The Historical Jesus: A Tipping Point in Historical Jesus Studies - Tuesday, March 6: 7:00 - 9:00 pm. The quest for the historical Jesus has evolved through several phases. Since the middle of the last century, the difference between “the Jesus of History” and “the Christ of Faith” has been widely accepted. Scholars (and increasingly the general public as well) have been quite optimistic about the possibility of separating the original words and actions of Jesus from the elaborations that were added to the story in light of faith.

Over the decades, a whole set of criteria for sifting through history have been developed and the findings have been widely published.

But now there is a pause in this activity and it seems that another tipping point is at hand. In this session we will consider the efforts to date and the questions about history that are now tilting the quest in a new direction.

The Embodied Jesus: The Neglect of Religious Experience
Then and Now - Tuesday, March 13: 7:00 - 9:00 pm. Traditional descriptions of Christian origins emphasize Paul’s preaching as the magnet that drew new members to the fledgling movement.

Unfortunately, academic tradition has been much less successful (and interested) in describing the other - more experiential - appeals of earliest Christianity and contemporary Christianity keeps most religious experience safely sequestered at its margins.

However, recent brain studies may be changing that state of affairs. Religion and science are meeting in conversations about the diverse means of human “knowing,” the deep integration of body and brain, and the functional drive to make meaning through extraordinary means. In this session we will explore both the role of religious experience in Christian origins and its potential even in mainline churches.

About the Speaker: Colleen Shantz
Colleen Shantz is Assistant Professor of New Testament for the Faculty of Theology of St. Michael’s College, U of Toronto. She researches questions of experience (emotions, religious experience, and ancient anthropology) as factors in Christian origins. Her examination of Paul’s ecstatic religious experience, Paul in Ecstasy, will be published by Cambridge University Press. [St. Michael's College]

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Sponsored by the Learning Ministry For additional information, contact any member of the Learning Ministry Committee or phone the Parish Office at 416-920-5211 x 26 The Rev. Canon Dr. Judy Rois, The Rev. Jason Prisley, Michael Butler, Samantha Caravan, Greg Carpenter, Nora Dobell, Dr. Jennifer Harris.