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Religious Exploration

The purpose of the Religious Exploration Committee of the Board of Deacons is to provide educational opportunities for Plymouth members and friends in the areas of Bible study, interpersonal growth, contemporary theology and inter-faith dialogue at times other than the Sunday morning forums.

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Winter-Spring 2012 opportunities

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New Testament Greek

Wednesday, 5-6 p.m., weekly through May 16, Room 204
Don Burrows

If you have always wanted to learn a little Greek or brush up on your previous study of it, this course will take you through the rudiments of New Testament Greek. The Greek of the New Testament is koine (κοινή), meaning “common,” a post-classical (after about 300 B.C.) variant of Attic Greek that served as the lingua franca of the eastern Mediterranean in later antiquity. The class will be casual and will require only as much work as you want to get out of it.

Each week, we will look at a passage of the New Testament in the original language to see how knowing the Greek can illuminate the text. For example, what does the Lord's Prayer look like in Greek? Does it say and mean the same things as it does in our familiar English recitation? The course blog provides a place for online discussion as well as class resources.

Don M. Burrows is a Ph.D. candidate (ABD) in classics at the University of Minnesota. His Ph.D. minor is in religious studies, with emphasis on the New Testament and early Christian history. His dissertation focuses on the Greek novels, which were contemporary with early Christian works, including the New Testament. He also has presented papers on the Roman/Biblical film genre, based on his undergraduate thesis. Don has been a member of Plymouth since 2008 and lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Laura, and daughter, Julia.

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Having Men for Dinner
Women's Deadly Banquets

Monday, Jan. 23-Feb. 20 , 7 p.m., Room 205, Tara Bauer and Paula Northwood

Join this unique Bible study of women who kill through serving food and drink, or providing hospitality and comfort. We will scrutinize the metaphors present in these biblical tales from a feminist perspective by using the book Having Men to Dinner by Nicole Duran. Deception, seduction and revenge are major themes. For women and men.

Tara Bauer is pastoral resident at Plymouth.

Paula Northwood is minister for education at Plymouth.

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Issues related to the so-called marriage amendment

Four monthly meetings on Sunday Feb. 12, March 11, April 15 and May 13, 12:15 p.m. Most are in the Nancy Baltins room; March 11 is in the Fireside room. Please pick up lunch at Katy's Cafe or bring your own.

Have you been wondering how to discuss the marriage amendment with friends, neighbors, and family, especially if they do not agree with your opinions and beliefs? The Religious Exploration Committee warmly welcomes everyone to a series addressing theological and religious themes one Sunday per month.

February 12: Film A Fish Out of Water co-sponsored with the Film Club. Paula Northwood leads the discussion.

March 11 session on Compassionate Communication with Yvette Erasmus (bio is below).

April 15 Old Testament passages with Shannon Kearns.

May 13 exploring New Testament passages on slavery with Karl Jones. Karl writes: "A wealth of scripture would seem to support the institution of slavery. Since the Civil War, while racial tensions have evolved and slavery still exists (in new forms), in our time, few preachers would think of holding up the Bible to justify slavery. What happened and how might that inform the current debate over acceptance of theGLBT community?"

Shannon Kearns, a 2009 graduate of Union Theological Seminary, is the winner of the 2008 Queertopia homolectics preaching
competition. Shannon works at Plymouth as the Youth Activities Coordinator and Interim Community Ministries Coordinator.

Karl Jones has been an active member of Plymouth since the 1980’s, a student at United Theological Seminary since 2003, and is due to graduate with a Master of Divinity degree in May 2012. Since 2011, Karl has also been a Member in Discernment, considering ordination with the United Church of Christ.

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Compassionate Communication:
Introduction and Basic Training

Saturday, February 18 & May 5, 9:00 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Fireside Room
Yvette Erasmus

Would you like to deal with conflict more skillfully? Be sensitive to others without giving up your own needs? Deepen intimacy and have more ease in relating?

Compassionate Communication, (NonViolent Communication) offers simple yet powerful tools to move from confusion and conflict to clarity and co-operation. These tools have a 40-year record of increasing peace in personal professional, organizational and governmental relationships.

This introductory workshop will offer you a brief history of compassionate communication, an overview of its philosophy, beginning-level practice and inspirational stories of how the tools improve daily life. This course is open to everyone and also works well as a review.

Marshall Rosenberg, Ph.D., developed the program he calls NonViolent Communication and three copies of his book of the same name are available in the Plymouth Library.

The workshop facilitator, Yvette Erasmus, M.Ed., has experience teaching Compassionate Communication at the Aslan Institute and leading preschool children, teachers, parents and prison inmates to a more spiritually centered communication model. She’s also a graduate student working to complete a doctorate degree in psychology.

Cost is $75, partial scholarships available; limited to 25. Please pre-register. Register on-line.

For additional information, go to www.cnvc.org or contact the program coordinator, Anne Seltz, at anneseltz@aol.com.

Co-sponsored by the Religious Exploration and Spiritual Enrichment Committees.

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Bible study: Using today's progressive theologians, What is Good Friday about?

Sunday Feb. 26 and continuing through Lent, 9:30 a.m., Room 205, Mary Kay Sauter and Paula Northwood.

This bible study will use the Jesus Seminar version of the gospel of Mark, Process Theology, Appreciative Inquiry, and Ched Myers’ book on Mark to explore our relationship with God and God's creation to discern what Good Friday is about.

Mary Kay Sauter is a semi-retired UCC pastor whose ministry has been nine intentional interim pastorates. She is a fourth generation congregationalist, a preacher’s kid, an army brat, a wife, mom, grandmother, explorer of God’s love for all creation, a quilter and a crocheter who loves chocolate—deep,
dark chocolate.

Paula Northwood, Minister for Education at Plymouth, is also a certified spiritual director through the Center for Spiritual Guidance. She holds a D.Min from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.

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At a glance...

New Testament Greek

Having Men for Dinner

Issues Related to the So-called Marriage Amendment

Compassionate Communication:
Introduction and Basic Training

Bible study: Using Today's Progressive Theologians, What is Good Friday About?