New Class

 

Adult Christian Education Class

Starting on September 15, 2019, 9:15 a.m.
How can our faith experience be developed through a reasoned examination of the history of the Bible? Please join us for a study of the story of the world’s most influential book. We will begin on Sunday, September 15 at 9:15 am in this room.

We will follow the topics listed in the book’s table of contents. We’ll present the book’s main points in class, so it is up to you if you want to read it outside of the class. You are warmly welcomed whenever it is possible for you to be with us on any Sunday.

We look forward to our study together!

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We will be using John Wesley’s “Quadrilateral” framework. The four components he used to develop faith are (1) Scripture, (2) tradition, (3) reason, and (4) experience. For United Methodists, Scripture is considered the primary source and standard for Christian doctrine. Tradition is the witness of development and growth of the faith through the past centuries and in many nations and cultures.  Experience is the individual’s understanding and appropriating of the faith in the light of his or her own life. Through reason the individual Christian brings to bear on the Christian faith discerning and cogent thought. These four elements taken together bring the individual Christian to a mature and fulfilling understanding of the Christian faith and the required response of worship and service.

John Barton is a theologian who served as the Oriel and Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford in England for twenty-three years, and has been an ordained and serving priest in the Church of England since 1973. He has studied and taught the Bible throughout his academic career, and has written many books on it, including Ethics in Ancient Israel and The Bible: The Basics. He is the editor in chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. He lives in Abingdon, United Kingdom.

Discussion of Barton’s book, published by Viking Press in 2019, will be led by Lowell Gustafson.
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