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Jackson, Michigan
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Jesus in the First
& Twenty-first Centuries
Lane C. McGaughy & Joe Bessler
LECTURE
Jesus before the Myth
Jesus of Nazareth left the imprint of his voice and deeds on the stories that were told about him during the half century before the creation of the Gospel of Mark. How were those stories about Jesus framed? And how can scholars distinguish between the historical Jesus and later images of him? The historical figure that is emerging from the deliberations of the Jesus Seminar suggests that a visionary sage was transformed from an iconoclast into an icon and his radical vision of God's domain dissipated in debates about divinity.
Friday, 7:30–9 P.M
WORKSHOPS
The Rise & Fall of the Christian Myth
Early church leaders adapted Jesus to several powerful ideas in the ancient world including the notion of empire and the philosophy of Platonism. His life was modeled on heroic patterns of the hellenistic world. As a consequence, the church dominated Western culture from the fourth century to the modern world. The presenters will show how the rise of modern science and literature, democracy, and historical criticism challenge the intellectual and moral adequacy of those structures.
Saturday, 9:30 A.M.–NOON
Jesus after the Myth
Since the eighteenth century, the church and its critics have used Jesus to talk about the meaning of human existence, and ultimately about the nature of God. The presenters offer their insights and engage participants in a discussion about the relation of the historical Jesus to those and other twenty-first century issues and suggest that the current culture wars reflect competing worldviews.
Saturday, 1:30–4 P.M.
FACULTY
Lane C. McGaughy (Ph.D., Vanderbilt University) is the Geo. H. Atkinson Professor of Religious and Ethical Studies emeritus at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. The Chair of the Boards of Directors of Westar Institute and of Polebridge Press, he is the author of two books on New Testament Greek and of numerous scholarly articles.
Joe Bessler ( Ph.D., University of Chicago) is Robert Travis Peake Associate Professor of Theology at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is the author of Law and Theological Ethics (2005) and is at work on Jesus: A Scandalous Theology in which he develops the contours of a theology that takes the historical Jesus seriously.
ALL EVENTS AT
Arbor Grove Congregational Church
2621 McCain Rd.
Jackson, MI 49203
All Sessions Pre-registration (by March 21) Registration (after March 21) Additional Family Member Single Sessions Friday Evening Lecture Saturday Morning Workshop Saturday Afternoon Workshop
Register by mail using the printable registration form.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Westar Institute
P.O. Box 7268
Santa Rosa, CA 95407
tollfree 877-523-3545, 707- 523-1350 fax
events@westarinstitute.orgor
Nancy Angelo
mango7448@sbcglobal.net
517-750-9895