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Christian Beginnings
Visions and Struggles
within & beyond the Canon
Melanie Johnson-DeBaufre & Shelly Matthews
The Jesus Seminar has always cast a broad net, looking beyond the New Testament to the wider variety of texts and traditions that made up earliest Christianity. In the current phase of its work, the Seminar is asking what these materials might tell us about the diverse origins of Christianity. Shelly Matthews and Melanie Johnson DeBaufre will introduce participants to the fascinating and contentious world of Christianity within and "beyond the canon."
LECTURE
Melanie Johnson-DeBaufre
Claiming the Insight of Jesus
How did the early Jesus followers use and value the sayings of Jesus? Why did they collect them in texts like the sayings gospel "Q" and the Gospel of Thomas? How are Jesus traditions used in the Gospel of Mary? These texts reveal a communal interest in the kingdom of God, accessing secret wisdom about true humanity and the cosmos, and claiming voice for a forgotten apostle. Some of these views did not survive. How has Jesus' own voice became one of the contentious "other voices" lost in the unfolding history of early Christianity?
Friday, 7:30–9 P.M.
WORKSHOPS
Shelly Matthews
Claiming the Mercy of Jesus?
Does Jesus' command to love enemies "separate Christianity from antiquity," as some have argued, or does it merely echo a "commonplace of Greco-Roman morality?" Why did some early Christians get so angry about teachings on enemy love and non-retaliation? Why did an early Christian scribe strike Jesus' dying forgiveness prayer from the Gospel of Luke? This workshop will examine key teachings on extreme mercy attributed to Jesus, focusing on ways in which early Christians used them for less-than-merciful ends.
Saturday, 9:30 A.M.-NOON
Melanie Johnson-DeBaufre and Shelly Matthews
Claiming the Authority of Jesus
In 2006, the Jesus Seminar turned its attention to the question of Christian origins. Shelly Matthews and Melanie Johnson DeBaufre will introduce this work, and the fascinating diversity of early Christian belief and practice to be explored in a variety of sources, particularly around the contending apostolic traditions of Mary Magdalene, Peter, Paul, and Thecla. And they will take your questions about the forgotten visions and struggles of this intriguing past.
Saturday, 1:30–4 P.M.
Shelly Matthews ( Th.D., Harvard Divinity School) is Dorothy and B.H. Peace Professor of Religion at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. She is the author of Perfect Martyr: The Stoning of Stephen and the Construction of Early Christianity (forthcoming) and First Converts (2001).
Melanie Johnson-DeBaufre (Th.D., Harvard Divinity School) is Associate Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Drew Theological School and the Graduate Division of Religion, Madison, New Jersey. She is the author of Jesus Among Her Children (2005) and Mary Magdalene Understood (with Jane Schaberg, 2006).
ALL EVENTS AT
The Good Shepherd United Church of Christ
17750 S. La Cañada
Sahuarita, AZ 85629
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To register by mail or fax, use the printable registration form
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Westar Institute
Willamette University
900 State Street
Salem, Oregon 97301
tollfree (877) 523-3545, (503) 375-5324 fax
events@westarinstitute.orgor
Jackie Smith
(520) 399-3447
jackiesmithaz@aol.com