an Open Online Class from Homebrewed Christianity
The Christmas Stories
Celebrating, Questioning, & Explaining the Biblical Narratives
with John Dominic Crossan
A 4 Week Exploration of the Christmas Stories
December, 2022
4 Visual Classes
Each session will feature a lecture from Dr. Crossan featuring plenty of powerful visuals and photos taken from his many archeological visits across the Holy Land.
Live QnA
Each week we will have plenty of time for QnA about the lectures and Crossan's book The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Birth
Online Community
Everyone will be invited to join the private online group to connect with other nerds and have access to everything in Audio/Video on the class resource page
The Four Visual Sessions
Each week during the class, we will have a visual lecture from Crossan guiding us through the Biblical Christmas stories.
1. Parabolic Overtures: the Challenge of Different Infancy Narratives
2. Matthew 1-2 as Parabolic Overture to Matthew: Continuity from Moses to Jesus
3. Luke 1-2 as Parabolic Overture to Luke: Discontinuity from John to Jesus
4. Parabolic Overtures: Virginal Conception & Bethlehem Birth
Meet The Hosts
Dr. John Dominic Crossan
John Dominic Crossan is an Irish-American biblical scholar with two-year post-doctoral diplomas in exegesis from Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute and in archeology from Jerusalem’s École Biblique. He has been a mendicant friar and a catholic priest, a Co-Chair of the Jesus Seminar, and a President of the Society of Biblical Literature. His focus, whether scholarly or popular, whether in books, videos, or lectures, is on the historical Jesus as the norm and criterion for the entire Christian Bible. His reconstructed Jesus incarnates nonviolent resistance to the Romanization of his Jewish homeland and the Herodian commercialization of his Galilean lake as present program and future hope of a transformed world and transfigured earth. Crossan’s method is to situate biblical texts within the reconstructed matrix of their own their own genre and purpose, their own time and place, and to hear them accurately for then before accepting or rejecting them for now.
Dr. Tripp Fuller
Tripp just moved back to North Carolina after three years as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Theology & Science at the University of Edinburgh. He recently released Divine Self-Investment: a Constructive Open and Relational Christology, the first book in the Studies in Open and Relational Theology series. For over 14 years Tripp has been doing the Homebrewed Christianity podcast (think on-demand internet radio) where he interviews different scholars about their work so you can get nerdy in traffic, on the treadmill, or doing the dishes. Last year it had over 4 million downloads. It also inspired a book series with Fortress Press called the Homebrewed Christianity Guides to... topics like God, Jesus, Spirit, Church History, etc. Tripp is a very committed and (some of his friends think overly ) engaged Lakers fan and takes Star Wars and Lord of the Rings very seriously.
A Sample Visual Lecture w/ Crossan
FAQs
When does the class meet?
The class is asynchronous and you can participate fully without being present at any specific time. The weekly streaming session will take place on Mondays at 2:00 pm ET starting November 28th, 2022.
How do I get access to the class content?
The complete class content collection will be available on the password-protected resource page. The downloadable audio and video of each session will be uploaded there and available for at least a year.
What happens after I sign up?
The email you enter when signing up will receive an email from tripp[at]homebrewedchristianity[dot]com. The email will include access to the resource page, details on how to join the class Facebook group, and more. If you don't see the email check your spam and then email me.
Do I have to have Facebook?
No. Facebook is not required to participate but is one way to connect with other class members and interact throughout the class. Information about how to access the group will be provided in the welcome email.
CLASS PARTNERS
