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Adult Education Offerings
Fall 2008
Weekly Sunday Classes — 9:30 to 10:30
(Classes will start promptly at 9:30 in the Church Library)
September Classes | October Classes | November Classes | December Classes
Hospitality for the Stranger
Four Sunday mornings in September we will explore the issues surrounding immigration. We will hear about what is happening in our own community and beyond, plus look at the current issues in the national debate on immigration. The last Sunday in September we will study the Biblical basis of positions taken by our own denomination on immigration concerns and issues.
September 7—Reaching Out To Our Local Latino Community
Peter Loach is Chairperson of Creciendo Juntos—Growing Together, a regional group dedicated to improving outreach to our Latino community. He will speak about the changing demographics in our area, the contributions of our Spanish-speaking neighbors, and the unique challenges they face. He will also share information on the immigration debate in Virginia.
September 14—The National Immigration Debate
David Martin, who teaches immigration and refugee law at UVa and was General Counsel of the U. S. Immigration Service during the second Clinton administration, will discuss the national debate over immigration reform, the main elements of the comprehensive legislation that died in the U.S. Senate last summer, and what to expect in the election campaigns and from a new administration.
September 21—The U. S. Refugee Program Both Locally and Globally
Susan Donovan, Regional Director of the International Rescue Committee will discuss the history and current state of the U.S. Refugee Program, the history and current state of the International Rescue Committee, and how the two intersect both globally and locally.
September 28—Our Presbyterian Denomination’s Perspective and Action on Immigration
Over the years our denomination’s (PCUSA) General Assembly has taken positions on immigration issues. This class session will briefly review and discuss GA policy actions and their underlying Biblical and Reformed theological background. These issues include: hospitality to the stranger; gifts of the stranger; justice as the distributor of power and resources; and security, peace and reconciliation. Mimi Riley and Stephen Pfleiderer are the class leaders.
October 5, 12, 19, and 26—Reinhold Niebuhr and His Relevant Ideas for Today’s World Back to Top
During the middle years of the 20th century, Reinhold Niebuhr was a “towering” and highly influential Christian social ethicist and theologian, a social and political activist, and a prophetic commentator on the events and movements of his day. Many of Niebuhr’s leading ideas are freshly relevant to Christianity in today’s world. Owen Norment and John Peale will discuss the life and work of Niebuhr, and his views on:
- human nature
- sin and God’s grace
- human destiny and the meaning of history
- the Biblical view of the fulfillment of history “beyond tragedy"
- “the irony of American history”
- his social ethics and the relation of love and justice
Owen Norment, a retired Presbyterian minister and professor of religion at Hampden-Sydney College did his master’s thesis on Niebuhr and has studied and taught about Niebuhr in the intervening years. John Peale, professor emeritus of philosophy at Longwood University, studied Niebuhr while at Union Seminary in New York. He also heard Niebuhr preach and speak.
November 2 — My Religious Faith and My Diplomatic Experience Back to Top
How does one balance the requirements of diplomacy with a Christian outlook on life. Retired diplomat Carl Matthews will discuss how his convictions affected his practice of diplomacy and how other people’s faiths mattered. He will cover such topics he faced as a diplomat as working with a practicing Orthodox Jew as US Ambassador in Egypt, the building of a partially USAID funded highway through an ancient Jewish cemetery in Cairo, and dealing with American Christian proselytizers in countries where proselytizing was illegal.
November 9 — Understanding International Health Issues As Christians: A Declaration of Interdependence
Dick Guerrant, the Thomas H. Hunter Professor of International Medicine and Director of the Center for Global Health at UVA, is a recognized leader and pioneer in the field of international health and medical education. Questions he will discuss with us are:
- Should we care about the health of the disadvantaged in our midst or abroad?
- Do the health and diseases of the poor around the world affect us?
Reasons we might care about these important and challenging international health issues range from not only threats to our health but also to threats of “who we are.” From our Christian perspective because we share a common humanity, “who we are” is defined by how we care about others. And thus our having an understanding of these complex issues is most important.
November 16—Reviews of New Books in Our Church Library
Members of the Church Library Committee will give reviews of several new acquisitions to our church library. After each review there will be an open discussion of the book’s topic. This event in the past has always been enlightening about the diversity of books we have for members to check out to read and study.
November 23 — Working for Justice in a Complex World
Our congregation’s mission statement reflects God’s call and our desire to work for justice. On this special one-Sunday opportunity, Westminster’s Peace & Justice Committee will lead a conversation about a pressing issue facing us today and offer ways we can take action here in the Charlottesville area. At press time, this issue has not been decided because the Committee wants to be able to respond to the opportunity and challenges “of the day.”
November 30 — Praying the Advent Scriptures
For well over a thousand years Christians, including Presbyterians, have followed the ancient practice of praying the Scriptures. The process of doing so has historically been called Lectio Divina – “sacred reading.” Lectio involves hearing some verses of Scripture read, sitting in silence, and then sharing the insights that have leapt up from our hearts. This session will use the lectio practice for reflection on lectionary readings that we will use in worship during Advent. Leaders will be Judy Rassi and Stephen Pfleiderer
December 7 — Advent Music: the English Folk Carols Back to Top
Jonathan Schakel will discuss the revival of the English folk carol, begun by Davies Gilbert and William Sandys in the early 19th century and continued by Stainer, Bramley, Vaughan Williams, and others. Many of these carols still form the core of the Christmas carol repertoire. We'll explore how they were recovered and what transformations they went through in the process.
December 14 — An Advent Play Reading
Beverly May will lead us in reading of “The Business of Good Government,” a short play by John Arden, which recaps the Christmas story and was written especially to be read aloud or performed by members of a congregation. Beverly, a former award-winning Broadway actress, has led readings of this play in previous churches where she was a member. The reading is meant to be thought-provoking at this season of anticipation of the birth of Jesus.
December 21 — Mary in Protestantism
Central to the celebration of the Advent season is Mary the mother of Jesus. Innumerable crèche scenes, children’s reenactments of Christmas night, reproductions of the greatest works of Medieval and Renaissance art, postage stamps, and Christmas carols proclaim the Virgin Mother. Yet for Protestants, especially those in the Reformed tradition, Mary has always been an ambiguous figure. We have not known exactly what to make of her. This class will look at the emergence of the Cult of the Virgin on the eve of the Reformation, Protestant reaction to that movement, the destruction of church icons, and the changing attitudes of Protestant churches in recent times to Mary. The class will be led by Alan Williams.
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