Spring 2010 Academy for Vital Christianity Class Offerings
Twin Cities Metro Area
Greater Minnesota
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 Interpreting the Older Testament with Integrity
The Older Testament is an amazingly multifaceted compilation of poetry, novellas, archival materials, legends, sagas, priestly injunctions, work ditties, pithy maxims, love songs, instructions on table manners, and something approaching law. It represents a plethora of traditions of Israel, passed down, compiled, edited, embroidered, woven together, and edited again over more than a thousand years.
We will read these ancient texts with integrity—which often means not reading them literally. Come find how the story of God working in and through our spiritual ancestors – Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Huldah, David, and Jeremiah – intersects with our own stories, allowing us to see God at work in our lives today.
Carolyn Pressler is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ and Harry C. Piper Jr. professor of biblical interpretation at United. She has written numerous articles dealing with gender studies and the Bible, biblical law, and the Psalms, is the author of two books, The View of Women Found in Deuteronomic Family Laws and Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, and has co-edited a third book, Engaging the Bible in a Gendered World (edited with Linda Day). Currently, she is working on a commentary on the book of Numbers for the Abington Old Testament Series. Pressler received her M.Div. from Wesley Theological Seminary and Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary.
Dates: Saturdays – February 27 & March 20
Times: 9:30 AM-3:30 PM
Location: St. Paul, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ
Cost (includes lunch): $190.00 ($240.00 after February 13)
Registration deadline: Saturday, February 20
Registration required: Online Registration or a Printable Registration Form
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 Our Neighbors of Other Faiths
Minnesota’s new religious diversity is a given. This class actively engages our neighbors of different faiths in order to move beyond mere diversity toward relationship. Literally a journey to other faith traditions, the class will begin at Hazel Park UCC with a discussion about the importance of interfaith understanding. Then we will travel around the metro area to a Hindu mandir, a mosque, a synagogue, and a Buddhist temple for other sessions. Car pooling arrangements can be set up at the first session at Hazel Park UCC. Class participants will learn from presentations by actual practitioners of the other faiths and through the experience of being in their sacred spaces.
Gail Anderson directs Interfaith and Ecumenical programming at the Minnesota Council of Churches. She coordinates the Muslim Christian dialogue with the Islamic Center of Minnesota, hosts and co-facilitates the Twin Cities Interfaith Network, and heads up the Minnesota Interreligious Initiative, designed to strengthen the state’s interfaith infrastructure. Anderson earned a masters degree from United where she wrote her thesis on teaching theology through storytelling.
Dates: Mondays – April 19, 26; May 3, 10, 17
Times: 7:00-9:00 PM
Location: St. Paul, Hazel Park Congregational United Church of Christ
Cost: $175.00 ($225.00 after April 5)
Registration deadline: Monday, April 12
Registration required: Online Registration or a Printable Registration Form
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 Reading the Gospels Today
What if we were to discover that the four Gospel writers hadn’t the least intention of telling “the same story” of Jesus but were telling four very different stories? This series of discussions explores the nature of the Gospels and the surprising insights of contemporary scholarship into what the Gospel writers were really up to, and asks what it would mean for us to adopt a faithful, but critical, stance toward the Gospels. Topics will include the surprising purpose of the parables, why we should read the Gospels as “post-war” literature, and the distinctive voice of each Gospel writer.
Neil Elliott holds a Ph.D. in biblical studies from Princeton Theological Seminary and serves as an Episcopal priest and scholar-in-residence at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on the Hill in St. Paul. He is editor in biblical studies at Fortress Press and the author of numerous articles and books in biblical studies, most notably Liberating Paul: The Justice of God and the Politics of the Apostle (1994) and The Arrogance of Nations: Reading Romans in the Shadow of Empire (2008). He is adjunct instructor at United and at Metropolitan State University.
Dates: Saturdays – March 27 & April 24
Times: 9:30 AM-3:30 PM
Location: Alexandria, First Congregational United Church of Christ
Cost (includes lunch): $190.00 ($240.00 after March 13)
Registration deadline: Saturday, March 20
Registration required: Online Registration or a Printable Registration Form
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 Reading the Prophets in the 21st Century
The Old Testament prophets were immersed in the religious, political, and social realities of their own times, seemingly so different from ours. Yet they spoke to them so powerfully that their words echo across the centuries, powerfully illuminating our own social, political, and religious questions. Often seen as critics, the prophets actually were carriers of a powerful vision and hope for what human life together could be. This course will help you hear the accents of these ancient voices in order to bring their sense-making power to your own deep questions and struggles.
Richard Weis is in his 12th year as dean of the seminary and professor of Old Testament theology at United. An internationally recognized scholar specializing in the book of Jeremiah, he is writing a commentary on Jeremiah for Eerdmans and editing the Hebrew text of Jeremiah for a new scholarly edition of the Bible. Over the years he has successfully nurtured a love of the Old Testament among students with a wide range of attitudes and levels of knowledge about scripture.
Dates: Saturdays – March 20 & April 17
Times: 9:30 AM-3:30 PM
Location: Mankato, Centenary United Methodist Church
Cost (includes lunch): $190.00 ($240.00 after March 6)
Registration deadline: Saturday, March 13
Registration required: Online Registration or a Printable Registration Form
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 The Spiritual Lives of Children and Youth
Do our children have faith? Will our youth have faith? How might a congregation nurture the spiritual lives of children and youth? This course will explore these and other foundational questions which parents and church leaders ask.
Congregations both provide opportunities for faith development and help parents to create faith growth opportunities in the home. We will explore this partnership, as well as look at specific ways to nurture their spirituality, including age-appropriate spiritual practices.
Barbara Anne Keely is director of masters studies and associate professor of Christian education and congregational spirituality at United, teaching in the areas of Christian education, spiritual formation, and Presbyterian polity. A Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), she is part-time co-pastor of Wahkon Presbyterian Church, Wahkon, Minn., and Calvary Presbyterian Church, McGrath, Minn. She is also an oblate of the Order of St. Benedict, affiliated with St. John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minn.
Dates: Saturdays – March 20 & April 24
Times: 9:30 AM-3:30 PM
Location: Rochester, Christ United Methodist Church
Cost (includes lunch): $190.00 ($240.00 after March 6)
Registration deadline: Saturday, March 13
Registration required: Online Registration or a Printable Registration Form
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 Wrestling with the Problem of Evil and Suffering
The problem of evil and suffering is both ancient and new. Ancient people have wrestled with it and volumes of treatises have been written about it, yet it has remained a vexing problem that continues to haunt every generation. The past may shed light, but every generation faces it with certain freshness, intensity, and particularity. How we interpret the problem or challenge of evil and suffering greatly affects how we experience and respond to it. This course seeks to explore ways of interpreting this phenomenon. We’ll sharpen the theodicy question (God’s power, love, and justice) and deconstruct theological constructs that are hurtful. We will not settle for easy answers particularly in response to the pain of those who are dying before their time. Finally, we’ll explore alternative theological interpretations of dealing with the challenge in ways that are consistent with our current worldview and are philosophically sound, pastorally caring, and hope giving.
Eleazar Fernandez is professor of constructive theology at United and an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. He earned his M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary in the Philippines, his Th.M. from Princeton Theological Seminary, and his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University. He is the author of Reimagining the Human: Theological Anthropology in Response to Systemic Evil.
Dates: Tuesdays – April 13, 20, 27; May 4, 11
Times: 7:00-9:00 PM
Location: Cottage Grove, Cottage Grove United Church of Christ
Cost: $175.00 ($225.00 after March 30)
Registration deadline: Tuesday, April 6
Registration required: Online Registration or a Printable Registration Form
Classes Previously Offered
Bible 101, with Carolyn Pressler
Bringing Global Music into Worship, with Arthur Clyde
Creation or Commodity: Biblical Perspectives on the Environment, with Richard Weis
Engaging the Arts to Revitalize Worship, with Arthur Clyde
From One Jesus to Many Christianities, with Paul E. Capetz
Making Sense of Paul in a Global Village, with Neil Elliott
The Spiritual Life of the Congregation, with Barbara Anne Keely
Transforming Conflict: Dealing with Difficult People in Your Congregation, with Mark Sundby
Understanding the New Testament in Today’s World, with Marilyn Salmon
Welcoming the Stranger: The Church’s Response to Immigration, with Sharon Tan
What Does the Bible Have to Do with Life Today?, with Carolyn Pressler & Neil Elliott |
