"Pathways" | Reflection by Jack Tebes

The word “pathways” can refer to opportunities that open up because of luck, effort, or privilege and those foreclosed due to misfortune, poor choices, or oppression. The photo depicts a sun-dappled pathway I walked on a hike a few years ago.

“Pathways” also evokes my journey of faith as an 18-year-old college freshman at Georgetown. I grew up in Chicago attending Catholic schools and had an older brother and three uncles who were priests, so I was well-versed in Christianity. And yet I can’t say that I chose Christianity as an adult until I got to Georgetown and was married at Trinity a decade after graduation.

My faith pathway began with an introductory theology class required of freshmen: The Problem of God. To this day, I feel fortunate to have landed in Professor Beth McKeown’s class. She challenged us to think critically about our choices and had us read memoirs of some who had wrestled with the problem of God, including Malcolm X, Elie Wiesel, Dorothy Day, among others. Each author described a journey grounded in lived experience, which led some to reject God. That was the point; grappling with the problem of God as a choice was distinctly human, one that could give life meaning. So I too began a faith journey as an adult, one I now chose for the first time. Through the years, my pathway has never been certain, straight, or complete, even many decades later. Holding “the problem of God” close to my heart all these years has enriched my life, given it purpose through connections to others and my work, and deepened my appreciation for the faith pathways of those whose choice differs from my own.