Scottish Churches House

Scottish Churches House is an ecumenical conference centre on the Cathedral square in Dunblane, Scotland. They have a programme called "Grasping Nettles" and on the 1st of April (next week), I'll speaking there with Helen Bond (Edinburgh University) on "The Bible – literal truth or metaphor?" It kicks off at 5.30 p.m. and if you're in that part of Scotland then feel free to come along and hear two scholars talk and exchange views over the nature and form of the Gospels.

High School Winter Retreat on Jesus

This weekend, Feburary 16-19, I have the privilege of speaking at a Winter Retreat for the High School ministry at College Church in Wheaton. In my former life, unlike Mike's career as a dancer, I was a full-time youth worker for a number of years. Some have asked me how one goes from Junior High pastor to University professor, but that is a story for another time--perhaps the give away was that I was teaching my 8th grade boys small group Greek in the late 90's.

The topic for the weekend is the Historical Jesus; here is the outline of my talks:

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Session 1: Why Do We Need to Understand Jesus Historically?
Session 2: How Do We Discover the Real Jesus? (4 Foundational Ideas for Studying Jesus)
Session 3: Who is Jesus? Jesus' Message
Session 4: Who is Jesus? Jesus' Work
Session 5: What is our calling? Jesus' Ongoing Mission

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As I once wrote I am not a big fan of the whole Historical Jesus enterprise, but I am wholly committed to the idea that to properly understand Jesus' mission and message we must firmly root him in a 1st century Palestinian Israelite context. After suggesting some points on studying Jesus I will attempt to put Jesus' message and work in his context for the students. Perhaps most importantly I want to convince these students that we have to guard against ahistorical interpretations that do not adequately capture the nature of the Gospel.