User:Essjay

“Essjay” is the spelled-out form of my initials, S.J., and also of my patron saint, Saint Justin. It was a nickname I picked up in graduate school. It has nothing to do with the Jesuits (Society of Jesus).

For various reasons, I prefer to remain anonymous on Wikipedia, but I also believe it is important for me to offer information about myself that is relevant to my work on Wikipedia.

Professional Qualifications

Harkness Tower at Yale University

I am a tenured professor of theology at a private university in the eastern United States; I teach both undergraduate and graduate theology.

My Academic Degrees:

• Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies (B.A.)

• Master of Arts in Religion (M.A.R.)

• Doctorate of Philosophy in Theology (Ph.D.)

• Doctorate in Canon Law (JCD)

Degrees Honoris Causae:

• Doctorate in Sacred Theology (S.T.D.) (Hon.)

• Doctorate in Theology (Th.D.) (Hon.)

My Research Interests:

• The Roman Catholic Church

• Canon Law

• Christian Liturgy

• Homosexuality and Christianity

Wikipedia Contributions

I usually contribute to articles about Catholicism.

With regard to Wikipedia, I generally contribute to articles regarding Catholicism. My particular area of interst is church doctrine, liturgy, and canon law. I take great pride in having been described to the Arbitration Committee (in a case unrealted to me) as "one of Wikipedia's foremost experts on Catholicism (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration&diff=15442107&oldid=15440904#Statement_by_El_C)."

I occasionally dabble in other religious traditions; I have experience with the Episcopal Church (USA) and I am a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). However, my particular qualifications regard Catholicism, and I tend to limit my contributions to that area. I refuse to contribute to articles on issues that are highly controversial; I have no interest in becoming embroiled in wikiwarfare.

I have other passing interests, and occasionally contribute in those areas, although I try to avoid other areas where there are better qualified contributors. I have generally restricted myself to contributing to existing articles, although I have modified or added significant amounts of Roman Catholic material to articles.

When considering my contributions to Wikipedia, it is important to remember that I am a Catholic scholar, not a Catholic. I make every effort to prevent my personal theology from filtering into my contibutions. I rarely if ever contribute anything to an article without a definate source, and I research my contributions extensively before I submit them. I do not always cite my source in the text, particularly in the context of "The Church teaches..." or "According to the Church..."; however I am always willing to provide my sources to anyone who would like verification of my contributions or more information.

Wikipedia Housekeeping

Keeping the wiki shining bright

I watch several of the "housekeeping" and "help-out" pages as well, including:

• Votes For Deletion I've found only one article up for deletion where I felt my vote was needed...
• Requests For Comment The comment "Get a life!" frequently comes to mind...
• Requests for Adminship Mops sure are popular here...
• Recent Changes The darnedest things turn up on this list!
• The Village Pump Everything that's fit to post (and most of the stuff that isn't).
• The Reference Desk Pardon me, but do you know the internal pressure of a doughnut on Venus?
• The Help Desk Hell! Hell! The whole project has gone to Hell!
• New Users I love to say hello to the newbies!
• Welcoming Committee You know, welcoming the newbies is an important job.
• Clueless Newbies Okay, sometimes they do weird things...
• Edit count for Essjay (http://kohl.wikimedia.org/~kate/cgi-bin/count_edits?user=Essjay&dbname=enwiki) I'm coming up on 1000!
  

For Good & Bad Students

One Plenary Indulgence

For those who impress me with their Wiki-skills, or catch my mistakes, I am quick to award partial and plenary indulgences. I tend to forget to add "and many other Christian traditions" to my contributions, so if you "ecumenize" my contributions, you may find the "Strides in Ecumenism Award" has been awarded.

If you disagree with me, I'll brand you a heretic and have you burned at the stake Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam...There's nothing like an auto de fe in the morning!

Theology & Religious Life

—Graham Greene

I am an extremely liberal Christian theologian and Christian existentialist; a self-professed heretic and schismatic.

Disciples of Christ

My theology begins from a single tenet: the power, mercy, and love of God is unlimited and inexplicable. I believe that the God defies logic, reason, doubt, and understanding; that is to say, the nature and methods of God can never be entirely understood.

I am a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). In addition to attending a Disciples church, I attend Mass at a Roman Catholic parish on a regular basis because I have a deep appreciation of the liturgy.

I serve a local parish as a cantor. I have a strong interest in liturgical music, both traditional and contemporary. I often find myself chanting various texts (including the daily mail) to the modal psalm tones from the Gregorian Chant Schola (http://www.saintmeinrad.edu/monastery_liturgicalmusic.aspx) at Saint Meinrad Archabbey.

I have been asked in the past if I am a priest or a Jesuit, and although I am neither, I did belong to a monastic community before I began my graduate studies. For now, I have no plans to become a cleric.

Frequently Used Links

Here are some links I use on a regular basis:

• The Order of the Roman Catholic Mass (http://myweb.lmu.edu/fjust/Mass.htm)
• The Vatican Archive (http://www.vatican.va/archive/index.htm)
• Collected Writings of the Church Fathers (http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/)
• General Instruction to the Roman Missal (http://www.usccb.org/liturgy/current/revmissalisromanien.shtml)
• General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours (http://www.catholicliturgy.com/index.cfm/FuseAction/DocumentContents/Index/2/SubIndex/39/DocumentIndex/2)
• The Abbey of Gethsemani (http://www.monks.org/aloneingod.html)
• Benedictine Oblates of St. Meinrad Archabby (http://www.saintmeinrad.edu/monastery_oblates.aspx)
• Liturgy of the Hours (http://www.universalis.com/)
• Get Fuzzy (http://comics.com/comics/getfuzzy/index.html)

Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, and nothing else
I am content with licensing my contributions only under the GFDL. I have chosen to avoid further complicating the legal situation of Wikipedia by introducing other licenses, either more or less restrictive.

This is a Wikipedia user page. If you find this page on any site other than Wikipedia, you are viewing a mirror site. Be aware that the page may be outdated, and that the user this page belongs to may have no personal affiliation with any site other than Wikipedia itself. The original page is located at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Essjay (http://%65%6E%2E%77%69%6B%69%70%65%64%69%61%2E%6F%72%67/%77%69%6B%69/User:Essjay).