In fact, the seminary curriculum through its varied disciplines carries on a lively debate with all kinds of issues associated with today's cemetery, namely the experience of dying and death, violence, tragedy, injustice and countless other unanswered questions regarding this world. While it is true that everything depends on the lens through which we view the world, in seminary we learn to wear a theological lens that enables us to see beyond the limits of empirical constrictions. So often our theories and theologies dictate what we see and don't see. We must be on guard, therefore, against those viewpoints and beliefs that cater only to our biases and limited comprehension. As biblically educated Christians, we believe that the death of Jesus is a way of encountering what is wrong with our world.
Christian faith confronts death.
We have more details on the death of Jesus than any other aspect of his brief earthly life. In short, the Good News of the New Testament is placed within the context of death. This fact was vividly illustrated for me when I participated some years ago in a Russian Orthodox Easter celebration in Paris. Following the wonderful midnight celebration of a Russian Orthodox Easter, the faithful gathered the next afternoon at the cemetery for a vesper service. In the face of the realities of the cemetery, the Christian seminary teaches the resurrection of Christ.