One on One with Scott Hahn, Part 2 of 2

Here are some other random things from our conversations:

-Regarding his personal spiritual life, he is a member of Opus Dei and follows its spirituality. It was obvious that he truly loves being in Opus Dei. For spiritual reading, he leans most heavily on the writings of St. Josemaria Escriva, Opus Dei’s founder.

- Mike Aquilina, an awesome Catholic theologian known for his mastery of early Church history and the Fathers of the Church, is Scott Hahn’s best friend and fellow member of Opus Dei. Interestingly, Mike Aquilina co-authored a book with Fr. Juan Valez (mentioned in “part 1” of this post), entitled Take Five: Meditations With John Henry Newman.

-So I was always baffled by the events of Gen. 9:20-27. While Gen 6:9 describes Noah as “righteous”, “blameless”, and one who “walked with God”, and while Noah is the only one (along with his family) who was judge worthy enough to be spared by the flood, it seems according to Gen. 9:20-27 that Noah is actually a horrible person, a drunkard, and an unjust man. After all, only a heartless, cruel man would condemn his own grandson to a life of slavery, simply because his grandson’s father accidently walked in on him drunk and naked. How are we to make sense of this!!?? For any of you who have wondered this same thing, or are now wondering it, you’re in luck! Scott Hahn has revealed the hidden meaning of the passage, thus vindicating Noah, in his book A Father Who Keeps His Promises, pg 85-87 (if you want to know his explanation but don’t have access to the book, let me know and I will clue you in....or you can buy it!). I stumbled upon this book years ago and was so excited to finally understand that passage. But then as I was reading Scott Hahn’s book Understanding the Scriptures last year, I approached the section on Noah excited to find his revealing insight of the true interpretation of Gen. 9:20-27, and instead I found that the interpretation is not even mentioned (and no alternative explanation is given in its place)!!! How could this be!!! Talk about disappointment and confusion. So of course I brought it up to Scott Hahn in the car. As it turns out, Scott Hahn did include the interpretation of Gen. 9:20-27 in his submitted manuscript, but it was left out of the final edition.

-This next one was a little bit of a surprise: Upon being asked how he has any time for his wife and 6 kids, considering he works as a professor at Franciscan University, is the director of the Saint Paul Center for Biblical Theology, is the Pope Benedict XVI Chair of Biblical Theology and Liturgical Proclamation at St. Vincent Seminary, is continually and ardently studying the Bible and the Catholic faith, is traveling almost every weekend to various events to speak and teach, and has written over 20 books (and continues to write), not to mention his countless other articles, essays, and Biblical commentaries…yes, considering all that, he responded that he spends more time at home and has more time available for his family than almost any husband/father he knows! How is this possible!!?? It turns out he only works one day a week (actually, two half days) at Franciscan University, and most of the rest of his work can be done from home.

-For those of you fortunate enough to have been introduced to the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible (a project headed by Scott Hahn), I have an update. Although the only Old Testament volume to be released thus far is Genesis, 85% of the Old Testament commentary has already been completed. It appears that Ignatius Press is taking their sweet little time getting the rest of the volumes published. BTW, the New Testament series is already completed and is now available in a single, combined, one-volume New Testament. It is plain and simply the best Catholic Bible available in English.

-For anyone who has read the introduction to Scott Hahn‘s book Signs of Life and are dying to know (as I was) what the Bible passage is that he neglects to mention as the one that almost destroyed his doctoral thesis and which he prayed face down in the rain in desperation asking for our Blessed Mother’s prayers that he might be able to understand it, and then miraculously the next day he does, it is Heb 9:16-17. For an explanation of the interpretation that he discovered (though he takes no credit for it, insisting that it came from Mary), see the full page topical essay on pg. 429 of the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible.

-After asking him nonstop questions for almost 2 hours, I dropped this one on him: “We believe that God is perfect justice, so how am I to understand various passages from the Old Testament where God acts in an apparently unjust way?” And then I gave him the example of an episode from Chronicles where thousands of people were killed by God in retaliation because King David chose to take a census against God’s wishes (no surprise, he knew the chapter and verse). The look on his face said “do we really have to go there now?” Then he said “I hate to dodge your question, but I am already starting to lose my voice, and I still have a 3-hour talk to give tonight. Do you mind if we talk a little bit about you?” I can’t believe I almost caused Scott Hahn to lose his voice! In my defense, he sure is a talker. When we got back in the car after his talk, I told him to brace himself for 2 more hours of non-stop questions because he no longer had a reason to save his voice. He was more than willing to talk the whole way J. By the way, I forgot to ask him on the way to the airport to get back to me on that question.....bummer.

Needless to say, it was an unbelievable experience to spend so many hours in personal conversation with one of my all time favorite Catholic writers, and a person whose writings have been so influential in my faith. I am so thankful that our Lord (and Marie J) gave me this once in a lifetime opportunity. If you ever get the chance to go watch Scott Hahn speak, or to listen to one of his talks on tape, or to read any of his books, I highly recommend that you do it. After all, as I can attest, your faith in Christ might be renewed and your path in life might be revealed by it.