Christian Foundations I
From Abraham to Jesus
If we are to share in God’s mission for the world, then we need to have a firm idea of “the-story-so-far” and do our best to write ourselves into it—and help others to do the same!
Wednesday Evenings 7:00pm – 9:00pm EST
Many people are familiar with the concept of an overarching narrative (storyline) when looking at the history of our faith: from the Old Testament, through to the New and on into the history of the church, we can see God at work. However, when people think of, say, the Old Testament, disconnected images come to mind (King David, the Exodus, prophets, and others). The problem is that many people have no real idea of how these individual stories flow together and fit into the historical narrative.
People are also often confused about just what the actual foundations of our faith are. What does God want to show us and how do we conform to his “plan”? If we are to share in God’s mission for the world, then we need to have a firm idea of “the-story-so-far” and do our best to write ourselves into it—and help others to do the same!
What You’ll Learn
How it works
Learn together
Participate in five two-hour sessions with Patrick and the learning community.
Practice in your context
During the course you will be encouraged to apply your learning in your context in order to deepen your understanding.
Reflect in community
Your new knowledge and experience will become even more meaningful when shared with other learning practitioners like yourself.
Instructor
Patrick Paulsen’s greatest passion is teaching people to see Jesus in his proper context—as a first century Jew in the historical setting of the intertestamental period. His Master’s thesis was on “Exploring the Self-awareness of Jesus through His Use of Hebrew Idioms and Elements of Second Temple Judaism,” and teaching this is what he loves to do.
Patrick is married to (The Rev. Canon Dr.) Judy Paulsen and they have three children and four grandchildren. He holds a Master’s degree in Applied Science and a Master’s degree in Theological Studies. His passions are: learning, teaching, kayaking, drumming, and learning languages. With Judy and Bishop Susan Bell, he co-wrote Christian Foundations. He also wrote a three-part series called “Know the Flow: (1) The Story of Israel from Abraham to Jesus, (2) Jesus in His First Century Context and (3) The Story of the Early Church, Canon and Creeds.”