Adult Education Offerings

Winter/Sring 2008

Weekly Sunday Classes — 9:30 to 10:30

(Classes will start promptly at 9:30)

Paul Tillich and Modern Theology
        January 6 - January 27, in the Church Library

Paul Tillich is generally regarded as one of the greatest Christian theologians of the 20th century.  This class will provide an overview of his life and thought in four sessions.  We will consider his basic method of doing theology: interpreting Christian doctrines as answers to questions people are actually asking in their own generation.  Also considered will be some of Tillich's key concepts, such as faith as ultimate concern; culture and personality types (heteronomy, autonomy, and theonomy); religious symbols; sin as separation and love as reunion; the God beyond the God of theism; and others.  The class will include tapes of Tillich lectures, and written materials will be available for participants.  Guy B. Hammond, emeritus professor of philosophy and religion at Virginia Tech, will lead.

Diplomacy and the Christian Conscience
        February 3-Special Event

How does one balance the requirements of diplomacy with a Christian outlook on life?  Join Ambassador David Newsom in the church library for a talk about his life as a Christian diplomat.

Conversation with God
        February 10 - March 9, in the Church Library

Prayer takes many forms, from the thankful pause before a meal to a meditative hour alone. Whatever form it takes, prayer is critical for living in joy with the Holy Spirit each day. During Lent we will examine, experience, and discuss different prayerful approaches to God. Come share your experiences and frustrations as we study the foundations of daily spiritual practice. The discussions will be led by Bob Bryant, Dick Haines, David McFarlane, Lynn Noland, and Laura Sugg.

Book Review Sunday
        March 16th 9:45 am in the Church Library (Palm Sunday)

William Lee Miller, author of President Lincoln: The Duty of a President will discuss his just released new book on Sunday morning. Bill is Scholar in Ethics and Institutions at the Miller Center and from 1992 until his retirement in 1999 was Thomas C. Sorensen Professor of Political and Social Thought and Director of the Program in Political and Social Thought at U.Va. He has been a member of Westminster since moving to Charlottesville.

Contemporary Atheism
        March 30 - April 13, in the Church Library

This class, a discussion of contemporary apologists for atheism, will address three topics: (1) the intellectual and cultural context that has nurtured atheism; (2) some ideas and claims of the recent popular atheists; and (3) a critical Christian theological response: what have our atheist critics shown us about our blind spots? How do we make our most effective and authentic case for belief in the God of the Christian tradition when we think the atheist position is unsupportable? Dan Via, emeritus professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School, will lead these sessions.

The Sustainable Earth Crisis
        April 20 - May 11, in the Church Library

We are called to care for creation, yet we are on the brink of an environmental, economic, and human catastrophe. Steve Brown will lead a series of four discussions of the present environmental crisis. We will examine the scriptural and theological foundations of our responsibilities as Christians and see how we may make individual contributions to the solution. We will examine how to build a sustainable global economy through careful business, professional, and public policy decisions, and we will discuss how to move toward a world of abundance and hope.