Antonianum Doctorate in the Holy Scripture
Rome, Italy, 2 April 2019 -- Greetings to every confrere in the East Asia Oceania Region! I am Father Nguyen Ngoc Vinh from the Salesian Province of Vietnam. Yesterday (2 April 2019), I defended my Doctoral Dissertation in Biblical Theology. I did my Licentiate at the Biblicum in 2007 up to 2011. Then I came back to Rome for my Doctorate in 2014 at the Pontificia Università Antonianum.
I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to the Salesian congregation for all these years of study. I consider it as one of the most meaningful experiences for me. I had two years of experience as a formator in the Theologate at Gerini, Rome. And then, in the last two years and a half, I transferred to the Salesian community of Testaccio, Rome and there continued my studies.
The title of my Dissertation is: "The Lord will make a house for you - 2 Samuel 7.11" The figure of King David attracted me a lot. David had many talents and capacity in his life, but he manipulated God for his personal and ambitious endeavours. The divine oracle in the Second Book of Samuel, chapter 7 is the promise of the dynasty of David, but in the oracle, God reminded David how much He loved him and made him king of Israel. After listening to the words of God through the prophet Nathan, David understood that the love and the fidelity of God preceded him. Thus, from that time onward, he let God guide him in all his works.
This study on the Bible has made me feel the love of God all the more in my life and has strengthened me in my Salesian vocation. Definitely, my study does not end with this Doctorate degree, but it is just the beginning of taking on the responsibility of teaching and doing pastoral activities in the future.
May God help me to be continually guided by the Word.
