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TRANSFORMINGTHECHURCH.ORG

e-Newsletter - Volume 2, Number 15
Class Forum Postings Worth Discussing!
by Bill Anderton

There are many postings in the Class Forum worthy of prolonged discussion. We going to cite just a few of them below as examples of the many postings in the Class Forum.

Please starting commenting on these excellent postings that are abstracted below as well as post new threads of your own!

If this course is your first experience with interactive distance learning, you will find that the Class Forum is not only an excellent way to have sustained contacts and dialogs with your instructor but you also can receive the benefit of sustained interactions with your other classmates as well. There is a lot of experience among your classmates and the Class Forum creates peer-to-peer learning opportunities.

The Class Forum is an excellent resource. Please start participating in the Class Forum by adding comments to these posts (and others as well) and starting new threads for discussion. Don't just read the postings of others; make comments and join the conversation!

Posting: "Troublesome Gospel Text for First Sunday of Advent"

Abstract: "Both in the on demand lecture/discussion and our live conversation we focused on the Jeremiah passage. Certainly there was plenty there to explore. But we didn't talk about Luke 21:25-36, which is at least as difficult to handle as the Jeremiah passage. I thought about it quite a bit as I was working on Mark 13:1-8 for this Sunday.

It seems to me the Church in our time (maybe other times too) easily makes two mistakes about apocalyptic material in the New Testament. One is to analyze how the original readers/hearers understood it and write if off as distant from us. The other extreme is represented by the pop prophecy such as the "Left Behind" books that in my opinion misuses it not just to project unwarranted details but to use them as arguments for a particular social/political viewpoint."

To read the entire posting and make a comment for discussion, click here click here.

Posting: "Jeremiah Question"

Abstract: "One of the interesting things about today's passage from Jeremiah is that the oracle, on the face of it, gets it wrong. After a "book-ful" of searing condemnation of the monarchy, Jeremiah finally takes a positive view, at least concerning its future. But historically it doesn't really come to pass. The Davidic monarchy is not restored and established forever. The reason this passage continues to function as scripture for us as Christians is that we have radically reinterpreted its message. The question I have is this: what are some examples from your experience where things you've gotten so wrong wind up going so right?"

To read the entire posting and make a comment for discussion, click here click here.

Posting: "Can We Learn From our Anabaptist Kin?"

Abstract: "My own journey has been diverse and circuitous: Baptist, broadly evangelical, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic spiritual directors and community, Bruderhoff relationship, influence of Eastern Orthodox spirituality. Of course, now at home among the Disciples of Christ.

As we talked today about how mainline Christians are feeling less included in the US social consensus and have been looking to learn from the pre-Constantinian Church, I was reminded again of how much I have learned about the Reign of God as not only distinct from but a danger to human government and social consensus. If our loyalty and allegiance is exclusively to Jesus, that means we are marching to a very different drummer than even Thoreau heard. At best we are misunderstood if not regarded as a threat. Yet, for many in our congregations making such a distinction is incomprehensible and uncomfortable."

To read the entire posting and make a comment for discussion, click here click here.

Posting: "Share Advent Sermon Scripts"

Abstract: "Is there a way we could easily share our Advent sermon scripts with each other? Of course, it would be after the fact, so we would not be using the work of others to write our own sermons, but reading each other's work could be some encouragement and instruction. I know we all work differently, so some might be complete manuscripts and others outlines, but I still think it might be a fun outcome of the course. Years ago I taught a Christian education graduate class on family development and asked each student to read 3-4 books that were not on the assigned reading list and write a half page bibliography entry/review. I had these duplicated and distributed so that besides the assignment, all of the students left with a well annotated bibliography of about 60 books in the field."

To read the entire posting and make a comment for discussion, click here click here.

Please tell your colleagues about this course! It is not too late for your friends to join the class.
 

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Christian College and TransformingTheChurch.org have endeavored to make this course as RELEVANT and as ACCESSIBLE to as many Pastors as possible. Our pricing is set in order to ensure that even those on a “lean” professional development or educational budget can participate. This is not only fresh, new content for Advent preparation, but affords several hours of direct interaction with the instructor. We believe that the VALUE is unsurpassed, and we offer this course to the Church and Her Servants with hopes that you can participate.