The Heart of Christianity's Sunday School Lesson for Sunday, 18 December 2016 from Lembi Saarmann of First United Methodist Church in San Diego, California, United States for Saturday, 17 December 2016

 The Heart of Christianity's Sunday School Lesson for Sunday, 18 December 2016 from Lembi Saarmann of First United Methodist Church in San Diego, California, United States for Saturday, 17 December 2016
Hi hearts class,
Here are some thoughts for tomorrow's discussion. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

1. Ehrman Ch. 2
2. p. 49 – stories about important people – which ones do you remember being taught, that were not true?
3. P. 50… Ehrman points out that we see distorted memories in the non-canonical texts, but have trouble seeing them in the New Testament. Have you had this experience?

Would you have seen the Gorilla in the Midst?

1. P. 52… Reimarus – puts forth the theory that Jesus intended to be a political, not spiritual, messiah. The disciples invented the spiritual messiah after the crucifixion to keep a good thing going. Reactions???
2. p. 58.. the discussion of the form critics is interesting. Most thought that Mark was mainly historical, not theological. This is disputed by Wrede who concluded that the theology of Mark was that Jesus tried to keep his messianic identity a secret. Wrede says this does not make sense. That if Jesus was the messiah he would have wanted people to know. Do you think this is valid, or an example of modern bias?
3. p. 62…. The idea of the framework for the stories – healing stories, controversy stories, etc. They do have a consistent pattern. Ehrman talks about the contexts that would have led to such stories. Is his argument convincing?
4. p. 65 – Ehrman points out the the people writing the gospels wrote 40-65 years after Jesus died. They were not his personal companions and they were not even from the same country!
5. p. 66…. Memorized stories – Ehrman gives a couple of theories about memorized stories of Jesus. One is based on how rabbis taught their disciples. But this type of teaching happened about 200 yrs after Jesus. Do you think Jesus might, nonetheless, have used this type of teaching?

But there are differences in Jesus actions and words in the gospels. See story of Jairus on p. 70.

1. p. 71… Ehrman discusses the idea of social control over oral stories – this sounds good until he takes it apart on the following pages. 
2. p. 80 – discussion of experiment about how wide and fast a story can spread just by word of mouth. And this is all without social media!

So, what can we believe, accept, honor from the gospels?
Lembi
Lembi Saarmann, RN, EdD
Emeritus Faculty
School of Nursing
San Diego State University
Cell: 619-987-1604
Email: Lembis77@gmail.com
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 Hearts class from Lembi Saarmann
Dear Hearts,
I'm sorry to be so late getting this out.
Ehrman Chapter 1
We have a collective memory of Jesus based on the contexts of our lives. Our memories of the past are always affected by our views of the present. Seeing Jesus in different lights has been going on since the beginning of Christianity. Ehrman gives examples
1. Jesus as zealot – fighting against the government
2. Jesus as liberal and anti-materialist
3. Jesus as feminist
4. Jesus as apocalyptic prophet
5. Jesus as giver of eternal life, as healer, as ethical example, as success giver.
How many of these resonate with you now – or have resonated in the past? Do you have other views of Jesus?
Ehrman then goes on to cite different works in early centuries. Let’s look at them
1. Acts of Peter – can you believe any of these stories? Why or why not?
2. Gospel of Nicodemus; writings of Papias – give different versions of how Judas died.
3. Pilate gospels – written while there was a split between Christians and Jews – Pilate gets more sympathetic and ends up a convert. By making Pilate “better”, can blame the Jews more.
4. Proto Gospel of James – stories about Jesus before his birth. Written in 2d century. Many of our ideas come from this. – such as Mary stayed a virgin. Joseph was an older man.
5. Pseudo gospel of Matthew and Infancy Gospel of Thomas – stories about Jesus as a child.
6. Coptic gospel of Thomas – sayings of Jesus. Do they make sense to you???? Would they fit your memory of Jesus?
7. Gospel of Peter – account of the death of Jesus – puts blame on Jews. Details of resurrection.
So the questions are:
Can you believe any of these accounts?
How would Christianity by different today if all these books had made it into the canon?
Lembi
Lembi Saarmann, RN, EdD
Emeritus Faculty
School of Nursing
San Diego State University
Cell: 619-987-1604
Email: Lembis77@gmail.com
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 hearts class from Lembi Saarmann
Hello hearts,
I've attached some basic info about memory.
Also, please read up to pg 32. for this Sunday.
The book is Jesus Before the Gospels by Bart Ehrman.
for discussion please consider:
1. were you aware of Lincoln's earlier views about blacks and civil rights?
2. what about Columbus? How was he taught to you in school? Do you have any newer knowledge of him?
3. Were the people writing about Jesus eyewitnesses? Does that make them accurate?
4. What do you think about social memory?
5. Ehrman cites different perspectives on Jesus, Peter and Pilot. Do they "fit" with your own perceptions? Did you learn anything new?
I think this is going to be an interesting book.
Lembi
Lembi Saarmann, RN, EdD
Emeritus Faculty
School of Nursing
San Diego State University
Cell: 619-987-1604
Email: Lembis77@gmail.com
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