Sign Up, Sign Up for the Historical Jesus!

Folks have until Saturday, October 8th to get the discount for our Jesus Seminar on the Road, October 21-22. Thanks to the Johnson City Press for publishing the news about it last Saturday. Here is the story.

ELIZABETHTON — “Jesus In The First & Twenty-First Centuries” will be the theme for this year’s Jesus Seminar on Road on Oct. 21-22 at First Presbyterian Church, 119 W. F St.

Dr. Robert J. Miller and Dr. Jarmo Tarkki will present an evening lecture on Oct. 21 as well as morning and afternoon workshops on Oct 22.


Miller (Ph.D., Claremont Graduate School) is professor of religious studies at Juniata College in Pennsylvania. He is the author of “Born Divine: The Births of Jesus and Other Sons of God” (2003) and “The Jesus Seminar and Its Critics” (1999).

Tarkki (Ph.D., University of Helsinki) is senior pastor at Bethania Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Solvang, Calif. He is adjunct professor of theology at California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, a teaching fellow in philosophical theology at the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, and the author of numerous books and articles.

The schedule of events includes:

• The Search For The Historical Jesus, Oct. 21 from 7:30-9 p.m. The gospels portray Jesus as the Messiah and divine savior. Within the gospels, however, we can glimpse another Jesus, the Jewish teacher and healer with a radical vision of the kingdom of God. The search for the historical Jesus examines the gospels in order to discover who Jesus was before he became the object of Christian belief.

• The Jesus Of The First Century, Oct. 22, from 9:30 until noon: What do we know about the historical Jesus? This workshop will examine selected sayings of Jesus, showing why scholars consider them authentic and suggesting surprising ways they might have been understood. In the process, they will introduce participants to the methods of modern scholarship used to distinguish the words of the historical Jesus from those later attributed to him.

• The Jesus Of The Twenty-First Century, Oct. 22 from 1:30- 4 p.m. What does the rediscovery of the historical Jesus mean for the heirs of the Christian tradition? Does this Jesus have any relevance for contemporary culture and for people who claim no allegiance to Christianity? The presenters offer their insights and engage participants in a discussion about the relation of the historical Jesus to these questions.

Pre-registration cost until Oct. 8 is $60 for the lecture and workshops, and $75 after Oct. 8. Lecture and workshop reservations may be made separately as well. Register or get more information via www. westarinstitute.org or call 877-523-3545.

Information is available also at www.FPCelizabethton.org or by calling the church at 543-7737.

The Jesus Seminar is a program of the Westar Institute. It was first launched in 1985.

Because we believe religious literacy is so important, we especially want to reach out to high school, college, and seminary students. If you know of a student, please encourage them to come. To sweeten the deal, students with ID get in free. Students, if you can, please contact the church at 423-543-7737 if you would like to attend.

Everyone, please get out the word to your favorite campus.