Beginning on September 14, 2025:

God as Creator

The theme for Forum for the Fall of 2025 will be God's work as Creator and our role as God's creatures in creation.

We will begin on September 14 by looking at how Israel came to understand the God who liberated them from Egypt as the one God who created the universe. We will then examine the vastness of the universe as understood by modern astronomy and the unfolding of life on Earth, in light of our understanding of evolution.

We will turn to the consideration of the fragility and vulnerability of human life, including the problem of the suffering and death of human beings and other creatures. We will conclude before Christmas with a look at the Incarnation of God in light of human finitude, suffering and death.

Our goal is to develop a deeper appreciation for the glory of God's work in creation, and to cultivate the gratitude and humility we should feel toward our Creator, as expressed so beautifully in Psalm 8: When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are humans that you are mindful of them, the children of mortals that you care for them?

February 2 - June 22, 2025:

Jesus and Israel

This coming winter and spring, we will be studying the relationship of Jesus to Israel and the Jews by means of three overarching questions.

First, what is Jesus's relationship to the history of God's relationship with Israel, as narrated in Scripture?
To explore this question, we will look at the covenants God made with Abraham, Moses, and David and the centrality of the Mosaic covenant in the period after the Babylonian exile to the time of Pontius Pilate. How does Jesus appear to us when placed in this context?

Second, what was the relationship between the followers of Jesus and the Israelites after the death and resurrection of Jesus?
To examine this question, we will look at what Christian theologians throughout the ages have said about the exile of the Jews from Jerusalem as their just punishment for their rejection of Jesus. Has God rejected the people of Israel?

Finally, does the post-Holocaust period offer new opportunities for Jewish-Christian relations?
To explore this question, we will look at the official statements of the Roman Catholic, Episcopal, and Lutheran Churches repudiating the anti-Judaism handed down throughout the Christian tradition and the official response of Reform and Orthodox Rabbis to these initiatives at reconciliation.

Please join us as we take the long and illuminating journey from Abraham to Jewish-Christian relations today!

October 6 - December 15, 2024

The Saving Grace of God

With Theologian in Residence, Prof. Randall Zachman and
a team of facilitators.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8) We celebrate this insight with beloved hymns like Amazing Grace and with our prayer of confession every Sunday that ends in the assurance of the grace and mercy of God.

But what does it mean to be saved by grace, and how does grace appear in our lives? What is the nature of our sin from which grace frees us, and what is the relationship between God's grace and our works of obedience? Join us this fall as we explore the mystery of God's grace and how it transforms our lives.

May 5 - June, 30 2024

The Holy Trinity

With Theologian in Residence, Prof. Randall Zachman and
a team of facilitators.

March 3 - April, 28 2024

The Sacrament of Holy Communion

With Theologian in Residence, Prof. Randall Zachman and a team of facilitators.

In the service of Holy Communion in the Book of Common Prayer, we offer to God, as though in a sacrifice, the gifts of creation of bread and wine, and we pray that by the Holy Spirit this bread and wine may be for us the Body and Blood of our Savior Jesus Christ. How are we to understand the Eucharist as an offering made to God? And how are we to understand the relationship between the bread and wine and the body and blood of Jesus Christ? Join us in Forum as we explore the ways these questions were answered by major figures in the Christian tradition, so that we might have a more informed participation in Holy Communion.