First Spring Term   |   February 7– March 21

Creation Stories and Their Interpretations
Kathryn McClymond and Kenny Smith, Leaders

This course will examine creation stories from different religious traditions, noting differences and similarities. We will also examine how different scholars highlight different elements of creation stories, leading to radically different interpretations of those stories for different cultures and individuals.
Keystone Class, Jean Ellen Jones, Convener   |   Oglesby Building, Room G-4

Searching for the Sacred on Screen
Emily Wilmarth, Leader

We will ask the question: How does the medium of film offer us the opportunity to experience the Divine? We will explore NOOMA, short film and 3 feature length films. Film viewing will be offered after lunch on the Sunday prior to our discussion, or may be seen on your own.
Sojourners Class, Ed Carwile, Convener  |   Oglesby Building, Room G-10

Worship 102 – Worship Wars
Caroline Kelly, Leader

Join us for a follow up to Worship 101 as we move from basic conversations about worship to a more in-depth discussion related to emerging/alternative forms of worship in the 21^st century.  
Faith & Family, Kelly Bray, Convener  |   Oglesby Building, Atrium

Present Word: Christ the Fulfillment
Various Leaders

Our late winter studies continues our study of stories of Jesus. We are exploring how Jesus was recognized as the Messiah. Read familiar stories as if for the first time; learn to love Christ all over again. This uniform lesson series is open to all. 
Study Class, Brenda Spruell, Convener   |   Off Tull Hall, The Parlor

Back to top 

Second Spring Term   |   April 11– May 23

Poetry Matters
Gary Charles, Leader

Come sit at the feet of everyone from biblical poets to poets who have never opened a Bible to discover why poetry matters in a prose world. Come hear poets open new pathways to the praise of God and offer new possibilities for joyful and faithful lives.
Keystone Class, Jean Ellen Jones, Convener  |   Oglesby Building, Room G-4

Everyday Christian Ethics
John Senior, Leader

How should we respond to tough ethical problems that we confront every day? This course considers questions about what we should eat, how we should spend our money and time, travel, take care of ourselves, and be in everyday relationships with family, neighbor, and God.
Sojourners Class, Ed Carwile, Convener  |   Oglesby Building, Room G-10

Present Word: Teaching on Community
Various Leaders

What kind of community does God create? The books of Jonah and Ruth, the teachings of Jesus, and the stories of the early church demonstrate how faithful people come together in response to God’s will. This uniform lesson series is open to all. 
Study Class, Brenda Spruell, Convener   |   Off Tull Hall, The Parlor

Water is Thicker than Blood
Beth Johnson, Leader

Water is thicker than blood--when it's the water of baptism. The Bible contains a remarkably wide variety of voices talking about families, despite what we sometimes hear about "biblical family values." From polygamous marriages to celibacy to partriarchal families, Israelites and early Christians established multiple kinship arrangements in their life together within the household of God. We will explore several of these voices and ask what they contribute to our contemporary reflections on domestic morality.
Faith & Family, Kelly Bray, Convener  |   Oglesby Building, Atrium

Back to top

Both Terms

What Is Humankind?
Ike Lee and class members

The Message in the Bottle: How Queer Man Is, How Queer Language Is, and What One Has to Do With the Other by Walker Percy

A Southerner, a psychiatrist, a novelist, a philosopher, and a devout Christian, Walker Percy was one of the foremost American thinkers of the second half of the 20th century.  Percy opens us to questions he leaves unanswered, suspended somewhere between a Mississippi existentialism and a New York radical post-modernism.
Issues in Theology, John Huss, Convener  |   Oglesby Building, Room G-1

Man Enough
Paul Prebble, Leader

The issues of commitment, caring, and control are approached with poignancy, humor and candor in Frank Pittman's Man Enough. This class will discuss the cultural icons and models of masculinity using the book's case studies, vignettes, examples from literature and films. Join us to explore the myths and truths for us as Christians today.   A post-Easter study will be determined by this group.
Men’s Gathering, Brian Bishop and Rob Stewart, Conveners   |   Off Tull Hall, Brotherhood Room

The Bible From Scratch 
Beth Johnson, Catherine Neelly, Emily Wilmarth,Caroline Kelly, Leaders

Need a new look at the basics of the Bible?  Feel like this pie to too big to enjoy or even have a piece?  Have that quizzical feeling that you need to know more than you do?  The February through May continuation of the Fall course will walk through the general make up of the Bible and its story.  All are welcome to take a slice or the whole pie.   This spring we will work with the New Testament.
Oglesby Building, Room G-3

Back to top 

January 2010 – Winter Series
Grace & Gratitude: John Calvin 500 Years Later

January 3    |    Grace and Gratitude –Setting the table for the rise of Calvin

Gary Charles will set the stage in Roman Catholicism and early Protestantism in the first decades of the 16^th century that gives rise to the French Reformer who had to flee his home to the alien land of Geneva. Click here to listen to his presentation>>

January 10    |    Grace and Gratitude –Calvin’s voice from an unmarked grave

Dr. George W. Stroup, J.B. Green Professor of Theology, Columbia Theological Seminary, will help us listen to the distinctive voice of John Calvin that has influenced Christian thought and much of Western thought long after his burial in an unmarked Genevan grave. (Recording of presentation not available)

January 17    |    Grace and Gratitude – Calvin’s community of worship and praise

Dr. Kimberly Long, Assistant Professor of Worship, Columbia Theological Seminary, will invite us to explore Calvin’s contribution to seeing all life and work as worship and how God’s grace leads the church to be a body of grateful praise. Click here to listen to her presentation>>

January 24    |    Grace and Gratitude – A font of blessing and a table of thanksgiving

Dr. Martha Moore-Keish, Assistant Professor of Theology, Columbia Theological Seminary, will explore how Calvin’s sacramental thought was derived from his profound sense of the grace of God and how God’s gift of font and table evokes an answering gratitude from God’s children. Click here to listen to her presentation>>

January 31    |    Grace and Gratitude – Legacies of Calvin, from slavery to Barmen and apartheid to Belhar

George Stroup and Gary Charles will explore the legacies of Calvin and later Calvinists; legacies to confess and legacies to claim as instrumental to our becoming a body of Christ marked by grace and gratitude.