Summer Term Sunday Classes
11:10 am-12:00 pm
July 11-25
Major Wilson, long-time Calvary parishioner and passionate
historian, will address the topic, “The Sin of Innocence: The End
of American Exceptionalism.” Major writes of the class: “One
central element in our national self-image - what historians call
‘exceptionalism’ - is the belief that our economic, social, and political system is based on universal truth and that the rest of the world wants to become like us. This course will explain the emergence of this energizing myth, trace its role in our imperial expansion, and then deal at greater length with the increasingly tragic tension between the myth and the profoundly complex realities of globalization.
This tension reflects what Saint Paul might have called ‘the sin of
innocence.’ ‘For the good that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do.’ Two books by Reinhold Niebuhr, Moral Man and Immoral Society and The Irony of American History provide a theological context for this course.
August 1-8
- The Great Emergence- How Christianity is Changing
and Why/Great Hall
with Phyllis Tickle
Ms. Phyllis Tickle, Calvary parishioner and noted publisher, writer,
and leading voice for the Emerging Church movement, teaches
two Sundays in August. Phyllis’ book The Great Emergence- How
Christianity is Changing and Why, published just two years ago,
has led Church leaders across the world to consider what the mission
of Church needs to be in coming years. Phyllis has preached in
Calvary’s Lenten Preaching Series to great acclaim and is in demand
years in advance to share her learnings. We are grateful Ms. Tickle
will teach in August.