2006 - 2007 Stalcup School of Theology for the Laity
"The Spiritual Roots of Mainstream Protestants"
D. Newell Williams, President and Professor of Modern and American Church History, Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University
Saturday, September 9, 2006
The terms Mainstream Protestant and Spirituality do not often appear in the same sentence. Nevertheless, Mainstream Protestants do have spirituality! Spirituality is one’s understanding and practice of relationship to the ultimate. This seminar will examine the roots of the spirituality of contemporary churches such as the Disciples, the United Methodists, and the Presbyterian Church (USA). Beginning with the influence of such eighteenth century figures as Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley, the impact of the Social Gospel Movement and other developments in the American experience will be examined. Tensions in the spirituality of Mainstream Protestants and the implications of this spirituality for the contemporary witness of these churches will be explored.
Williams - Session 1
Williams - Session 2
Williams - Session 3
Williams - Session 4
"The Bible’s Story of Earth: Creation in the Biblical Story"
John C. Holbert, Lois Craddock Perkins Professor of Homiletics,
Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University
Thursdays, October 5, 12, 19, 26, 2006
Our planet is in serious trouble. Our air is polluted, our fresh water is inadequate for our fast-growing population, our forests are disappearing, our oceans and mountains are heating up too rapidly, too many species of plants and animals are becoming rare or vanishing altogether. Our ecosystem is under assault, and we humans are the major culprits. We have enormous work ahead of us if we are to reverse these dangerous realities. We Christians need to look again to our source, our ancient Bible, to discover resources with which we may address these problems. As always, the sacred Text offers us what we need to rethink our relationship to
God’s good creation. Bring a Bible and explore the sources in the Bible for a
hopeful relationship to God’s earth.
Compiled Session
"Encountering God in the Midst of Life"
Kristen A. Culp, Dean, The Disciples Divinity House and Senior
Lecturer in Theology, The Divinity School, The University of Chicago
Saturday, October 7, 2006
The Bible sometimes depicts experiences of God as dramatic and stunning
encounters. For example, God’s presence is made known in burning bushes and tongues of fire, in the flight from Egypt and on the road to Emmaus. Yet in the Bible and throughout the centuries, God has also been experienced in everyday life: in worship, work, and play; in joy and in suffering; in solitude and while gathering in community; with family and friends and in strangers; when close to home and while far away from it. This seminar on theology will offer resources for talking and thinking about the presence of God in our lives. It will explore biblical and theological resources and draw on examples from history, literature, and travel. It will consider how different experiences of God inform different ways of engaging our lives and our world. For example, a conviction and sense of God’s nearness and incarnation can tutor us to enjoy and value life in its vulnerability as a gift of God; a conviction of the glory and inviolability of God can spur us to protest that which diminishes God and human dignity. Theology cannot itself give us experiences of God, but it can help us talk about and think about how we do encounter God in the midst of our lives.
Culp - Session 1
Culp - Session 2
Culp - Session 3
Culp - Session 4
"Evolutionary Christianity: Taking Seriously Both
Jesus and Darwin"
C. David Grant, Professor of Religion and Chair of the Department, Texas Christian University
Saturday, November 11, 2006
As thoughtful Christian believers today, we are confronted with many seemingly conflicting views of our world, our culture, and ourselves. Science, on the one hand, seems to explain our world quite adequately without God, and yet, on the other, religious people know that science by itself cannot sufficiently explain our human experience. In this course we will bridge that gap by seeing that religion is itself part of our fundamental evolutionary inheritance and, hence, that to flourish as humans is to attend to that evolutionary need. Just as we have evolved with the need for oxygen to live, so we have evolved with the need for religion. We will see that our own religious tradition is evolving through time and culture and that adequately to understand Christian faith is to understand it as itself in a continuing evolutionary process.
Grant - Session 1
Grant - Session 2
Grant - Session 3
Grant - Session 4
"The Psalms: Violence, Compassion, and Community"
Toni Craven, I. Wylie and Elizabeth M. Briscoe Chair of Hebrew Bible, Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University
Saturday, January 27, 2007
The Psalms give voice to problems that trouble the psalmists and 21st century believers. Anger and violence in the hearts of individuals and in the midst of the community are prayed into poetic laments. In the Psalms, discomforting emotions and negative experiences are surrendered to God as the very stuff of prayer. Relationship with God does not promise exemption from suffering, but covenant does offer resources for mitigating it. Together, we will explore what we can learn from the passion and the compassion of these prayers. What does it mean to say that vengeance is God’s? We will consider varied ways in which the Psalms awaken deeper understandings of God, self, and others. Those who stand with each other, those who stand with God triumph, not because things turn out “happily ever after,” but because they find ways to survive with courage, weeping, and even laughter. Those who seem to have nothing, have it all!
Craven Session 1
Craven Session 2
Craven Session 3
"Theology in Contemporary Film"
Marjorie Suchocki, Professor Emerita, Claremont School of Theology
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Films present a particular view of the world, usually developing a story around a particular problem and its resolution. Theology, too, gives a particular view of the world, defining its problem and offering resolution. This workshop will give participants an opportunity to analyze the 2005 and 2006 Oscar winners [“Crash” and ? (announced on 2/25/07)] in light of their own constructions of the world and in light of Christian theology. Participants should view both films prior to coming to the workshop.
Suchocki Session 1
Suchocki Session 2
Suchocki Session 3
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