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Resurrecting Jesus: Quantum Spirit, Inclusive Spirituality*

Fall 2012

As we struggle to adjust to a world that is continually changing, it is vital to revisit inherited assumptions and traditional perceptions foundational to our faith. In this course we return to Jesus, the Jewish mystic at the core of Christianity, to wrestle once again with such challenging questions as: “Who do people say that I am?’ and “Who do you say that I am?” Together we will seek to discern his 21st-century spirit as we shape an emerging spirituality made visible through a quantum lens.

Mondays 5:15-9:15 p.m. starting September 10 (11 Sessions)

Miriam Therese Winter

Miriam Therese Winter
Professor of Liturgy, Worship, Spirituality and Feminist Studies
(860) 509-9558
mtwinter@hartsem.edu
Syllabus: 

Goals/Objectives and Outcomes

The primary goals/objectives of this course :

  • to become familiar with the latest findings of contemporary scholars regarding the historical Jesus and his place in Christian traditions
  • to raise the difficult questions and wrestle with those present-day issues that are at teh heart of having faith in a Jesus defined by ecclesiastical Tradition
  • to discover what it means to be a follower of Jesus or a Christian living in the spirit of Jesus in a quantum universe and a multicultural, multifaith world

The primary outcomes of this course are:

  • a clearer sense of the relationship ebtween the Jesus of history and the Jesus of Christianity and an informed awareness of the distinction between them
  • a clarification of our own relationship to Jesus and implication for faith-based initiatives in light of what we have learned from ancient traditions and from a quantum universe
  • an awarness of how cosmic Christ-consciousness consonant with the earliest Jesus traditions and an ever evolving Tradition differs from what we have inherited and is core to quantum spirituality

Expectations / Assigments

Those Auditing the Course

  • participate in class discussions and read as much as you are able to manage

Those Taking the Course for Credit

  • attend all class sessions unless an emergency requires otherwise
  • do the reading listed in the course syllabus
  • complete the written assignment
  • submit your Grade Sheet at the end of the course

Written Assignment

In conversation with a variety of course readings and overall course content, write a reflection paper (not an academic discourse) – approximately seven pages in length (double spacing) – in which you reflect on how your understanding of Jesus, and perhaps even your relationship to Jesus, has changed as a result of this course; and how you might apply one or more of your course learnings to a concrete life situation. Use the course outcomes (three) that appear beneath the course goals/objectives on page one of the introductory handout as an outline for framing your written reflection. Examples or anecdotes related to your own experience are encouraged.

Grade Sheet

At the end of the course, fill out your Grade Sheet and submit it with your final assignment.

January 15, 2013 is the deadline for submitting Final Paper and Grade Sheet

Schedule

Sept 10 / 1

Who Do People Say That I Am?

  • the Jesus of Tradition
  • the Jesus of traditions
  • the Jesus of experience

Reading
Borg, Meeting Jesus: 1-35
Funk, Five Gospels: 69-118
Sept 17 / 2

The Historical Jesus

  • Galilean Jew
  • illegitimate? illiterate?
  • prodigal son
 Reading
Chilton, Rabbi Jesus: 3-22, 23-40
Schaberg, Illegitimacy of Jesus: 1-77
Sept 24 / 3

Ministry and Mission

  • disciple of John
  • baptized in the Spirit
  • itinerate teacher, preacher, healer
 Reading
Chilton, Rabbi Jesus: 41-65
Robinson, Gospel: 11-139
Oct 1 / 4

Original Good News

  • Sayings Gospel Q
  • Gospel of Jesus
  • Essential themes and practices
 Reading
Robinson, Jesus: 1-26, 65-80, 119
Oct 8 / 5

Prophetic Spirit

  • healer who casts out demons
  • champion of the poor, outcasts
  • legacy of eating / drinking
 Reading
Crossan, Revolutionary: 45-48, 66-101
Winter, eucharist with a small "e"
Oct 15 / 6

What Jesus Was About

  • God's reign here and now
  • mediating the SPirit
  • a gospel of inclusion

Reading
Robinson, The Gospel of Jesus
Stegemann, The Jesus Movement: 137-247
Oct 22 / 7

Jesus Dies

  • passion narratives
  • political implications
  • religious interpretations
 Reading
Chilton, Rabbi Jesus: 248-289
Pagels, Gnostic Gospels: 70-101
Oct 29 / 8

Jesus Lives

  • appearances
  • embodiment
  • real presence

Reading
Butcher, Untold Stories
Pagels, Gnostic Gospels: 3-27
Borg, Jesus…Religious Revolutionary
Nov 5 / 9

Divinity Dilemma

  • channeling spirit
  • becoming God
  • cosmic Christ
 Reading
Rubenstein, When Jesus Became God
Delio, The Emergent Christ
Nov 12 / 10

Transformation of Consciousness

  • incarnate wisdom
  • consciousness and reality
  • quantum spirit, spirituality
 Reading
Bourgeault, Wisdom Jesus
Miller, Gospel of Thomas
Nov 19 / 11

Who Do You Say that I Am?

  • man, myth, meaning
  • images and reality
  • resurrecting human and divine
 Reading
Ehrman, Misquoting Jesus
Spong, A New Christianity: 79-96,129-146

 

Books: 

Course Readings

Borg, Marcus. “Jesus and Wisdom” and “Jesus, the Wisdom of God” (pp. 69-118) in Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time. The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith. HarperSanFrancisco, 1994. Buy now

Borg, Marcus. Jesus. Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary. HarperCollins, 2006. Buy now

Bourgeault, Cynthia. The Wisdom Jesus. Transforming Heart and Mind – a New Perspective on Christ and His Message. Shambhala, 2008.

Butcher, John Beverley. Telling the Untold Stories. Encounters with the Resurrected Jesus. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2000. Buy now

Chilton, Bruce. Rabbi Jesus. An Intimate Biography. New York: Doubleday, 2000. Buy now

Crossan, John Dominic. Jesus. A Revolutionary Biography. HarperSanFrancisco, 1994. Buy now

Delio, Ilia. The Emergent Christ. Exploring the Meaning of Catholic in an Evolutionary Universe. NY: Orbis, 2011. Buy now

Ehrman, Bart D. Misquoting Jesus. The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. HarperSanFrancisco, 2005. Buy now

Funk, Robert W., Hoover, Ray W., and the Jesus Seminar. “Introduction” (pp. 1-35) in The Five Gospels. What Did Jesus Really Say? HarperSanFrancisco, 1997. Buy now

Miller, Ron. The Gospel of Thomas. A Guidebook for Spiritual Practice. Skylight Paths, 2004. Buy now

Pagels, Elaine. The Gnostic Gospels. New York: Vintage, 1979 – pp. 3-27, 70-101. Buy now

Robinson, James M. Jesus: According to the Earliest Witness. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007 – “Introduction” (pp. vii-xiii) and chapters 1; 3; 6; 7; and the Appendix. Buy now

Robinson, James M. The Gospel of Jesus. In Search of the Original Good News. HarperSanFran,2005. Buy now

Rubenstein, Richard E. When Jesus Became God. The Struggle to Define Christianity During the Last Days of Rome. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 1999. Buy now

Schaberg, Jane. The Illegitimacy of Jesus. A Feminist Theological Interpretation of the Infancy Narratives. New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1990 – pp. 1-77. Buy now

Spong, John Shelby. “The Original Christ: Before the Theistic Distortion” (pp. 79-96) and “Jesus Beyond Incarnation” (pp. 129-146) in A New Christianity for a New World. Why Traditional Faith is Dying and How a New Faith is Being Born. HarperSanFrancisco, 2001. Buy now

Stegemann, Ekkehard W. and Stegemann, Wolfgang. The Jesus Movement. A Social History of Its First Century. Tr. by O.C. Dean, Jr. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999 – pp. 137-247. Buy now

Winter, Miriam Therese. Eucharist with a Small “e.” New York: Orbis Books, 2005. Buy now

Additional Reading

Hanh, Thich Nhat and Elaine Pagels. Living Buddha, Living Christ. NY: Riverhead Books, 2007. Buy now

Murphy, Catherine M. The Historical Jesus for Dummies. A Reference for the Rest of Us! Wiley Publishing, 2008. Buy now

Wessels, Cletus. Jesus in the New Universe Story. New York: Orbis, 2003. Buy now

Young, William P. The Shack. Windblown Media, 2007. Buy now