Chattanooga Churches Offer Scholarly Study Of Jesus

Scholarly work related to the Christian faith is often controversial and sometimes outright avoided by churches (frequently out of fear for talking about difficult issues and sometimes because there are those who believe all you have to do is read the Bible to understand what faith is all about).

Over the course of the past few weeks I’ve been leading a lay group through the Living the Questions curriculum. Many of the folks involved with the Jesus Seminar (a group that studies the historical Jesus) and other Christian social justice advocates were involved in the development of this series. The people participating in our group – most of whom would consider themselves traditionalists theologically and conservative politically – impress me with their willingness to at least consider material that is common place in mainline seminaries like mine.

Clergy really should trust lay people more and engage congregants in the same discussions that occur in seminaries and other theological education settings.

There is some good news on that front coming out of Chattanooga. A “Jesus Conference” will be held on November 5th and is sponsored by Baptist, United Church of Christ, Episcopal, and United Methodist congregations, according to chattanoogan.com.

A conference designed to examine two questions “Who is Jesus?” and “What is the significance of Jesus for people today?” is set for Nov. 5 at 9 a.m. at First Baptist Church downtown. Sponsored by several downtown churches, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, First-Centenary United Methodist Church, First Presbyterian Church, First Baptist Church, Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ and Christ Church Episcopal, the Jesus Conference will feature a panel of six widely recognized Jesus scholars.

According to Dr. James Catanzaro, Chattanooga State president and conference moderator, “Jesus has been savior and companion for millions of Christians worldwide; nevertheless, controversy has surrounded the Jesus of history and the Jesus of faith. The six distinguished panelists will respond to the two foundational questions and to questions of attendees who will be part of one the most important faith events in our community’s history.”

Dr. Stephen Patterson, professor of New Testament studies at Eden Theological Seminary and author of the book The God of Jesus, is one of the panelists. I’ve studies with Dr. Patterson and highly recommend the work of this noted UCC scholar.

Conferences like this are a real gift and I urge people to take advantage of them when offered or to organize ones like them through your own faith communities.