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Coming Up in
Adult Education -
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Christ the King's Sunday morning adult education classes feature presentations by parishioners and guest experts in fields such as theology, literature, Scripture, and church history. These sessions take place each Sunday from 10:00am - 11:00am on Zoom. Please contact jon.stotts@ctk-nashville.org for details.
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past sessions
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The Pale Caste
Presented by Victor Judge
10:30am-11:30am on June 6, 13, 20, & 27In her novel Passing, published in 1929, Harlem Renaissance writer Nella Larsen (1891-1964) explores the fluidity of racial identity that resonates today. According to scholar Emily Bernard, Passing is a “meditation on the inextricable relationship between whiteness and blackness and the impossibility of self-invention in a society in which nuance and ambiguity are considered fatal threats to the social order—a social order in which race is a function of law, history, and politics.” The primary question that emerges from the pages of Larsen’s novel is: Where does race reside— in blood, ancestry, or emotion, and why do any efforts to quantify race ultimately prove absurd? During the month of June, we shall examine how Larsen incarnates this question in Passing. The lecturer for the course will be Victor Judge who serves as the assistant dean for academic affairs at Vanderbilt University Divinity School.
Join the zoom session
Part 4
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Our Church After Covid
In Fratelli Tutti, his latest encyclical, Pope Francis tells us that we cannot go back to living the way we did before the pandemic. What does this mean for Christ the King parish? In a series of three sessions, parishioners and educators Bob O'Gorman and Paul Dokecki will help us examine what it means to be church after Covid-19.
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Baptized into the Three-Person’d God:
Reflections on Easter RenewalPresented by Jon Stotts
10:30-11:30am on March 7, 14, and 21
On our Easter feast of the resurrection, we reaffirm our identity as a people baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Though we use this language all the time, we don’t always appreciate how it makes a difference in Christian life. In this three-part Zoom series, CTK director of faith formation Jon Stotts will help us consider our understanding of the Holy Trinity as a way of preparing for Easter renewal.
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The Father
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Fufilled in Your Hearing:
How Jesus Read the BiblePresented by Ricky Shinall, M.D., Ph.D
Sunday, January 17, 24, and 31Almost a quarter of the gospels consists in quotations from the Old Testament, many of them on the lips of Jesus. What can we learn about biblical interpretation from how Jesus interpreted and used these texts? How did the early Christians read the Old Testament? Do we read it in the same way? In this Sunday morning adult education Zoom series, CTK parishioner and biblical scholar Ricky Shinall will help us answer these questions over the course of three weeks by examining Jesus's own use of the Law, the Writings, and the Prophets.
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Since the fourth century, Christians have used relics - the bones of saints and other objects connected to their bodies - as devotional objects. Relics served many purposes for ancient and medieval Christians, ranging from healing illnesses and reviving the dead to casting out demons and consecrating altars. In this three-week Zoom series, we will consider various theologies of relics, read fascinating tales of miracles performed by saints’ bones, and engage the rich history of art made to honor the remains of Christian heroes. Finally, we will consider the role of relics in the contemporary Church and discuss Christ the King’s own mysterious relic.
Kelsi Ray is a fourth-year student in the Medieval Institute and is currently working on her dissertation on the early cult of relics under Dr. Robin Jensen's direction. -
Loving God in the Dark:
An Introduction to the Theology of
Pseudo-DionysiusPresented by Jacob Abell, Vanderbilt PhD candidate
November 8, 15, and 22Pseudo-Dionysius, a Christian intellectual of Late Antiquity, is remembered as one of the fathers of apophatic theology, a way of knowing God by emphasizing what cannot be said about the divine. As a theologian valued in Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant worlds, Pseudo-Dionysius developed a stirring, brilliant, and beautiful account of the soul's movement toward the "super-luminous darkness" of God. By reading Pseudo-Dionysius's (very) short text, The Mystical Theology, the aim of this series is to show participants how an appreciation of Pseudo-Dionysius's theology can extend liberating and enriching tools for Christian devotional life. This Zoom series is designed for anyone and everyone regardless of background or education.Download the 11/8 presentation slides
Watch Part 2:
Watch Part 1:
Final Breakout Questions- “My advice to you as you look for a sight of the mysterious things, is to leave behind you everything perceived and understood, everything perceptible and understandable, all that is not and all that is, and, with your understanding laid aside, to strive upward as much as you can toward union with him who is beyond all being and knowledge.”
How does this help you to pray? Does this advice reflect your own prayer practice and experience? Are there other aspects of prayer or spirituality that you find to be important? - “God images” are those words, stories, images, and symbols that express who God is for us. Take a look at the following names for God. How might our discussions of PD change the way you read or appreciate these names?
The Bread of Life
The Son of God
The Maker of Heaven and Earth - How have your God images changed over the course of your life? What God images are most important to you now? What would it mean to follow PD’s advice and leave these behind?
- What else strikes you as important, challenging, or relevant about PD’s approach to prayer? What do you want to know more about?
- “My advice to you as you look for a sight of the mysterious things, is to leave behind you everything perceived and understood, everything perceptible and understandable, all that is not and all that is, and, with your understanding laid aside, to strive upward as much as you can toward union with him who is beyond all being and knowledge.”
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