Why Jesus is worth saving

This coming Sunday we will continue our look at the "Saving Jesus Redux" series with a focus on Chapter 12, "Why Jesus is worth Saving."

From the accompanying text:

"The bottom-line is this: most Christians have grown up idolizing the Christ of the creeds and the Christ of faith without giving the Jesus of history much attention, let alone his due. So herein lies the “saving” part. Bernard Brandon Scott says,

“I think the historical Jesus counts now like he’s never counted before. What I’m not convinced ought to survive is Christianity. In fact, I’ve become more and more convinced that Christianity is the enemy of Jesus. When people ask me if I’m a Christian, I almost always say I’m a follower of Jesus—and I’m not sure that’s compatible with being a Christian.”

"Ouch!

"Jesus needs saving because his philosophy of life, what he taught, how he lived, and how he related to the Divine offer profound insights into the problem of human existence. We can adore and confess to the Christ of the creeds, but we can’t emulate the Christ of the creeds. For that, we need Jesus of Nazareth, the teacher, the sage, the prophet, the mystic—the human being."

Please join us at 9:45. Warm, loving childcare is provided.

Robert J Miller

This Sunday, we will host Robert J. Miller, Professor of Religious Studies at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa. A Fellow of the Jesus Seminar since 1986, he was Scholar-in-Residence at Westar Institute in 2001. He is the editor of "The Complete Gospels" (1992), an anthology of twenty early gospels presented in Westar's innovative translation, the "Scholars Version," and author of "The Jesus Seminar and Its Critics" (1999) and "Born Divine" (2003).


Here is a video of him
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNuwDg8B9bo

And here is his westar blurb
http://www.westarinstitute.org/Fellows/millerrj.html
and his faculty page
http://www.juniata.edu/departments/religion/research_miller.html

Please join us. We'll be delighted to see you, and as ever, loving childcare is provided.

Saving Jesus Redux: Resurrection

This coming Sunday Julie Wade will lead the Forum as we look at the historicity of the resurrection as told in the Bible.


“The emphasis upon the tomb really being empty that’s made by some Christians and the emphasis that Jesus rose in a physical, bodily way from the dead is really a distraction.”
—Marcus Borg, Living the Questions

From the text:
"It’s not difficult to imagine a parishioner approaching a pastor after a Bible study comparing the Gospels and saying, “I’m so relieved to know that I’m not crazy. Every Easter when the story was different I thought it was me—I thought I just had a really bad memory.” Nope. Your memory is fine. You’ve just stumbled upon a topic that isn’t discussed in polite company: the
inconvenient fact that none of the Gospels agree on what happened on Easter morning."

Please join us for and engaging session of alert minds. Superb, loving childcare is provided.

Saving Jesus Redux: Atonement

This Sunday we're going to discuss the 10th chapter of "Saving Jesus redux -- Atonement"
Here's the teaser:
"How odd it would be if the “good news” was what most people think it is—that Jesus died for our sins. If that were the case, then Jesus would’ve been in the rather awkward position of going around the countryside with the nonsensical claim, “Hi, I’m Jesus and I died for your sins!” According to the synoptic gospels, the Good News is that the Kingdom of God is NOW and we’re called to participate in it. But don’t try to tell that to some folks. For many Christians, the “good news” is solely about what’s called the “saving work” of Jesus, achieved by his vicarious and atoning death on the cross.
"And yet, many New Testament scholars argue that some early streams of Christianity flowed with little or no mention of Jesus’ suffering and death. For those early Christians it was Jesus’ life and example, his teaching and healing, that were important. But at the opposite extreme, we’ve got the Apostle Paul preaching “Christ crucified!” with little mention of Jesus’ earthly life. While over the years Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection became essentially the be-all and end-all for most Christians, there’s never been a unanimous opinion. So, how are we to understand God’s saving work in Jesus Christ? Was it his life? His suffering? His crucifixion? His resurrection? All of the above?"
Please join us at 9:45. We'll be deilighted to see you. Loving childcare is provided.