Session 4, Stories of Creation (Oct 7 and 10)

Focus: How one perceives the creation stories is not only critical to the way one looks at the Bible, but how one understands the purpose of creation, the essence of human nature, and the attitude one takes toward the environment in which we live.

The ancient Hebrews who composed what we now know as Genesis were brilliant storytellers – and although their writings have for generations been thought to explain the “how” of what happened historically, their stories are much deeper and richer when they are properly understood metaphorically as wrestling with the “whys” of human life.

When we delve into these ancient stories, we catch a glimpse of the answer to the eternal question, “What’s the meaning of life?” We are reminded that we are made in the image of the Divine – the one who brings order out of chaos and finds joy in the act of creating.

Creation as Story

In the beginning, God may have created the heavens and the earth, but not even the Bible is daring enough to claim exactly how it happened. In fact, Genesis begins with two distinctive creation stories that are impossible to synthesize or string together into consecutive events with any integrity. Neither one was ever meant to give a scientific account of how creation happened. Instead, they offer theological claims about the characteristics of the creator and poetic explanations as to why human beings are the way we are.

Each story grew out of different eras and reflects the purposes of two different “schools” or authors. Genesis 1 is the product of authors that scholars have dubbed the “Priestly” writers. Their rhythmic liturgical order of creation grew out of their experience in Babylonian exile sometime after 586 BCE. As a product of the exile and the apparent defeat of Yahweh by the Babylonian Marduk, it has even been suggested that Genesis 1 is a kind of “resistance literature” created to claim Yahweh’s superiority over all of creation. The second story, beginning with Genesis 2:4, is believed to have its roots in much older folk-stories of creation. The editors of this story refer to the creator with the name “Yahweh,” the distinctive Hebrew name for the Divine. As such they have since come to be known collectively as the “Yahwist.” The two sources present the story in totally
different styles. Where the Priestly author is interested in how things are organized and presents the origin of all things with a structured list, the Yahwist is a wonderful storyteller, often emphasizing humor and relationships as a vehicle for making theological points. Overall, the authors never intended to answer the analytical Greco-Roman question of “how?” but instead, in typical rabbinic fashion, set out to address the much more important question of “why?”

To receive a complete copy of the text used for the session, please contact Pastor Marj at daytonfirstcong@gmail.com.  It will be sent as an email attachment for your perusal as opposed to printing multiple pages, a stewardship practice. Because of copyright law, we are not able to make the materials available here. Another option would be to purchase a copy of Felten and Procter-Murphy's newly-released book, Living the Questions: The Wisdom of Progressive Christianity from your local bookseller.

Questions to be considered in light of the video and readings:

     According to McKenna & Fox, what are some of the purposes of creation stories in general?

     Rossing suggests that the false conflict between creation and evolution is distracting us from what we should really be spending our energies on. Explain.

     The Bible’s stories of creation can’t possibly be God’s stories of creation. Explain.

     Levine points out that Genesis 1 is “clean” and orderly, while Genesis 2 is more “messy.” What are some of the defining characteristics of the two stories? What do the stories say about “partnerships” between creation, human beings, the Creator, etc.?

     One of the major themes of the second Genesis creation story is “the Fall.” How has that concept been helpful or detrimental to the spiritual enterprise of Christianity?

     A more traditional, dogmatic Christianity makes sin and redemption the focus of the Eden saga. Describe how Nelson’s suggestion that failure to accept responsibility for one’s own actions is an equally persuasive thematic emphasis.

Session 3, Thinking Theologically (Sept 30 and Oct 3)

Focus: While family, education, social class, and geography all contribute to how we think about God, our experiences and perceptions along life’s journey also shape our thinking. Being comfortable with ambiguity, metaphor, and uncertainty help us get the Divine “out of the box” and rethink theological ideas that have
become barriers to our further spiritual growth.

"Alice Walker's The Color Purple is an account of a journey of faith. The sojourner, named Celie, discovers new ways of understanding religion and of imaging the Divine. In one of her letters to a friend, Celie writes, "She say, ‘My first step from the old white man was trees. Then air. Then birds. Then other people. But one day when I was sitting quiet and feeling like a motherless child, which I was, it come to me: that feeling of being a part of everything, not separate at all. I knew that if I cut a tree, my arm would bleed.’"

"To ask the questions of how the divine is intertwined with the world is to think theologically: How do we understand the unfathomable mystery that we've come to call God? Is there a God whose character and ways of relating to the world can be explained in ways that make sense? As Bill Nelson has suggested, even the word “God” itself is a “very slender word that simply covers our shivering ignorance.” Exploring these and other questions and concepts are at the heart of thinking theologically – a practice in which we all engage, whether we know it or not."

Re-thinking Some Long-Held Ideas
"Reading the Bible closely, it becomes clear that there’s no one way of understanding who God is and how God relates to the world. The Bible is the witness of generations of faithful people recording their own understandings of the divine in their particular time, place, and culture. This theological pluralism reveals changing, developing, and sometimes conflicting ideas about God.

"The Bible itself represents a variety of perspectives, each reflecting different understandings of God. The challenge of thinking theologically is about maintaining a creative tension between ideas that generate dialogue, not absolute certainty. At its best, thinking theologically is not about facts, but about wrestling with often abstract ideas and concepts.

"Traditional understandings of Christology, Atonement, and the Incarnation are all in flux. In fact, many people find these concepts to be quite irrelevant to contemporary spirituality. Two of the major ideas that continue to cause conflict among people of faith are the language we use for the Divine and the notion of “omnipotence.”

"Many of us get in a rut with our language about or image of God that is narrow and constricting. As our life experience broadens our understanding, some of us become conflicted over whether we can believe at all. Harry Emerson Fosdick, the celebrated preacher at New York’s Riverside Church, was fond of telling of the day a distraught student exclaimed, "I don't believe in God!" Fosdick replied, "Tell me about this God you don't believe in; chances are I don't believe in that God either." In the 1920s, Fosdick predicted that we would continue to lose generation after generation of the brightest and best young people because they have the impression that they are expected to believe “just so” in order to be a true Christian.

"Yet images and ideas used to express the Divine by Christian mystics, theological thinkers, and in scripture are as many and varied as there are experiences of God. The Biblical writers use a rich pallet of metaphors and poetic language to point toward what is ultimately a mystery. The Divine is described as a potter, a cup (of cool water), a path, a safe place, a rock, a burning bush, an eagle, and a whirlwind – all wonderful metaphors that help us assign a variety of attributes to the Divine without being the exclusive last word.

"One of the most common images of God is as a father. Listening to many prayers and liturgies, one might think it was the only image of God in scripture. However, God is also imaged as a mother in Deuteronomy 32:18; "You forgot the God who gave you birth,” as "a woman in labor" in Isaiah 42:14, and as a comforting mother in Isaiah 66:13. Is God a mother? Yes. A father? Yes. A rock? Yes. A wind? Yes. Everything we use to refer to God is simply a limited, human effort to explain the unexplainable. To be aware of our language and its implications is a great exercise in thinking theologically – remembering that the language we use to describe the Divine will directly influence how we relate to the Divine."

To receive a complete copy of the text used for the session, please contact Pastor Marj at daytonfirstcong@gmail.com.  It will be sent as an email attachment for your perusal as opposed to printing multiple pages, a stewardship practice. Because of copyright law, we are not able to make the materials available here. Another option would be to purchase a copy of Felten and Procter-Murphy's newly-released book, Living the Questions: The Wisdom of Progressive Christianity from your local bookseller.

Questions to be considered in light of the video and readings:

     Crossan asks four questions of 21st century Christians: What is the character of your God? What is the content of your faith? What is the function of your church? What is the purpose of your worship? Describe how you might have answered these questions as a child or young person compared to your understanding today.

     Cobb discusses Omnipotence as an unbiblical concept that misrepresents the nature of the Divine.  Describe the advantages of seeing God as a persuasive, relational power over the unbiblical notion of omnipotent, coercive power.

     What are some of the alternatives to using even the word “God” to describe the Divine?

     Describe Borg’s stages of pre-critical naïveté, critical thinking, and post-critical naïveté.

     According to Varghese, what are some of the characteristics of “thinking theologically?”

     How does the hope gained from thinking theologically different from simply thinking optimistically?

Session 2, Taking the Bible Seriously (Sept 23 and 26)

FOCUS:   The authority one places in the Bible plays a critical role in one’s worldview and understanding of the Christian life.

"Its influence has been recognized for centuries. It has been quoted and misquoted, used and abused, appealed to and discredited. While American Presidents quote 'a house divided against itself cannot stand' and 'from those to whom much is given, much is required,' Biblical texts have also been used to oppress women, support slavery, justify wars, and today, bolster White Supremacy and other discriminatory movements.

"Preachers try to bring the text alive, classes and small groups provide vital places of discovery. Personal study allows the Bible to speak to an individual’s situation. But what is it exactly that we’re looking for? The Bible is so big, so intimidating, it’s difficult to know where to start. It’s hard to know what to believe or what not to believe…"

The Book “by” Jesus?
"Before leaving for seminary, a young theological student was taken aside by an evangelical pastor and was told in the hushed tone reserved for the imparting of great wisdom, 'You’re going to read a lot of books ABOUT Jesus – don’t forget to read the book BY Jesus!'

"And therein lies what is perhaps the greatest divide among Christians: the authority one places in the text of the Bible. It’s important because how you understand the Christian life depends on how you read the Bible.
How much “authority” do you give scripture? How do you determine the level of trust you place in any written material, for that matter? As perhaps the best-selling, least read book of all time, the Bible needs to be re-examined by most of us. It is not something to be "believed" in, as though it has some magical powers, but to be in relationship with, as one would be with any person or cause or issue to which we give allegiance in this life.

"In his bestseller, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, Marcus Borg writes, 'the Christian life is not primarily about believing the right things or even being good. The Christian life is about being in relationship with God which transforms us into more and more compassionate beings, "into the likeness of Christ."'  Likewise, having a 'relationship' with the Biblical text that grows and changes has more spiritual and intellectual integrity than performing the mental gymnastics necessary to cling to the notions of the Bible one learned in Sunday School. The degree to which a person venerates or critiques what has come down to us in the form of the Bible has wide-ranging implications for the way one interacts with others, the world, and the idea of the divine.

"As a record of various peoples’ experience of God’s faithfulness and human infidelities, the Bible is full of colorful characters, lying, cheating, sex, hate, war, sex, betrayal, murder, sex, letters, poetry, history, sex, great ideas, lousy ideas, and more sex. Read closely, a variety of theological voices is revealed — sometimes harmonious, other times a cacophony of contradiction. For example, most people don’t realize that there are two flood stories in Genesis: the familiar one where God has Noah collect the animals two by two, and the other where they are collected seven by seven. We only hear about the first story because seven by seven would clutter up the simplicity of the illustrations in children’s books and murals. Yet many people are afraid that if they admit that there are contradictions in the Bible then the whole thing has to be dismissed as a worthless lie. So, a simple defense was concocted as a bulwark against letting the evidence sway people
once their minds were made up."

To receive a complete copy of the text used for the session, please contact Pastor Marj at daytonfirstcong@gmail.com.  It will be sent as an email attachment for your perusal as opposed to printing multiple pages, a stewardship practice. Because of copyright law, we are not able to make the materials available here. Another option would be to purchase a copy of Felten and Procter-Murphy's newly-released book, Living the Questions: The Wisdom of Progressive Christianity from your local bookseller.

Questions to be considered in light of the video and readings:

     Biblical inerrancy is the idea that the Bible is without error in its original form, while infallibility holds that the Bible is inerrant on issues of faith and practice but not history or science. How might unquestioning belief in these ideas affect a person!s day-to-day living?

     Borg suggests that a more historical and metaphorical approach to the Bible provides a way for non-literalists to be Christian. How does this sync with your experience?

     Name some of the “discrepancies” that Levine mentions.

     Rossing, Brueggemann, & McKenna speak of the Bible as “inspired,” as an “act of faithful imagination,” and as “sacred.” Describe their understandings.

     Borg describes the Bible as a “lens through which we see God.” What implications does this metaphor have for the Bible’s “authority”?

     How might looking at the Bible as the “fourth member of the Trinity” be bordering on idolatry?

     According to White, what are some of the negative ramifications of “going literal” with the Bible?

     Geering suggests that literalists are the “enemies of the Christian tradition.” Elaborate.

     Describe what Borg means when he says, “The Bible is a human product and a response to the experience of the Sacred.”

      What are some of the “triggers” that move people from a literal reading of scripture to a more metaphorical approach?

Session 1, An Invitation to Journey (Sept 16/19)

FOCUS: Faith is not a destination, but a journey.

A Spiritual Journey
“To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive.”
                         – Robert Louis Stevenson

"People know that at its core, Christianity has something good to offer the human race. At the same time, many have a sense that they are alone in being a “thinking” Christian and that “salvaging” Christianity is a hopeless task.

"What many have longed for is a safe environment where they have permission to ask the questions they’ve always wanted to ask but have been afraid to voice for fear of being thought a heretic. Living the Questions provides a context where people can be liberated from stagnant clichés and pursue their questions and seek to inform their understanding as part of a life-long spiritual journey.

"Through exposure to provocative theological and spiritual insights and the engagement of small group conversation, participants in Living the Questions will experience how profoundly important the journey itself is."

To receive a complete copy of the text used for the first session, please contact Pastor Marj at daytonfirstcong@gmail.com.  It will be sent as an email attachment for your perusal as opposed to printing multiple pages, a stewardship practice. (BECAUSE OF COPYRIGHT LAWS, WE CANNOT POST READINGS THAT ACCOMPANY THIS STUDY. Authors David M. Felten and Jeff Procter-Murphy have published Living the Questions: The Wisdom of Progressive Christianity just this year, and it contains the materials to be used. Order from your local bookstore and follow along!)

Questions to be considered in light of the video and readings:

     How does Mel White define “fundamentalism?”

     What evidence do you see of fundamentalists of various faiths organizing themselves into political blocs? Be specific.

     How have “killing certainties” crippled the church’s faithfulness to the Gospel?

     Describe the advantages of being on a spiritual journey over “arriving” at the truth.

     Spong describes the journey into Mystery as going beyond the literalization of scripture, creed, dogma, doctrine, and words. Explain.

     What does Flunder mean by the “either/or” God?

     According to Fox, how is “not knowing” one of the important dimensions of living in today’s world?

     What part does risk-taking play in the spiritual journey?
     
     Virtually all of the DVD contributors admit to having grown increasingly comfortable with uncertainty and suspicious of those who claim to have all the answers. Describe your personal experience of this phenomenon.