Plattsburgh UMC offers two Adult Study options

Jan. 20—PLATTSBURGH — The Plattsburgh United Methodist Church offers two topics for Adult Study this winter with "Living the Questions," a book and a DVD Study, as well as "Unspoken," a Sunday afternoon video series, which will be screened during Black History Month at the church.

The Rev. Phil Richards, church pastor, and Rev. Sally White will co-teach.

"Living the Questions is a new book study, DVD study, that lives at the Christian faith and the Christian life from a progressive point of view," Richards said.

"The basis is why the church is in the questions business rather than the answers business. What we're looking at is questions that people are asking around their faith journey, their spiritual lives and so forth and recognizing that oftentimes the church is focused on the answer versus rather than giving people an opportunity to look at the questions.

"It's a little different in that it invites us to look at it that way. It's different because we're going to focus much more on our humanity. We're going to focus much more on traditional concepts of theology and bringing them up to date for the 21st century. and we are going to talk about the challenges facing the church today and the Christian faith today."

BOOK STUDY SYNOPSIS

Pastors David Felten and Jeff Procter-Murphy, along with Bible scholars and top church teachers, provide a primer to a church movement that encourages every Christian to "live the questions" instead of "forcing the answers."

Living the Questions explores matters many churches are afraid to address including the humanity of Jesus and homosexuality, and examines in a new light traditional faith topics such as the Bible, atonement, salvation, the rapture, and more, the release said.

These two authors state at the outset: "People are dissatisfied with the core message, dogma, and practice of the Christian faith in today's world."

The book is divided into three sections on Journey, Reconciliation, and Transformation. Twenty-one topics are covered including sexuality and homosexuality, which has been controversial.

Felten and Procter-Murphy quote the famous Protestant preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick who said: "Stagnation in thought or enterprise means death for Christianity as certainly as it does for any other vital movement. Stagnation, not change, is Christianity's most deadly enemy, for this is a progressive world."

The authors call Progressive Christians to live out their authentic mix of faith and doubt, to practice nonviolence, to stand in solidarity with the poor, to eschew the idolatry of wealth, and to seek "justice and inclusivity in a culture dominated by suspicion and fear."

DVD STUDY SYNOPSIS

Living the Questions is not the product of a denominational workgroup or other institutional effort aimed at simply dressing up the theological status quo. Instead, it is the response to the search for a practical tool to bring together, equip, and re-educate thinking Christians.

Featuring 30 acclaimed scholars, theologians and other experts, LtQ2 consists of 21 sessions which may be offered in sequence or as three independent flights of seven units each: "Invitation to Journey," "Honoring Creation" and "Call to Covenant."

Contributors include Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan, John Shelby Spong, Walter Brueggeman, Diana Butler Bass, Robin Meyers, Matthew Fox, Brian McLaren, Amy Jill Levine and Stephen Patterson.

"Harrell Beck was a theology professor at Boston University has the quote at the very beginning of the book," Richards said.

"He says that the beginning of true wisdom is asking the questions for which there are no answers. I really love that quote. This got on my radar about 10 years ago when I came upon a new curriculum that was being offered, and I've offered it in other churches. I decided that I wanted to begin to re-offer it here in Plattsburgh. They produce programs to help people wrestle with basic questions that are often avoided by the church around the real needs of the communities. So they've been looking at those kinds of things."

UNSPOKEN SYNOPSIS

It is an in-depth look into the Christian heritage of Africa and people of African descent, intended to dispel the notion of Christianity being an exclusively white man's religion.

Is Christianity a white man's religion?

Unspoken takes an in-depth look at the Christian heritage in Africa and examines how historical events have shaped today's vastly popular perspective of Christianity.

Unspoken tells the story of the historical and nuanced relationship between the Christian faith and African descendants. Christianity is often classified as the white man's religion. Conventional wisdom assumes tales of Jesus of Nazareth's life, death, and subsequent resurrection traveled from Jerusalem to Rome before ultimately taking root in western Europe. Christianity spread in many directions following Christ's crucifixion in the Middle East, and many of the oldest Christian traditions trace back to Africa.

Unspoken features a well-curated group of historians, religious scholars, and cultural influencers who, in this groundbreaking film, examine the real history of one of the world's most widely practiced religions. Unspoken shows a plethora of information that reveals how Africa accepted Christianity from the beginning and how African Christianity has played an integral part in world history.

In the introduction to the film, Unspoken examines the false historical narrative of Christianity, Africa, and the imposition of white views on the religion. False stories have long permeated through communities worldwide and have exposed generations to constant misinformation over many millennia plus at least 400 years of imposed shame.

Part one voyages back to the pre-Constantine era of the 1st through 4th centuries to meet prominent black figures in the Bible, explore early African practices of Christianity, uncover the relentless persecution endured by Christians of the time, and examine the claims that Christianity is a copy of Kemetic or Egyptian spiritualism. Watch to learn the purpose of the Council of Nicaea, meet the attendants of the Council, and learn of the Emperor's role in the pivotal event.

Viewers are invited to witness the golden era of early African Christianity from the 4th to 16th centuries as we chart the emergence of Islam and explore Christianity's enduring prominence in Sub-Saharan Africa. Then investigate the effects of European colonialism and learn about the key influences for Martin Luther and the European Reformation, which was actually born in Africa a hundred years earlier and is now recognized as the Protestant sect of Christianity.

Unspoken looks at European colonists' role in modern Christian faith practices as scholars explain why colonization, often recognized as the origin of Christianity in Africa, is responsible for the mutation of age-old Christian traditions on the African continent. This was done through concepts of white Jesus, Christian clothing, and Christian names, which have no historical foundation.

"You will discover the truth, that this ship has landed many of thousands. Not just white people. Not just black people. But people of every tribe, nation, and tongue. The Gospel is bigger than one ethnic group."

Part two begins with Christianity and racial oppression, and covers the period between the 16th and 19th centuries, examining Christianity's role in slavery. This is the period when the narrative of African Christianity was most corrupted by what one scholar calls "Protestant supremacy," the precursor to white supremacy. Historians then delve into how slave masters and enslaved people viewed and practiced Christianity differently, uncover what Christianity meant to enslaved people, and answer why slavery appears in the Bible.

Moving into the present day, Unspoken takes a hard look at Christianity in our modern world, post-American slavery. Unspoken documents the beginnings of the black church, the Civil Rights Movement, and black liberation theology, and then investigates the relationship between the black church and the black community.

Featuring intimate conversations with some of the world's foremost Biblical and cultural scholars and influencers, Unspoken clarifies the importance of teaching early African Christianity. The purpose here is to offer assurance for those struggling with Christianity as a white man's religion. Indeed, as the experts interviewed in the film assert, "Christianity has always been a diverse movement," never intended to be centralized in one location. As one of the scholars interviewed for the film says, "You will discover the truth, that this ship has landed many of thousands. Not just white people. Not just black people. But people of every tribe, nation, and tongue. The Gospel is bigger than one ethnic group."

"We are going to offer it during Black History Month," Richards said.

"We're really excited to be able to offer both of those two different opportunities this winter."

Email: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com

Twitter@RobinCaudell