Here is the bottom line. Bernard Brandon Scott is an excellent teacher. Our upcoming Jesus Seminar on the Road is not to be missed.
Yesterday he traced the chronological history of the resurrection showing how it developed within the tradition. I will spend a post or two on that.His thesis is that if we read the New Testament chronologically rather than canonically we wouldn't have the distortions of resurrection as a physical body and so forth.
Brandon autographed a copy of his latest book for me, The Trouble With Resurrection, and I snuck in a photo op!
We have a had a good turnout, about 250 or so for the 25th anniversary of Westar commonly referred to as the Jesus Seminar.
Last night, Lane McGaughy who studied with Robert Funk at Drew and Vanderbilt and later taught with him at the University of Montana, provided a history of the Jesus Seminar.
I realized after I heard the presentation how much the Seminar has had an influence. They have helped to bring scholarship from the ivory tower to the people independent of the brokerage system of the church.
They have not been bashful about tackling big questions and encouraging all of us to do the same.
Today,
Stephen Patterson
and
Thomas Sheehan
are going to take on God.
What is (are) the God question(s)? The past several centuries of scholarship and social change in philosophy, science, history, and theology have altered the theological landscape, requiring new frameworks for answering the deepest human questions about reality, spirit, and meaning. How can we better understand the roles that ideas of God (or rejections of God) play in contemporary social imagination? What meaning can (or should)“God” have today? Finally, does the human race need God? Thursday, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
I wish I could have gone to that seminar. The evolution of the resurrection stories when you read the New Testament in the order it was written is something that I have given consideration to in the past and I think it is an interesting and important issue.
ReplyDeleteSlight change in subject but did anybody watch GOD IN AMERICA on PBS? I thought it was quite illuminating. I particularly liked how they contrasted Martin Luther King Jr with Billy Graham. King kept his integrity by not wanting access to power but an yielding and effective distance allowing him to speak truth to power.
ReplyDeleteThey dealt with Fundamentalism vs Modernism at some length.
Correction: UNyielding
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying my time here very much. Steve Patterson just finished the first half of his presentation. He suggests that religion in America is becoming belief in incredible things. Mix the lack of critical thinking plus power and we have a recipe for mayhem.
ReplyDelete@John only got the last bit of the PBS show. Want to catch it all. What is your observation?