted March 21, 2012
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