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The right question??? I believe the right question is "<u>How do I
get you to change your mind and do what I think is right?</u>"<br>
<br>
If you don't believe this is the right question, then pray tell how
do you resolve the purely local issues that these airy fairy
theological question overlook? It's hard to disagree that the
overarching theology that pervades most religions as some form of
the Golden Rule. But "the devil is in the details." The first
thing that came to me is how does the meeting of minds resolve a
local issue such as how one person's religion allows stoning to
death for adultery and another's abhors and condemns this action.
But we don't have to go to outside of a single religion to discover
unresolvable differences (and highly destructive differences in some
cases) such as abortion, capital punishment, gun control, wars,
homophobia, etc. Even within the same congregation such differences
occur and sometimes can split the group. And each side has their
authentic relationship to "GOD" that permits them to live as fully
as their minds can comprehend.<br>
<br>
Jim Baumbach<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 6/30/2012 4:07 PM, James Wiegel
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:1341090438.86442.YahooMailClassic@web126004.mail.ne1.yahoo.com"
type="cite">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="font: inherit;" valign="top"><font
id="yiv1926542163role_document" color="#000000"
face="Arial" size="4"><font size="4">Karen, you said:
"Let's talk. Is it "How are we to live together and
preserve this planet for the future?" ?</font></font><br>
<br>
sort of a combination of Rodney King (Can't we all get
along?) and <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro_Harlem_Brundtland"
title="Gro Harlem Brundtland">Gro Harlem Brundtland</a>
(Our Common Future report on sustainable development)
(How do we meet our own needs without compromising the
capacity for future generations to meet their own needs?)<br>
<br>
Pretty good, Karen . . . anyone else? Is this the right
question? I found this list below . . . from a church
consultant . . .<br>
<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name">
KEY QUESTIONS FOR OUR TIMES
</h3>
<div class="post-header">
</div>
<i>In 2000 Bill Easum articulated these key questions for
churches seeking to be missional, outward-focused,
evangelistic at the commencement of the 21st century.
Here are OUTWARD FOCUSED CHURCH we would be interested
in your answers. We'll be sure they get forwarded to
Bill.</i><br>
<br>
In 2000 I prepared a presentation for the Society for
Church Growth in which I asked what I considered at the
time to be some of the key questions of our time. In
looking back over these questions I find they are still
the key questions with which Western Christianity is
wrestling. You be the Judge if they are.<br>
<ul>
<li>What is it about my relationship with Jesus my
neighbor and the world can’t live without
experiencing?</li>
<li>How do I share my faith without coming off like a
bigot?</li>
<li>What will Christianity look like when it truly
understands that North America is a mission field?</li>
<li>What is the difference in being missional and doing
evangelism?</li>
<li>What is the difference in a being pastor and being a
cross-cultural missionary?</li>
<li>What does it mean to live in a world where one’s
spirituality is more important than one’s credentials?</li>
<li>Can we imagine doing evangelism that is not carried
out within the context of conquest?</li>
<li>How do leaders lead without control?</li>
<li>What will authority look like in an out-of-control,
anti-institutional, non-religious world?</li>
<li>What will Christianity look like when it’s no longer
defined by books?</li>
<li> How do we transition from handing out data that <em>informs
to</em> offering an experience that <em>transforms</em>?</li>
<li>How will we help people grow their spirituality
instead of just learning more about the Bible? </li>
<li>What will Christianity look like when the church is
missional and not institutional?</li>
<li>How will we “be” the church instead of “go” to
church?</li>
</ul>
<br>
<br>
Jim Wiegel<br>
<br>
"The problem with quotes on the internet is that it is
hard to verify their authenticity." Abraham Lincoln<br>
<br>
401 North Beverly Way, Tolleson, Arizona 85353-2401<br>
+1 623-363-3277 skype: jfredwiegel<br>
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<br>
Upcoming public course opportunities:<br>
ToP Facilitation Methods, Sept 11-12, 2012<br>
ToP Strategic Planning, Oct 9-10, 2012<br>
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Participation program is available in Phoenix in 2012-3.
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for further details.<br>
<br>
--- On <b>Sat, 6/30/12, <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:KarenBueno@aol.com">KarenBueno@aol.com</a> <i><a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:KarenBueno@aol.com"><KarenBueno@aol.com></a></i></b>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16,
255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><br>
From: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:KarenBueno@aol.com">KarenBueno@aol.com</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:KarenBueno@aol.com"><KarenBueno@aol.com></a><br>
Subject: [Dialogue] what is the right question these
days?<br>
To: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net">dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net</a><br>
Date: Saturday, June 30, 2012, 11:50 AM<br>
<br>
<div id="yiv1926542163">
<div><font id="yiv1926542163role_document"
color="#000000" face="Arial" size="4">
<div><font size="4">Let's talk. Is it "How are we
to live together and preserve this planet for
the future?" ?</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div>
<div>In a message dated 6/29/2012 6:07:33 P.M.
Mountain Daylight Time, <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:jfwiegel@yahoo.com">jfwiegel@yahoo.com</a>
writes:</div>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT:blue 2px
solid;PADDING-LEFT:5px;MARGIN-LEFT:5px;"><font
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR:transparent;"
color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2">
<div>Ah, what is the right question these
days? Right questions??<br>
<br>
Jim Wiegel
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow"
title="mailto:Jfwiegel@yahoo.com"
ymailto="mailto:Jfwiegel@yahoo.com"
target="_blank"
href="/mc/compose?to=Jfwiegel@yahoo.com">Jfwiegel@yahoo.com</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<span style=""
class="yiv1926542163Apple-style-span">“One
cannot live in the afternoon of life
according to the program of life’s
morning; for what was great in the
morning will be of little importance in
the evening, and what in the morning was
true will at evening have become a lie.”
– Carl Jung</span>
<div><span style=""
class="yiv1926542163Apple-style-span"><br>
</span>
<div>Partners in Participation Upcoming
public course opportunities:</div>
<div>ToP Facilitation Methods, Sept
11-12, 2012</div>
<div>ToP Strategic Planning, Oct 9-10,
2012</div>
<div>The AZ Community of Practice meets
the 1st Friday- Sept 7, 2012</div>
<div>Facilitation Mastery : Our
Mastering the Technology of
Participation program is available in
Phoenix in 2012-3. Program begins on
Nov 14-16, 2012 </div>
<div>See short video <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow"
title="http://partnersinparticipation.com/?page_id=55"
target="_blank"
href="http://partnersinparticipation.com/?page_id=55">http://partnersinparticipation.com/?page_id=55</a>
and website for further details.</div>
</div>
</div>
<div><br>
On Jun 29, 2012, at 0:11, "David Walters"
<<a moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow"
title="mailto:walters@alaweb.com"
ymailto="mailto:walters@alaweb.com"
target="_blank"
href="/mc/compose?to=walters@alaweb.com">walters@alaweb.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div>
<div style="FONT-FAMILY:Arial,
sans-serif;FONT-SIZE:10pt;">The
problem with gathering Spong describes
is just another event where people
come together and talk and talk and
always ask the wrong question. The one
thing I learned during my time in the
Order was the value of asking the
right question, especially during
those hot sweaty summers of the west
side of Chicago. <br>
<br>
-David Walters<br>
<br>
--- <a moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow"
title="mailto:elliestock@aol.com"
ymailto="mailto:elliestock@aol.com"
target="_blank"
href="/mc/compose?to=elliestock@aol.com">elliestock@aol.com</a>
wrote:<br>
<br>
From: Ellie Stock <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow"
title="mailto:elliestock@aol.com"
ymailto="mailto:elliestock@aol.com"
target="_blank"
href="/mc/compose?to=elliestock@aol.com">elliestock@aol.com</a>><br>
To: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow"
title="mailto:dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net"
ymailto="mailto:dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank"
href="/mc/compose?to=dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net">dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>,
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow"
title="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net"
ymailto="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank"
href="/mc/compose?to=oe@lists.wedgeblade.net">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a><br>
Subject: [Dialogue] 6/28/12, Spong: My
Way into an Interfaith Future<br>
Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2012 16:57:06 -0400
(EDT)<br>
<br>
<font color="black" face="Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
<div><font
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR:transparent;"
face="Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif">Sent from Chautauqua
where Spong is speaking every
afternoon.</font></div>
<div><br>
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0px
10px;DISPLAY:block;FONT-FAMILY:Georgia;COLOR:rgb(0,61,74);FONT-SIZE:34px;FONT-WEIGHT:normal;">My
Way into an
Interfaith
Future</h1>
<div>Last week
I introduced
you, my
readers, to an
interfaith
“think tank”
in which I
shared
recently at a
conference
center known
as the
Chautauqua
Institution in
Western New
York. Some
fifty leaders
from among all
the major
religious
systems of the
world gathered
there to
explore the
common ground
that might
lead to deeper
interfaith
cooperation
and
appreciation.
The goal
seemed
desirable and
all of the
participants
came with hope
and
excitement.
The need for
interfaith
cooperation is
apparent all
over the
world. Where
divergent
religious
systems
confront each
other,
violence
almost always
ensues. One
has only to
look for
documentation
at the
Jewish-Moslem
conflict in
the Middle
East, the
Hindu-Moslem
conflict
between
Pakistan and
India, the
Christian-Islamic
violence that
cuts across
Africa, the
Catholic-Protestant
tensions in
Ireland or the
Sunni-Shia
conflict that
keeps Islam
divided in the
Middle East.
One could
also look at
Christian
history to see
the
anti-Semitism
of the ages,
the violence
of the
Crusades
directed
against Islam,
or the Thirty
Years’ War in
Europe that
followed the
Reformation as
both
Protestant
Europe and
Catholic
Europe sought
to impose its
faith on the
other.</div>
<div>This
reality forces
us to ask what
there is about
religion in
most of its
forms that
makes violence
all but
inevitable as
it appears to
be in
religious
history. At
the Chautauqua
conference it
did not take
long for this
flaw to be
revealed.
Indeed, it
became present
and visible in
the first
presentation.</div>
<div>This
presentation
was given by
Dr. John
Cavadini, a
Roman Catholic
Professor of
Theology from
Notre Dame.
The Roman
Catholic
Church
articulates
its claim to
supremacy
quite overtly.
The current
pope has
reiterated a
position taken
by his
predecessor
that there is
but one true
religion and
that is
Christianity
and that there
is only one
true version
of
Christianity
and that is
the Roman
Catholic
Church! He
went on to
warn those
Catholics
engaged in
ecumenical
relations that
they should
never refer to
other
Christian
traditions as
“sister
churches,”
since that
implies some
legitimacy.
When that
point of view
is publicly
articulated
there is a
genuine
embarrassment
in the
listening
audience.
Such an
attitude makes
any
significant
conversation
aimed at unity
a rather
worthless
activity.
Professor
Cavalini tried
at our
gathering,
unsuccessfully
I believe, to
navigate these
troubled
waters by
making a
distinction
between
revealed truth
and our
understanding
of this truth.
The central
Christian
doctrine of
the
Incarnation
was not
subject to
debate, he
said, but the
way we
understand
that doctrine
is always
unfolding.</div>
<div>Lest the
blame for
interfaith
failure be
placed too
heavily on
Roman Catholic
shoulders, let
me hasten to
say that
almost every
religious
tradition
makes similar
claims to be
the exclusive
possessor of
revealed and
“saving”
truth.
Protestant
fundamentalists
assert that
the Bible is
the literal
“word of God”
and those
denying that
claim are
either to be
condemned or
subjected to
conversion
pressure.
Protestant
evangelicals
believe that
the
prerequisite
for salvation
is that one
must be “born
again” or
“accept Jesus
as their
personal
savior.”
Muslims make
the Islamic
claim that in
the Koran the
Word of God
was dictated
directly to
the prophet
Muhammad.
Within Islam
itself both
the Sunnis and
the Shia claim
that theirs is
the only true
expression of
that faith
tradition.
Other sacred
writings from
the religions
of the East
are similarly
invested with
claims of
being vessels
through which
the absolute
truth of God
has come into
human
possession.
These claims
that ultimate
truth is the
possession of
a particular
religious
system are
what make
interfaith
conversation
all but
impossible.
The attempt to
be open, to
understand or
to appreciate
another faith
perspective is
thus deeply
threatening to
every
religious
system.</div>
<div>One of
the things
that every
religious
system seeks
to do is to
offer
religious
certainty and
for that to be
possible that
religion must
escape the
quicksand of
relativity.
Relativity, at
the same time,
is almost
always
impossible to
escape without
falling into
religious
triumphalism.
At the
Chautauqua
“think tank”
these problems
were quickly
identified and
named. We
could not
start without
finding a new
way into the
interfaith
issue. As I
thought about
this over the
next few days
I tried to
discover that
illusive new
path. Let me
try to outline
it briefly.</div>
<div>The first
step in any
interfaith
process is to
be conscious
of the fact
that these
exclusive
claims exist
and that we
must begin
where people
are, not with
where we wish
they were. No
one speaks in
a vacuum and
no one listens
in a vacuum.
We need to
listen to each
other closely,
the same way
we want others
to listen to
us. Let me
then begin
this process
autobiographically.</div>
<div>I am a
Christian.
Any interfaith
activity in
which I am
engaged must
start with
that fact. I
am not
apologetic
about this
self-identification,
nor am I
willing to
jettison this
definition of
myself for the
sake of
interfaith
unity. The
deepest
commitment of
my life is my
commitment to
walk the
Christ path as
my doorway
into the
mystery of
God.
Christianity
is of absolute
importance to
me. I want to
explore its
wonders as
deeply as I
possibly can.
Yet, I do not
think that God
is a
Christian,
certainly not
in any creedal
way, and that
insight opens
me up to all
kinds of new
possibilities.
Christianity,
like every
other
religious
system in
history is
clearly a
human creation
that has
evolved over
the centuries.
The virgin
birth, for
example, did
not enter the
Christian
tradition
until the
ninth decade
of the
Christian
era. It was
certainly not
a part of
primitive
Christianity.
Neither Paul
nor Mark
appears ever
to have heard
about such an
idea. The
ascension was
a tenth decade
addition.
Surely a quick
reading of
Paul would
reveal that
Paul was not a
Trinitarian.
The doctrines
of the
Incarnation
and the Holy
Trinity were
not worked out
until the
third and
fourth
centuries.
Doctrines are
always
attempts to
put rational
forms onto a
transformative
experience.
Doctrines,
therefore, can
never be
ultimate, but
the experience
that made the
development of
the doctrine
seem proper
might well
be. Can we
then separate
the God
experience
that we
Christians
believe we
have met in
Jesus from the
explanations
of that
experience
which form the
content of our
faith
tradition?
That is a
crucial
distinction.
The Jesus
experience
might well
offer me a
doorway into
that which is
ultimate, but
Christianity
itself cannot
be ultimate
and it thus
cannot be the
final
revelation of
God. God can
never be
contained
inside any
human form or
bound by any
human words.
This means
that neither
my
understanding
of God nor my
Church’s
understanding
of God can
ever be
ultimate. This
realization
does not,
however,
invalidate the
truth of my
experience.</div>
<div>As a
Christian, I
walk the
Christ path.
My deepest
hope is that
if I walk the
Christ path
long enough
and faithfully
enough, I will
discover that
I inevitably
will transcend
the boundaries
of my own
religion. That
reality thus
becomes a
religious
inevitability.
When I
articulate the
fact that this
is true for me
I discover
that it also
seems to be
true for
people in all
other
religious
systems. The
Muslim must
walk the
Islamic path;
the Jews must
walk the
Jewish path;
the Hindus and
Buddhists must
walk the Hindu
or Buddhist
path. All walk
with the
realization,
however, that
God is not a
Muslim, a Jew,
a Hindu or a
Buddhist. All
religious
systems are
designed by
human beings
to help its
adherents walk
into the
mystery of an
unbounded
God. If any
of us walks
our own faith
path long
enough and
faithfully
enough, we
will discover
that our walk
carries us
beyond the
boundaries of
our own
religious
systems, since
God can never
be limited by
or exhausted
in any thing
that is a
human
creation,
whether it be
scripture,
creeds,
doctrines or
dogmas. To
say it boldly
the God
experience may
well be
ultimate, but
the religious
system through
which we walk
into the God
experience can
never be.</div>
<div>The next
realization
comes when we
discover that
while we are
walking our
separate
paths, we are
also taking
into ourselves
the values and
the treasures
found in our
own
tradition.
We hold these
treasures
close to our
hearts; we do
not want to
lose them. I
grasp joyfully
the pearl of
great price
that
Christianity
gives me.
Then I realize
that my
brothers and
sisters in
Islam,
Judaism,
Hinduism and
Buddhism are
doing exactly
the same.
They must
embrace the
treasures of
their religion
and cling to
the pearl of
great price
that they have
received from
their
religious
system. So
perhaps the
deepest and
the common
religious call
to each of us
is not to
affirm our
unique creeds
so much as it
is to explore
our faith so
deeply that we
each transcend
its boundaries
and escape
fear-laden
limits. Then
beyond the
boundaries and
the limits of
the faith
system that
has nurtured
each of us,
but without
sacrificing
the pearl of
great price
that our own
tradition has
given us, we
can turn and
face in a new
way our
brothers and
sisters who
have walked a
path different
from our own.
In that
setting I can
speak to them
and say: “This
is the essence
of my faith.
This is the
treasure that
I have
received as I
walked the
Christ path
and now I want
to share this
treasure with
you.” Each of
my interfaith
pilgrims will
in turn do the
same. They
will say to
me: “This is
the essence of
Judaism, of
Islam, of
Hinduism, of
Buddhism.
This is the
treasure, the
pearl of great
price that I
have received
by walking
faithfully and
deeply the
path of my
religion and I
want to share
it with you.”
We each
receive the
treasure of
the other. No
one has to
sacrifice the
treasure of
the system
which has
nurtured him
or her. We
all become
enriched. We
no longer have
to protect our
truth or play
the familiar
religious
games of
supremacy that
we have so
often played
in the past.
No one loses,
everyone
gains.</div>
<div>The
alternative to
genuine
interfaith
cooperation
may well be
genocide.
While we can
assert that
there is no
relativity in
the God
experience,
there can also
be no
triumphalism
in the various
explanations
of that
experience. No
religion is
therefore
ultimate, but
God is and God
is met on many
paths and our
call is to
walk our path
faithfully.
In that
realization,
the beauty of
an interfaith
future is
born.</div>
<div
style="TEXT-ALIGN:right;">~John
Shelby Spong</div>
<div>Read the
essay online <a
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<hr>
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<h3
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Spong's Summer
Session </strong></h3>
<h3
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the</strong></h3>
<h3
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School of
Religion!</strong></h3>
<div
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<h4
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alt="Spong
Reclaiming
book cover"
src="http://www.psr.edu/files_psr/u800/SpongReclaiming.jpg"
align="left"
width="100"><a
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style="COLOR:rgb(68,135,207);FONT-WEIGHT:normal;TEXT-DECORATION:underline;"
title="http://tcpc.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=eeb9c5bcaf&e=db34daa597"
target="_blank"
href="http://tcpc.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=eeb9c5bcaf&e=db34daa597">Re-Claiming
the Bible<br>
in a
Post-Christian
World</a></h4>
<div>Instructor: <a
moz-do-not-send="true" rel="nofollow"
style="COLOR:rgb(68,135,207);FONT-WEIGHT:normal;TEXT-DECORATION:underline;"
title="http://tcpc.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=c258e5eb17&e=db34daa597"
target="_blank"
href="http://tcpc.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=c258e5eb17&e=db34daa597">John
Shelby Spong</a><br>
Dates and
Times: One
week: July
16-20, 9am -
1pm<br>
Description: Can
the Bible,
written
2000-3000
years ago,
speak in any
meaningful way
to the 21st
century? If it
cannot, then
is
Christianity
at an end? If
it can, will
Christianity
look anything
like what we
have known in
the past?
Since creeds
and doctrines
are all
constructed on
the basis of
what was
believed to be
"Biblical
Truth," can
any of the
current
formularies
stand? Since
liturgy is
based on
biblical
definitions of
sin, salvation
and God, none
of which make
much sense to
21st century
people, can
Christianity
tolerate the
revolution
that it faces?
This class
will be taught
by one who has
been a priest
and bishop for
56 years with
one foot in
the
institutional
church and the
other in the
academic world
of new
insights. It
is
specifically
designed for
clergy and
questing lay
people.<br>
Course Credits
&
Cost: 1.5
credits -
$990; audit -
$495; 2.0 CEUs
- $350<br>
Course
Number: BS-2117
(credit);
BS-0003 (CEUs)<br>
Required
Text: John
Shelby Spong, Re-Claiming
the Bible for
a
Non-Religious
World, 2011
HarperCollins,
San
Francisco. Purchase <a
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Syllabus: <a
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target="_blank"
href="http://tcpc.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=4a2ff54461&e=db34daa597">Re-Claiming
the Bible in a
Post-Christian
World</a><br>
<a
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target="_blank"
href="http://tcpc.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=30b7465219&e=db34daa597">Register</a></div>
</div>
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<table
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<tbody>
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<h2
style="TEXT-ALIGN:left;LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN:0px
0px
10px;DISPLAY:block;FONT-FAMILY:Georgia;COLOR:rgb(68,135,207);FONT-SIZE:30px;FONT-WEIGHT:normal;">Question
& Answer</h2>
<div>The Rev.
Stuart Maywood
from Norwood,
Mass., and
Naples,
Florida,
writes:</div>
<h4
style="TEXT-ALIGN:left;LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN:0px
0px
10px;DISPLAY:block;FONT-FAMILY:Georgia;COLOR:rgb(68,135,207);FONT-SIZE:22px;FONT-WEIGHT:normal;">Question:</h4>
<div>What is
the role or
place of
Christian
Education in
Church
School? It
seems to me
that much of
what is taught
is
watered-down
material of
questionable
worth. As a
former pastor
this was
always an
issue and it
is more so
now. It seems
to me that we
need better
educated
adults to live
fully and then
let the
children
follow.</div>
<h4
style="TEXT-ALIGN:left;LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN:0px
0px
10px;DISPLAY:block;FONT-FAMILY:Georgia;COLOR:rgb(68,135,207);FONT-SIZE:22px;FONT-WEIGHT:normal;">Answer:</h4>
<div>Dear
Stuart,</div>
<div>Thank you
for your
letter and for
sharing your
experience. I
concur with
your
observation.
I remember
only two
things from
the years I
spent going to
Sunday school
and neither of
them had
anything to do
with content.
I remember
being slapped
by my fourth
grade Sunday
school teacher
for
misbehaving (I
have no idea
what my
offence was)
and I remember
my fifth grade
teacher who
was
instructing us
on the Ten
Commandments
and he skipped
from the 6<sup>th</sup>
commandment
against
killing to the
8<sup>th</sup>
commandment
against
stealing.
Noticing that
he had omitted
commandment
number 7, I
raised my hand
and asked,
“Mr. Darrow,
why did you
skip the
commandment
about
adultery?
What does it
mean to commit
adultery?”
Threatened, my
teacher
responded with
irritation
saying, “You
will learn
about that
when you get
older!”
Otherwise
Sunday school
content did
not appear to
penetrate my
mind. Yet by
some process,
I picked up
the cultural
fundamentalism.
I assumed
there was a
real ark
filled with
animals, that
the ascension
really meant
that Jesus
went into the
sky of a
three-tiered
universe and
that miracles
were simply
part of Jesus’
life. Whether
I would have
been able to
absorb a
critical study
of the Bible
at that time
in my life, I
do not know.
I only know
that I never
was given the
opportunity to
find out. I
agree that
most Sunday
school
material is of
little value,
contributing
to a view of
God, who like
Santa Claus,
will someday
have to be
abandoned
because we
have grown up.</div>
<div>On the
other hand,
the most
exciting thing
I did as a
parish priest
was to teach
an adult Bible
class every
Sunday morning
for an hour
prior to our
service of
worship.
Adults came in
large numbers,
sometimes
dragging their
children with
them for
Sunday
school. I
know that in
those classes,
I taught them
as if I were
teaching in a
graduate
school
attended by
adults who
were capable
of learning
anything I
knew. I know
they were
excited about
the Bible,
capable of
embracing the
controversy
and tension of
modern
scholarship.
And, finally,
I know that
out of that
class each
year, I
recruited
Sunday school
teachers who
were eager to
pass on to the
children the
things that
they had
learned. That
experience
convinced me
that the key
to Christian
education was
to teach the
adults.</div>
<div>Still
good Sunday
school
material is a
help. I have
read many
Sunday school
curricula –
some
commercially
produced, some
denominationally
produced and
some
inter-denominationally
produced. My
first rule is
to “do no
harm,” by
which I mean
do not teach
anything that
you the
teacher do not
yourself
believe; and
my second rule
is to teach
nothing that
the child will
someday have
to renounce.</div>
<div>The
Center for
Progressive
Christianity
has just begun
to produce
church school
materials.
They have now
completed
material for
children 6-10
years. It is
the best I
have ever
read. It is
not religious
pabulum, but
offers a
critical
approach to
scripture. I
recommend it.
If you would
like to learn
more about it,
email <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow"
style="COLOR:rgb(68,135,207);FONT-WEIGHT:normal;TEXT-DECORATION:underline;"
title="mailto:admin@progressivechristianity.org"
ymailto="mailto:admin@progressivechristianity.org"
target="_blank" href="/mc/compose?to=admin@progressivechristianity.org">admin@progressivechristianity.org</a>, and
they will send
you more
information on
it. They hope
to expand this
beginning
initiative
into a full
church school
curriculum in
time. That is,
however, a
difficult and
expensive
process. I
hope it
succeeds.</div>
<div>I trust
that this
addresses your
concerns.</div>
<div
style="TEXT-ALIGN:right;">~John
Shelby Spong</div>
<hr>
<div
style="TEXT-ALIGN:center;"><a
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<div
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<hr> </div>
<div>Read what
Bishop Spong
has to say
about <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow"
style="COLOR:rgb(68,135,207);FONT-WEIGHT:normal;TEXT-DECORATION:underline;"
title="http://tcpc.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=33ed9288b7&e=db34daa597"
target="_blank"
href="http://tcpc.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=33ed9288b7&e=db34daa597">A
Joyful Path
Progressive
Christian
Spiritual
Curriculum for
Young Hearts
and Minds</a>:
"The great
need in the
Christian
church is for
a Sunday
school
curriculum for
children that
does not
equate faith
with having a
pre-modern
mind. The
Center for
Progressive
Christianity
has produced
just that.
Teachers can
now teach
children in
Sunday school
without
crossing their
fingers. <strong>I
endorse it
wholeheartedly</strong>."</div>
</div>
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<hr
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<div>4916 Pt
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· 4916 Pt
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· #148 · Gig
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