The Bible Beyond Black and White
This class looks at how the Bible and its two testaments came to exist. In the class we explore the history of how people have interpreted the Bible over time. Finally, we consider how scripture might do more than teach us what to think. Beyond describing beliefs, how might scripture help us live into our now with confidence and creativity?
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Session One
We begin with a discussion of what scripture is and then move to considering how it was that the Bible came to be, starting first with a look at the Hebrew Bible.
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Session Two
Before we discuss the canonization process for the New Testament, we take a look at the texts themselves and what we know about their histories.
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Session Three
This week we dive into the history of the formation of the New Testament, what texts made it in and what texts didn’t.
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Session Four
Looking at historical approaches to reading the Bible - from the ancient church to the Protestant Reformation.
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Session Five
Looking at the move toward left-brain-thinking, reason, and the beginnings of literalism.
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Session Six
This week we take a look at the history of evangelicalism, fundamentalism, and the turn toward strictly literal interpretations of the Bible in America.
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Session Seven
This week we begin the section in our study devoted to looking at particular texts and how we might interpret them from a variety of perspective. We begin at the beginning - with Genesis and creation!
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Session Eight
Continuing our deep dive into the various approaches folks have taken to interpreting key texts, we look this week at “The Flood.”
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Session Nine
We move from our reflections on “The Flood” to a conversation about Abraham, Isaac, and sacrifice.
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Session Ten
We finish up our conversation about the binding of Isaac and begin diving into the “historical Jesus.”
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Session Eleven
As we make our way into “Holy Week,” retracing the stories of Jesus’s final days, we look at the scriptures about Jesus’s death.
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Session Twelve
In our final session, we look at the stories surrounding the resurrection and what it means to call Jesus “messiah.”