| Adult education has been an integral part of the St. Andrew’s experience for many years. Our congregation places a high value on the learned study of the Bible and teachings of many theologians such as Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan, Joan Chittister, Richard Rohr, Walter Brueggemann and others.
Adult Theological Reeducation (as Borg called it) is critical to finding our mission as a church in this time and place. Crossan has taught us that we must understand the matrix of history in the first century to understand the meaning of Jesus’ ministry and the writings from that era, a principal that applies to all of our sacred texts. Each generation of the followers of Jesus must respond to the call of discipleship in its own way appropriate to the matrix of society or culture that it inhabits here and now.
Our next class, beginning on September 18th and taught by Pastor Jen, will be a presentation of Walter Brueggemann’s latest book, Materiality as Resistance. Jesus practiced materiality over materialism. Brueggemann defines materiality as the use of the material aspects of the Christian faith, as opposed to materialism, which places possessions and physical comfort over spiritual values.
Brueggemann lays out how we may reengage our materiality for the common good. How does materiality inform our faith when it comes to food, money, the body, time, and place? How does it force us to act? Likewise, how are we, as a community of the faithful, obligated to use our time, money, abundance of food, the care and use of our bodies, observance of Sabbath, and stewardship of our world and those with whom we share it. This class is not to be missed.
A final note: As many of you already know, Rachel Tobler is the new Chair of the Adult Education Committee. Rachel has a B.A. in Religious Studies from UCSB, a Master’s in Theology from Fuller Seminary, and a PhD from Pacifica in Depth Psychology. The last 30 years she has pursued an interest in contemplative practice and spiritual formation. I’m very excited to anticipate what’s ahead under her leadership.
Tom Weisenburger, outgoing Chair of Adult Education |
