Christ Church’s adult ed. program starts 11/18/2011

15 Nov Christ Church’s adult ed. program starts 11/18/2011

Apostle Paul's in the Roman Empire

Over the past year, Telluride Inside… and Out has has enjoyed regular chats with Reverend Pat Bailey of Telluride’s Christ Church. Through our conversations, it becomes apparent Pastor Pat, a student of world religions, is somewhat of a radical, particularly in the context of strict constructionism within the church. And it takes one to know and embrace one: Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan are two scholars, who, like Pat, challenge the way Christians think about their faith and church to make the teachings relevant for a 21st century audience.

On Friday, November 18,  noon– 1:30 p.m., Christ Church. 434 West Columbia Avenue, invites all comers to “join” Borg and  Crossan on location in Turkey as they trace the Apostle Paul’s footsteps through the Roman Empire. The web-based study explores fresh insights into Paul’s message about the Kingdom of God, its challenge to Roman imperial theology and authority, and the apostle’s radical relevance for today. The event opens Christ Church’s new adult religious ed. program, “Eclipsing Empire.”

In the Christian faith, Paul is second only to Jesus as the most important figure in the birth of the religion, yet he continues to be highly c

ontroversial. How could the letters of Paul be used both to inspire radical grace and to endorse systems of oppression: condoning slavery, subordinating women, condemning homosexual behavior? Borg and Crossan use the best of biblical and historical scholarship to explain the reasons for Paul’s mixed reputation, revealing what scholars have known for decades: the later letters of Paul were

created by the early church to dilute Paul’s egalitarian message and transform him into something more “acceptable.” Paul was pasteurized. Only seven of the 13 letters attributed to him were actually written by him. Borg and Crossan argue there are actually “Three Pauls” in the New Testamen

t: “The Radical Paul” (of the seven genuine letters), “The Conservative Paul” (of the three disputed epistles), and “The Reactionary Paul” (of the three inauthentic letters). Can Ghandi and Martin Luther King and more recently Tim De Christopher, all advocates of non-violent resistance, trace their core beliefs to Paul?

Find out more about the Paul debate and about Pat Bailey’s adult education initiative, by clicking the “play” button and listening to his brief talk.