Course Outline, References and Links - Holy Manners Study #38 - this page updates frequently.

ACTS
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THE BOOKSTUDY ARCHIVES. A good book is even more interesting when you study it with friends. When our studies complete, we archive them here to share. Enjoy our notes, our discussions, and our research. You are welcome to their use.
How Jesus Became God - by Bart Ehrman
“The idea that Jesus is God is not an invention of modern times, of course. As I will show in my discussion, it was the view of the very earliest Christians soon after Jesus’s death. One of our driving questions throughout this study will always be what these Christians meant by saying “Jesus is God.” As we will see, different Christians meant different things by it. Moreover, to understand this claim in any sense at all will require us to know what people in the ancient world generally meant when they thought that a particular human was a god— or that a god had become a human.”
Jan23
Session 1
BOOK READINGS - not req'd yet - see below each session.
AN EVENING OF INTRODUCTIONS - to each other, to the themes of the books, to the author.
OPENING- My Heart - sit only with those who understand you - Enea B and Rumi.2m30s - LINK
PRESENTATION - LINK - (PDF format includes links)
MEDIA LINKS
   1. Video: Bart Ehrman's Personal Beliefs Interview. 7m45s LINK.
   2. Video: Jesus and the Historian - Bart Ehrman - 9m excerpt 6m-15m - whole 1h21m33s LINK
   3. Video: What is Religion - Chris Hedges - 10m16s - LINK
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
   1. What would you like to see as an element in this course?
REFERENCES:
    1. Review - Wayne Holst - Anglican Journal: LINK
   2. Quick Summary - Wayne Holst: LINK.
   2. Review - (critical) Catholic.com - LINK.
   4. Review - (critical) - Christian Century - LINK
   3. Chapters link to book: LINK:
   4. Amazon link to book: LINK.
   5. Video Lecture 1 of 3, How Jesus Became God, 1hr40m, Coral Gables Congregational Church, Jan 29, 2016, LINK
   6. Video Lecture 2 of 3, How Jesus Became God, 1hr37m, Coral Gables Congregational Church, Jan 29, 2016, LINK
   7. Video Lecture 3 of 3, How Jesus Became God, 59m, Coral Gables Congregational Church, Jan 29, 2016, LINK
   8. Video - WAMU Interview - a shorter version of the above trilogy - The Debate over the Divinity of Jeus - 19m - LINK
   9. Transcript - PBS Documentary - How Jesus Became Christ - LINK
  10. Watch on line - PBS Documentary - How Jesus Became Christ - LINK
CLOSING - I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus - Mormon Tabernacle Choir - album "Consider the Lilies" 5m19s LINK
Jan 30
Session 2

BOOK READING - Introduction & Ch 1. Divine Humans in Ancient Greece and Rome
OPENING- Musings of a Heretic - Flo - LINK
PRESENTATION - LINK - (PDF format includes links)
MEDIA LINKS
   1. Video:
   2. Video - Above ref #8 Sess 1 - PBS doc. excerpt 15:53 - Paganism and Ancient Rome, Discovery at Nag Hammadi, Pliny the Younger,, Part IV - 0:00 to 15:43 - Transcript Page 6-8
REFERENCES:
   1. Tom Harpur - The Pagan Christ (about Christian origins in Egypt) - Harpur Website LINK
   2.. Book Notes - Questions and Comments - Michael Grammer - Ch 1 - LINK
   3. Jesus in comparative mythology - Wikipedia - LINK
CLOSING - Musings on the new study - Ken - LINK

Feb 6
Session 3
BOOK READINGS - Ch 2. Divine Humans in Ancient Judaism
OPENING- Frans - Video - The Hospital Window - LINK.
PRESENTATION - LINK - (PDF format includes links)
MEDIA LINKS
   1. Video: "Why Persist with Religious Perceptions - Lloyd Geering - LINK
REFERENCES:
    1. Philo of Alexandria - Catholic Encyclopedia - New Advent Database - Philo's bio - LINK-
    2. Book Notes - Questions and Comments - Michael Grammer - Ch 2 - LINK
   3. How the Jews invented God and made him great - Haaretz - By Ariel David Jun 13, 2016 - LINK
   4. Yedid Nefesh - Poetry and Liturgy - Monotheism and its Discontents (Sep 2012 | - Rabbi Brant Rosen - LINK
CLOSING - Deb sharing Mike Grammer's thoughts - LINK
Feb 13
Session 4
BOOK READINGS- Ch 3. Did Jesus Think He Was God?
OPENING- Pat - LINK
PRESENTATION - LINK - (PDF format includes links)
MEDIA LINKS:
   1. Video excerpt: "Was Jesus and Apocalpyticist?" - Bart Erhman - LINK
   2. NYT - Book Review - Shakespeare - The invention of the human - Harold Bloom - LINK - handout
   3. Jesus - The Power of Parable - John Dominic Crossan - 51m - apr 2014 - LINK
REFERENCES:

   1. Chapter Notes shared by Mike Grammer of Toronto - Ch 3 - LINK
   2. Video - The Historical Jesus - John Dominic Crossan - 64m - dec 2013 - LINK
   3. Video - Ehrman-Bass Debate: Did the Historical Jesus Claim to be Divine - Sep 2015 - Collin College - 2hr24m - LINK
CLOSING - Darlene - UC Observer - "Is there God after God?"- LINK
Feb 20
Session
5
BOOK READINGS - Ch 4. The Resurrection of Jesus: What We Cannot Know
OPENING- Jack - The Observer - Conundrums - "Are post-theistic congregations any different than service clubs?" - Nancy Steeves - LINK
PRESENTATION - LINK - (PDF format includes links)
MEDIA LINKS:
   1. Video - The Resurrection Argument That Changed a Generation of Scholars - Gary Habermas - The Veritas Forum at UC-Santa Barbara.- Nov 2012 - 1hr20m - LINK - Note - An excellent and current argument of dating the historicity of Jesus resurrection.
REFERENCES:
   1. Chapter Notes shared by Mike Grammer of Toronto - Ch 4 - LINK
   2. Video - Ehrman vs Craig: Evidence for Resurrection - 2hr - College of the Holy Cross - Aug 2016 -  LINK
CLOSING - Karen - "Lord, it is night."- LINK
Feb 27
Session 6
BOOK READINGS - Ch 5. The Resurrection of Jesus: What We Can Know
REFERENCES:
   1. Chapter Notes shared by Mike Grammer of Toronto - Ch 5 - LINK
 . 2. Video - The Great Resurrection Debate - William Lane Craig vs. John Shelby Spong - Bethel College - Mar 2005 - 1hr45m - LINK
   3. Video - The Resurrection: Historical Event or Theological Interpretation? - N.T. Wright vs. John D. Crossan - New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary - 2hr - Mar 2005
Mar 6
Session
7
BOOK READINGS - Ch 6. The Beginning of Christology: Christ as Exalted to Heaven
Mar 13
Session 8
BOOK READINGS - Ch 7. Jesus as God on Earth: Early Incarnation Christologies
Mar 20
Session
9
BOOK READINGS - Ch 8. After the New Testament: Christological Dead Ends of the Second and Third Centuries
Mar 27
Session
10
BOOK READINGS - Ch 9. Ortho-Paradoxes on the Road to Nicea & EPILOGUE: Jesus as God: The Aftermath
Note on Documents and Videos. If in clicking documents linked in these web pages, you cannot open them, it may be because you do not have Microsoft Office installed at the computer you are at. There are two FREE alternatives. First, Microsoft themselves offer auxiliary programs called "readers" for their various programs like PowerPoint and Word. LINK. Second, a complete Office Suite is available that can read and write Microsoft documents. The Open Office Project is now in about 80 languages and an excellent program set. LINK.
Holy Manners The background on the phrase and why we have adopted it. The guidelines for our studies.
Click to visit the St. David's Adult Ed Forum  Internet Discussion Group at Yahoo - the St. David's Forum. The archive is public and readable. Participation is by invitation. Click HERE if you would like to join. You will then be able to post your own responses to the list and will be emailed the notices and contributions of the others. Click left to visit the archives of the site (read only). There are presently 88 persons.
Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge. ... Proverbs 23:12 (NIV)
Group Facilitator. Wayne Holst              EMAIL WAYNE

I spent most of my life thinking like a church professional, rather than as a regular congregational member. My training as a pastor always had me asking myself 'how can I apply this discovery, insight, new information to a regular church setting?'

Often, clergy have been hesitant to share the discoveries they have made through a 'critical' approach to the Bible with their parishoners because they wonder how laypeople might accept it. I have found that many thinking laity are professionals in their own fields of endeavour and understand a critical approach very readily. What they seek are ways of relating faith to daily living.

I am grateful for the journey I have been taking through ordained ministry to teaching at the university and serving as a fellow layperson at St.David's United Church. Here we find that questioning and honest expression of our faith and doubt is readily accepted and supported.
Group Facilitator. Jock McTavish           EMAIL JOCK

I am a student and a poet, a democrat and a techocrat, an eclectic eccentric. I grew up in a loving Baptist community, so in my heart I'm still a Bible loving evangelical. As I grew in learning I found a new home in the United Church whose tolerance embraces the broadest range of Christian understanding. I most enjoy the illumination of our ancient traditions by modern scholarship. For they show in clear novel ways that the perspectives of the Special Ones were seldom the understandings of those that followed. They show all knowledge to be in relationship .

There seems a lack of understanding in our secular world for religious practices. The reasons why I still gladly - even necessarily - attend church are difficult to voice to those unfamiliar with church, or those injured by church. Elliott got it right. We find our way back to the place we started from. But with new understanding.