Thursday Journey — How We Got Here: The Story of Saints, Sinners, and Sacred Surprises

10:00 am to 11:30 am in the Activities Room

Modernity, Part 1: November 13
Modernity, Part 2: November 20

Modernity (c. 1450-1990) is one of the most fascinating and complex periods in church history. It unfolds through four overlapping movements:
• The Enlightenment
• The Age of Personal Faith
• The Birth of the Modern Church
• The Age of Disillusionment and Renewal

Within these centuries, several distinct expressions of Christianity emerged:
• the liberal church
• the evangelical church
• the fundamentalist church
• the traditional church
• and the Pentecostal/charismatic church

Alongside these religious paths, other currents were flowing—atheism, agnosticism, free thought, and materialism—each responding to or resisting the church’s influence. Modernity is like a broad highway with many lanes: some move toward deeper expressions of faith, while others travel the road of secularism.

In our first session, Diana Butler Bass will guide us in exploring key characteristics of modernity and the question “Where is God?”—a question every generation of modern people has answered in its own way.

In the second session the following week, we’ll trace how these various strands shaped the churches we know today—from the religious right to the religious left—and how we’ve begun to move beyond modernity into Postmodernism.

These two sessions are more personal than any of the others in our series. They invite us to look at who we are, how we were formed, and how we think as modern people of faith.

Even if you haven’t been able to attend our sessions so far, these are two you don’t want to miss.

The schedule:

November 13        Quest and the Modern World          Diana Butler Bass

November 20        The Modern Quest for the Kingdom  Diana Butler Bass

*November 27       THANKSGIVING                              No Class

December 4           The River of Contemporary Faith    Diana Butler Bass

December 11         The Post-Modern Church                 Stewart

December 18         Questions and Comments                Diana Butler Bass

Suggested book to enrich your participation:

A People’s History of Christianity by Diana Butler Bass. HarperOne, 2009.
(Amazon: $8.99 paperback)