History That Forms
Faith
Tony E Dillon-Hansen
7 June 2017
Rationale:
A Five Week Study
of Christian History (In Brief) From Acts to the UCC formation.
(This would be
similar to the format of the “Bible in 90 Days” classes for prospective members
and current members wanting to learn more about the historical traditions of
the Church.)
Course Aims and
Outcomes:
To gain an understanding of the different historical
periods of the Church and how the UCC came to be and how faith has changed over
the centuries. (Italics indicate if
resource is available)
The hoped outcomes include:
·
Understand the impact of persecutions and early
worship
·
Understand the impact of corruption and violence
to religious teaching
·
Understand the breadth of prominent ideas of
faith
·
Understand how separation of Church and State
came to be
·
Understand how the UCC works to be United and
Uniting.
Format and
Procedures:
·
The course is laid out over five weeks of
discussion with a scripture theme relating to topics for that discussion along
with a short lecture and recap of previous week to provide some guidance of
discussion.
·
Participants
are requested to make at least one online note and feedback in an online forum
during the week to keep the conversation moving, if the online resource is
available.
·
The first and last meeting are meant to be
communion worship meals to encourage the idea of communion, cooperation and
return to origins.
·
The ground rules will be collectively decided in
the first meeting but should adhere to value and to respect each other’s views,
uniqueness, and diversity.
·
Keep confidences shared within the group and
respect each other’s privacy.
Assumptions:
We will survey large portions of time and will certainly
miss some key points along the way. I assume that you are taking the course
because you think that learning about the history of the Church may help deepen
your faith. This course and the topics considered
may also raise more doubts, even controversy.
Course
Requirements:
·
Read and prepare ahead of class so that we all
can be engaged in the conversation and bring our gifts to share with each
other.
·
Again, respect for opinions is requested and I
would ask participants to mutually agree to the agreed ground rules before
proceeding.
·
Given only five meetings, your attendance is
expected at each one to be mutually respectful of each other’s’ time
commitments.
·
If you must miss a class, please follow up with
others or the instructor for following week activity preparations.
·
If you wish to share reference work regarding
the week’s topic, please be willing to share that reference with participants
so that all might be able review the points made.
Accommodations and
Inclusivity:
Please let me know how we can help you attend and participate
with aids.
No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey,
you are welcome here.
“We agree to differ; we resolve to love; we unite to
serve.”
Week 1: The Early
Church During Roman Era.
Topics covered:
The debates in early church to Constantine. How
persecutions influenced the early Church along with the Donatist crisis and
Council of Nicea.
Scripture Lesson: Matthew 18: 20; Luke 22: 14-20, 24-27
The scripture here where is God and the institution of communion.
Reading
suggestions: Gonzalez (Vol 1) Chapters 11-14, 17
Lecture Synopsis:
Celebrate communion worship with a community potluck
meal.
This meeting will lay out the rest of the course
structure and use the community meal to remember practices of the early Church.
Also, Matt Ridley describes the evolution of collaboration that originates and
continues through community meals. Then
invite people from historically marginalized groups like LGBTQ to share
experiences of what is like to be persecuted and how the community managed to
rally around hope. The idea would be to
share the parallels of history with today and why and how history has impacted
our faith.
Week 2: The
Crusades and the Rise of the Papacy
Topics covered:
The Middle Ages, focus upon the impact of the Crusades
and political controversies surrounding these that impacted Church polity.
Scripture: Hosea 2:1-15,
The scripture here calls upon punishment of Israel for
many crimes.
Reading
suggestions: Gonzalez (Vol 1) Chapters 24, 27, 28, 31, 34-35.
Lecture Synopsis:
After a brief rise with the Roman Empire, the Church is
again in crisis mode since the collapse of the Roman Empire causes the collapse
of the Church structures as well. We will review the efforts to secure a new
home and military power to secure the faith through Charlemagne and the Holy
Roman Empire thereafter. Once
established, the Roman Church finds challenges in Avignon again. The power of the papacy is exerted via the
crusades. The “one [Church] to rule them all” ends with the Great Schism.
Week 3: First
Generation Reformers: a Crash Course.
Topics covered:
Scriptural basis and interpretation changes, political
interwoven religion where leaders are taking sides and aligning churches with
nation and city-states.
Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10, 19-22
The scripture shows us one basis for some of the
reformers theologies.
Reading
suggestions: Gonzalez (Vol 2) Chapters 1-8
Lecture Synopsis:
The group will build a “cheat sheet” and questions about
basic ideas.
Reformation first generation of Luther, Calvin, Zwingli,
King Henry VIII, John Knox, and Anabaptists.
·
Video about Luther and the general beginning of
the Protestant Reformation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o8oIELbNxE
- Video about Zwingli’s efforts to reform in Switzerland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUcGSUbzMFE
- Video about John Calvin and his style of French/Swiss Reform. http://study.com/academy/lesson/john-calvin-religion-beliefs-quotes.html
- Discussion of Henry VIII and John Knox http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/denominationalfounders/john-knox.html
- Anabapitists https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czX_ExP5kG8
For each reformer:
- What was their profession?
- Why did they split?
- What was their nationality?
- What was their basic theology impact? How does the UCC incorporate these?
- What is the current tradition called?
Week 4: Ideas of
Religious Freedom, Social Justice in Church, and New Desire to Unite Faith.
Topics covered:
Growth of secularism, Methodism and Pietism as they
relate to origins of the UCC.
Scripture: Isaiah 10:1-2; Isaiah 58:6-10
The scripture lessons are a foundation for social justice
in the Bible. (Guess and Beckmann, n.d.).
Reading
suggestions: Gonzalez (Vol 2) Chapters 18-24, 27
Lecture Synopsis:
A discussion here that focuses upon the fast expansion of
traditions based upon piety, social justice raise hope but also tensions with
existing traditions of reformers as well as societies outside of European
descent, like American Indians. We see systemic problems of bigotry and
persecution. We see the growth of public education via the Churches. We see the
growth of public health systems via Churches. We see how religion has tied
itself to the state, and then the state learns that it is useful to separate
itself from theological debates as the debate widens to multiple parties. We
see how the UCC came to be through its outreach efforts.
Week 5: The Four
Traditions that Form the UCC. What is a Covenant? Who Can Have Communion with Us? Where Do We Go from Here?
Topics covered:
What is the value of tradition or unity? Uniting churches
– UCC, UMC, Disciples of Christ.
Reading suggestions: UCC Website. http://www.ucc.org. “About Us.” “Who We Are.”
“What We Believe.”
Scripture: Matthew 25: 31-46
The scripture here tells us more about social justice and
the way to eternal life.
Lecture Synopsis:
·
Extra video. Gerald, C. (2016) “Gospel of
Doubt.” Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/playlists/519/faith_in_the_modern_world
We celebrate another communion meal like our previous
discussion, but hopefully, this time with evolved ideas and views about our
work to share. The hope is that-- just
like the spread of time for the Church has altered communion, so too has the
five weeks with the classmates.
I would like to discuss the diagram of the United Church
of Christ four traditions into one with how that is similar to the early Church
and how that is different. In this discussion, I would like to spend time
discussing the prospective visions people have for the Church as well. Our goal this week is to build a list of
requests and observations to share with the wider Church (the congregation and
the wider Church).
·
What does scripture mean to you today?
·
What do you like about the Church?
·
What would you reform?
·
How would you invite more people to Church?
Additional Course Resources:
Have a Bible of your own for reference or borrow one from
the Church library.
Gonzalez, Justo. (2002). The Story of Christianity, Vol.
1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation. HarperOne.
Gonzalez, Justo. (2002). The Story of Christianity, Vol
2: The Reformation to the Present Day. HarperOne.
Guess, J. B. and Beckmann, D. (n.d.). Biblical
Foundations for Advocacy. Cleveland, Oh: United Church of Christ. Retrieved
from http://www.ucc.org/justice_advocacy_resources_biblical-foundations-for.
Ridley, M. (1996). The
Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation. New
York, NY: Penguin Books.
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