Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Visit to the Theological Seminary of the North East, Teresina, Piauí
2-7 October 2006
This long awaited visit, for the Seminary’s “Theological Week” (what week isn’t, in a seminary?) turned out be one of the highlights of the year. The combination of the great good humour of students and staff, hospitality, humanness, and seriousness in handling the things of God, made this week very special. I hope that more contacts will be forthcoming!
The STNE is a new school, only three years old, although using the campus and buildings of a Korean Presbyterian Bible Institute founded (I believe) in the sixties. Our friend Ronildo from Aracaju had already indicated my name as a possible help with homiletics, but it took until this year, and the growing friendship with Paulo Brasil, to make the visit a reality.
The Theological week is a chance for former students to return for fellowship and a refresher course, as well as a moment of concentrated teaching in one particular area for the student body. It was particularly pleasing that one former student, Ciro, whom I had met in Belem in July at the "narratives" event travelled all the way down to Teresina for this week: 20 hours on the bus.
Each day had a four hour morning session, with a 30 minute interval. Without air conditioning, and with temperatures reaching 44oC on two days of the week, it was quite wearing, but not as bad as I had feared. Teresina may be the hottest state capital in Brasil, but Manaus at 36 is harder to bear than here at 44!
What was especially pleasing about the teaching content of the visit was the request for theology, rather than methodology. “Please teach us the theology of preaching.” While so many just want method, hints and tips, and languish for lack of a basic understanding of what we are doing when we open the Word, this group took the theological under-girding of the Ministry of the Word very seriously. I thus felt able to give some material on method without feeling pressured.
I was able to give the larger part of my basic homiletics course in three mornings, taking the last morning to preach three sermons on the trot, all of them related to the Ministry of the Word in some way. All are in some way personal manifestos: many banhocheiroso readers will recognise the texts: 1 Peter 1:22 – 2:3; Mark 6:30-44 and Psalm 2. On the Wednesday night I preached in town, at the Central Presbyterian Church.
The week was exceptionally tiring, partly because it was so enjoyable that I threw myself at it with all my strength, with long talks with students and staff completing the work begun in the lecture hall. Only when I found that it took more than a week to recover did I realise just how tough it had been. Perhaps the heat was more fearsome than I had recognised!
Flying from Goiânia to Teresina, I stop (as ever) in Brasília. Flying out, the superb bridge over the main lake is worth seeing. A nervous day to fly, following the Gol disaster of the weekend.
Teresina - Capital of Piauí, the poorest state in Brazil. Coming in by plane it is obvious that there are no slums as such, but that the bulk of the housing is very poor.
The Theological Seminary of the North East.
A Google Earth photo of the seminary, with coordinates.
Teresina Cathedral - the steps covered with candles at night, for a major feast, it seems more innocuous by day. North Eastern Catholicism is strong stuff.
Street and river scenes in Teresina
Teresina sits by the river Parnaíba which divides it from the neighbouring city of Timon, in Maranhão state. This magificent steel bridge provides one crossing point.
The state government buildings, Teresina.
Mangoes
My entire time in the seminary was dominated by the smell of mangoes - mangoes of all types and varieties. I brought home as many manga rosa as I could - the smell filling the plane and then our flat. The Koreans who built the seminary beleived in planting good fruit trees!
Cajus
What we know as the cashew nut hangs below the juicy fruit, yellow when ripe, which makes an excllent drink. The nut has to be roasted to rid it of a caustic oil before eating.
Students, plus one fiance and one baby!
The Rev Maely, Director of the Seminary, being chaired and cheered by a group of students. Maely is a truly remarkable man, and one of a kind: brilliant, pretty much compulsive obsessive, monkish (in an ecclesiastical sense and for similarity to Monk in the TV series), wonderfully open in relationships and greatly loved by the students, he is the most humble, least pompous seminary director I could imagine. To be honest, I spent most of my time in Teresina without realizing that he was the director. His grasp of the facts of church history is encyclopaedic: I referred at one point in my lectures to the period that Calvin spent out of Geneva, and he was immediately ready with the exact dates. Doctrinally solid, and catholic in spirit, he will be a good contact in years to come, God willing. For me, he was the revelation of the trip.
Football crazy - both present students and ex-students playing hard and long.
Students gathering for the all-important "Novela das 6" (Six O'Clock Soap). This reminded me so much of LTS, where our Free Church student, Murdo, used to announce the start of Neighbours by singing the them in a Wee Free unaccompanied Psalms style.
Children of church families. The Presbyterian Church that has its building in the Seminary grounds is still pastored by one of the Korean missionaries who founded the seminary.
Scenes of the seminary, including building works at the far end of the site.
Our first contact in Teresina, Paulo Brasil, and his wife Eudalia. We had good fellowship this year in Pernambuco (June) and Ceará (July) and it was good to meet Eudália (sadly without the presence of Cora) and enjoy good food and conversation. Paulo has a deep commitment to Biblical theology, a great sense of fun, and is becoming a very dear friend. Please pray for them as they face major decisions regarding his possible doctorate in the USA.
Paulo and Eudália's two excellent sons, Davi and Paulo.
The Central Presbyterian Church, currently pastored by Paulo Brasil. I preached here on the Wednesday evening.
Compulsory music class in the seminary. I pity the poor girl who has to cope with this lot!
Spider
The queue for juice and biscuits at morning break.
Theological debates at break time 1
Theological debates at break time 2
The main lecture hall filling up again after the morning break.
The entire group, gathered for a photo at the end of the Theological Week.
2-7 October 2006
This long awaited visit, for the Seminary’s “Theological Week” (what week isn’t, in a seminary?) turned out be one of the highlights of the year. The combination of the great good humour of students and staff, hospitality, humanness, and seriousness in handling the things of God, made this week very special. I hope that more contacts will be forthcoming!
The STNE is a new school, only three years old, although using the campus and buildings of a Korean Presbyterian Bible Institute founded (I believe) in the sixties. Our friend Ronildo from Aracaju had already indicated my name as a possible help with homiletics, but it took until this year, and the growing friendship with Paulo Brasil, to make the visit a reality.
The Theological week is a chance for former students to return for fellowship and a refresher course, as well as a moment of concentrated teaching in one particular area for the student body. It was particularly pleasing that one former student, Ciro, whom I had met in Belem in July at the "narratives" event travelled all the way down to Teresina for this week: 20 hours on the bus.
Each day had a four hour morning session, with a 30 minute interval. Without air conditioning, and with temperatures reaching 44oC on two days of the week, it was quite wearing, but not as bad as I had feared. Teresina may be the hottest state capital in Brasil, but Manaus at 36 is harder to bear than here at 44!
What was especially pleasing about the teaching content of the visit was the request for theology, rather than methodology. “Please teach us the theology of preaching.” While so many just want method, hints and tips, and languish for lack of a basic understanding of what we are doing when we open the Word, this group took the theological under-girding of the Ministry of the Word very seriously. I thus felt able to give some material on method without feeling pressured.
I was able to give the larger part of my basic homiletics course in three mornings, taking the last morning to preach three sermons on the trot, all of them related to the Ministry of the Word in some way. All are in some way personal manifestos: many banhocheiroso readers will recognise the texts: 1 Peter 1:22 – 2:3; Mark 6:30-44 and Psalm 2. On the Wednesday night I preached in town, at the Central Presbyterian Church.
The week was exceptionally tiring, partly because it was so enjoyable that I threw myself at it with all my strength, with long talks with students and staff completing the work begun in the lecture hall. Only when I found that it took more than a week to recover did I realise just how tough it had been. Perhaps the heat was more fearsome than I had recognised!
Flying from Goiânia to Teresina, I stop (as ever) in Brasília. Flying out, the superb bridge over the main lake is worth seeing. A nervous day to fly, following the Gol disaster of the weekend.
Teresina - Capital of Piauí, the poorest state in Brazil. Coming in by plane it is obvious that there are no slums as such, but that the bulk of the housing is very poor.
The Theological Seminary of the North East.
A Google Earth photo of the seminary, with coordinates.
Teresina Cathedral - the steps covered with candles at night, for a major feast, it seems more innocuous by day. North Eastern Catholicism is strong stuff.
Street and river scenes in Teresina
Teresina sits by the river Parnaíba which divides it from the neighbouring city of Timon, in Maranhão state. This magificent steel bridge provides one crossing point.
The state government buildings, Teresina.
Mangoes
My entire time in the seminary was dominated by the smell of mangoes - mangoes of all types and varieties. I brought home as many manga rosa as I could - the smell filling the plane and then our flat. The Koreans who built the seminary beleived in planting good fruit trees!
Cajus
What we know as the cashew nut hangs below the juicy fruit, yellow when ripe, which makes an excllent drink. The nut has to be roasted to rid it of a caustic oil before eating.
Students, plus one fiance and one baby!
The Rev Maely, Director of the Seminary, being chaired and cheered by a group of students. Maely is a truly remarkable man, and one of a kind: brilliant, pretty much compulsive obsessive, monkish (in an ecclesiastical sense and for similarity to Monk in the TV series), wonderfully open in relationships and greatly loved by the students, he is the most humble, least pompous seminary director I could imagine. To be honest, I spent most of my time in Teresina without realizing that he was the director. His grasp of the facts of church history is encyclopaedic: I referred at one point in my lectures to the period that Calvin spent out of Geneva, and he was immediately ready with the exact dates. Doctrinally solid, and catholic in spirit, he will be a good contact in years to come, God willing. For me, he was the revelation of the trip.
Football crazy - both present students and ex-students playing hard and long.
Students gathering for the all-important "Novela das 6" (Six O'Clock Soap). This reminded me so much of LTS, where our Free Church student, Murdo, used to announce the start of Neighbours by singing the them in a Wee Free unaccompanied Psalms style.
Children of church families. The Presbyterian Church that has its building in the Seminary grounds is still pastored by one of the Korean missionaries who founded the seminary.
Scenes of the seminary, including building works at the far end of the site.
Our first contact in Teresina, Paulo Brasil, and his wife Eudalia. We had good fellowship this year in Pernambuco (June) and Ceará (July) and it was good to meet Eudália (sadly without the presence of Cora) and enjoy good food and conversation. Paulo has a deep commitment to Biblical theology, a great sense of fun, and is becoming a very dear friend. Please pray for them as they face major decisions regarding his possible doctorate in the USA.
Paulo and Eudália's two excellent sons, Davi and Paulo.
The Central Presbyterian Church, currently pastored by Paulo Brasil. I preached here on the Wednesday evening.
Compulsory music class in the seminary. I pity the poor girl who has to cope with this lot!
Spider
The queue for juice and biscuits at morning break.
Theological debates at break time 1
Theological debates at break time 2
The main lecture hall filling up again after the morning break.
The entire group, gathered for a photo at the end of the Theological Week.
# posted by Andrew and Cora @ 8:41:00 am 
