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Christian Formation for Adults:

Adult Forums

On Sunday mornings during the program year (September through May), Christian formation for adults takes place in the Sunday morning Adult Forums held during the 10 AM Christian Formation Hour.�These forums address topics within the broad range of the Church�s teachings: Holy Scripture, church history, theology, pastoral issues and ethics. Experts in their respective fields of study lead the majority of these forums.

Please join us on Sunday mornings upstairs in the Guild Room beginning at 10 AM for these stimulating and thought-provoking forums.

Spring 2008

Christianity and Anti-Semitism: Parishioner Larry Wick leads a three-session series addressing the religious and cultural forces that were at work in the Christian faith which affected the plight of the Jews.

April 6 SPEAKER: Larry Wick

From St. Paul to St. Augustine to The Early Medieval Legacy

The image and status of the Jews in an age of growing Christian dominance. The story is not a happy one from the standpoint of Jewish-Christian relations. It was an age in which such dominant power often was misused.

April 13 SPEAKER: Larry Wick

The Medieval Reformation Period

The reformers had great hope and expectation that now that the Gospel has been permitted to shine forth in its purity once again, the Jews will surely be won over.

April 20 SPEAKER: Larry Wick
A Closer Look at Reformation Writings
We shall look at how recommendations on the handling of the Jews in the Reformation period was to take place much later in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. How could they (i.e., Luther) write the things they (he) wrote? As we look back, we will look forward and ask what it means to live in an age of dialogue and friendship rather than conflict between Jews and Christians.

April 27 SPEAKER: Dr. Martin Marty
The Prophet Amos

May 4 SPEAKER: Dorothy Ramm
The Women Who Helped to Build St. Chrysostom's

May 11 SPEAKER: Ralph W. Klein
Hosea: My (Least?) Favorite Book in the Old Testament
Hosea expresses exquisitely the way God contradicts wrath with love, but he does so in metaphors that are sometimes over-the-top.

May 18
Seminarian Ben Varnum will lead the last Adult Forum for the 2007-2008 year. Ben is a second year student at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago.
A Discussion of the Problem of Evil
We read in Genesis 1:31, "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good." Yet as we celebrate the goodness in creation, we are confronted with limitedness, scarcity, and violence. Bad things DO happen to good people. This is not a new idea, but it continues to have major implications for finding theologies that are meaningful and relevant for us. Where do the things that threaten the goodness of creation come from? What do we confess in our weekly prayer of confession? If we celebrate the goodness of our lives as the work of the Holy Spirit, must we think of the worst of our problems as part of a plan by God? Let�s think through these things!

Adult Forum Committee

Tessa Craib-Cox, Chair

Ann Kadinsky-Cade

Alice Moss

Eva Lord Pearson & William Pearson
Lindsay Roberts
Margo and Chuck Sanida

Rick Shepro
Eve Webster

Sherri and Larry Wick

The Rev. Raymond Webster

The Rev. Terri Stanford

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