Wednesdays at 1pm

Our bible study this session will focus on the Gospel of John. We will use the book “The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic” to guide us through this study. Please let the office know if you need help purchasing a book. This study begins September 20.

Faith in Action Bible Study

Many of you have read about our new “Faith in Action” groups. See the article about the Book Club for further details on the format, etc. This bible study will also be held in the David Bacon Room at 1PM on Wednesdays beginning        Sept. 20, 2023.

The Gospel of John has often been called the “maverick” gospel. (There is even a book by that title!) The Gospel of John is very unlike the other three gospels that we have studied so far. For me, studying such a different gospel requires a different study style. For the Bible Study, we will be using “The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic” by John Shelby Spong. This book is cutting edge in its explication of the gospel. I ask that you give it a chance as we learn together!

The book’s description from Amazon, “John Shelby Spong, bestselling author and popular proponent of a modern, scholarly and authentic Christianity, argues that this last gospel to be written was misinterpreted by the framers of the fourth-century creeds to be a literal account of the life of Jesus when in fact it is a literary, interpretive retelling of the events in Jesus’ life through the medium of fictional characters, from Nicodemus and Lazarus to the “Beloved Disciple.” The Fourth Gospel was designed first to place Jesus into the context of the Jewish scriptures, then to place him into the worship patterns of the synagogue and finally to allow him to be viewed through the lens of a popular form of first-century Jewish mysticism.

The result of this intriguing study is not only to recapture the original message of this gospel, but also to provide us today with a radical new dimension to the claim that in the humanity of Jesus the reality of God has been met and engaged.”

Books are available from most online bookstores. Please let the office know if you need help in securing a book.