Rebecca Nunley. Time in India

Our own Rebecca Nunley will present in the Adult Forum this coming Sunday. Rebecca is a regular at the Forum and always has something interesting. She recently spent a month in India on a spiritual pilgrimage.
Please join us.

Brene Brown on Shame, Vulnerability and Connection

University of Houston Professor Brene Brown inadvertantly launched herself onto a hugely successful speaking career with a local TED Talk in Houston. Speaking to an audience of 400 her talk on shame, as the universal fear of disconnection, was posted on Youtube where it's reached an audience of 2,000,000. You can watch it here (click me), and again at the Adult Forum on Sunday morning. Please join us.

Prof. Travis Williams: “Negotiating Conflict and Christian Identity in the Greco-Roman World”

This coming Sunday, March 23rd, we'll host Dr. Travis Williams, Assistant Professor of Religion at Tusculum College. You might have heard Travis' interview on Religion for Life as he spoke on 1 Peter. He will talk further about 1 Peter at the Adult Forum. His synopsis of the talk is as follows:

"For anyone familiar with 1 Peter, it goes without saying that the letter’s primary concern is with the persecution affecting its Anatolian readers. But within modern scholarship, there has been considerable debate regarding the author’s prescribed method of response. In this session, we will take a closer look at how 1 Peter encourages its readers to navigate their disadvantaged situation, offering a fresh reading of the letter’s social strategy. We will show how the constraining powers of the Roman empire forced the author to advocate a minimum level of compliance with social expectations; yet, at the same time, he subtly promotes a sense of cautious resistance by cleverly undercutting the power-base of dominant social and political structures. This strategy marked one of many variegated Christian responses to Greco-Roman social influence."

Dr. Williams bio:reads:

"Dr. Travis B. Williams is Assistant Professor of Religion at Tusculum College, where he has taught since 2011. He has published across a number of different areas related to New Testament studies, including benefaction in the Greco-Roman world, modern hermeneutical approaches to New Testament interpretation (e.g., social-scientific criticism; postcolonial criticism), and prophecy & inspired exegesis within Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity. But his primary area of specialty is the epistle of 1 Peter. Having published numerous essays and articles on this often-neglected New Testament letter, as well as two major monographs, Dr. Williams is one of the leading experts on the subject. At the moment, he is at work on a major exegetical commentary on 1 Peter, which will appear in the prestigious International Critical Commentary series."

Please join us. We'll be happy to see you. Loving childcare is provided,

Epigenetics, Controlling the Genes with Julie Wade

This coming Sunday, March 2, Dr. Julie Wade will resume her series on the fascinating topic of epigenetics and the way these "above the gene" factors impact the expression of who we are.
Please join us. We'll be delighted to see you. Loving childcare is provided.

"God's Eldest Daughter" by Bo Abernethy

This coming Sunday, February 23rd, we'll host Aubrie Abernethy and her sister-in-law, Thais who worked to publish Bo Abernethy's book, "God's Eldest Daughter."

From the publisher:

"'This book carries a guarantee, not that I am making, but one the Source of us has already made.'

Do you believe in God or something bigger than yourself? Do you ask yourself what is the purpose of life? Do you feel that something is missing, that life is somehow incomplete?

Bo Abernethy did. He seemed to have it all: a lucrative career as a highly esteemed architect, attention as a sought-after party guy, and a hard-drinking, loud-laughing, sailing-the-oceans, skiing-the-mountains lifestyle.

He was having a great time, except he wasn’t. He was miserable, and running from his suffering. He was, as he puts it, 'exhausted by my own incompletion.'

'God’s Eldest Daughter' documents the inspiring and universal journey of one man’s real connection to meaning. In relating his personal and unique tale, he provides powerful tools to support the reader in his or her own awakening. The reader will gain a wealth of practical and profound information from 'A Course in Miracles' (of which Abernethy was a respected scholar and teacher), as well as many other time-honored teachings."

Please join us for what promises to be a fascinating presentation.

Epigenetics Continues with Dr. Wade

This coming Sunday, February 16, Prof. Julie Wade will continue her presentation on Epigenetics. Last Sunday was a great session. Join us for more of the same!

“EVOLUTION THROUGH EPIGENETICS”

This coming Sunday, February 9th, we celebrate Evolution Sunday with a presentation  by Dr. Julie Wade, retire professor of Biology at Milligan College. Dr. Wade's talk will focus on the fascinating topic of epigenetics. She writes:
"Genetic mechanisms involved in evolution are far more complex than previously thought.  Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene activity that do NOT involve alterations to the genetic code but still get passed down to at least one successive generation.  These changes are governed by cell material (such as methyl groups) that sit outside the genome (the epigenome) and can attach to the DNA.  This material tells your genes to switch on or off due to environmental factors such as diet, stress, or nutrition.  It is the nongenetic transfer of information through cells, and it can influence evolution.  These biochemical switches may be implicated in many forms of cancer, autism, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and other diseases.   Come and learn more about this fascinating twist that continues to drive modern day evolution as our environment becomes more and more stressful and impacts our genes in different ways."
Please be warmly welcome to join in the discussion.