God and Empire
Summer 2007 Bible Study

The Great Apocolypse of John

"St. Joan of Arc Bible Study is an open and growing group that meets for fellowship and to discuss the Bible and other faith-centered literature. Our informal study group draws from biblical scholarship, historical perspectives, current events and personal reflections. We welcome honor and respect the personal ideas and spiritual journeys of all who join us."

Greetings

The 95 degree temperature did not faze the 20 faithful Scripture scholars, who discovered that Hospitality Hall, otherwise known as the church basement, had a mellowing effect on both the temperature of the air and upon the spirits of the members. Tonight's task was to wrap up Crossan's "God and Empire". Who better to sum up the book than the author himself? Jim cued up a tape of Crossan's talk to the Westminster Forum back in April ( www.ewestminster.org/forum.asp for an audio) and we listened intently to this wise but humorous man with the Irish lilt. He referred to the ascetic community at Qumran which left us the Qumran scrolls as the "Holy Scrollers", for instance. He walked us through the five chapters of the book in about a half an hour, and then responded to some wonderful questions from the audience.

Break time came and threatened to leave, so intent was the discussion. Our treatbearers were reduced to serving us at our chairs in the circle as we talked. Well, the strawberry shortcake ala mode was enough to shut some of us up for a few moments anyway. Cold lemonade, similarly distributed at our seats, soothed our throats parched from heat and from much excited discourse. Thanks, Carmen and Jerry.

Our moderator for the evening tried valiantly to focus the group, but the material had us all over and outside the universe. Not only did we talk about violence and peace as presented by Crossan, we talked about the limitations of describing and comprehending God, our tendencies to project our human inclinations, prejudices, and experiences on God, how we often play God by creating God in our image rather than the other way around. We asked what exactly is the nature of inspiration, is the Apocalypse as violent as Crossan makes it out to be, and whether there is a "dark side" to God (not evil, but the perennial question of how God permits evil to exist), This was one of those nights where you just had to be there, as the threads of discussion became so interwoven, and in turn, so inspiring, that notes barely touch the depth of the encounter with the Spirit in that group tonight. Crossan had talked about the "Mystery of Particularity", and that was clearly in play among the Scripture Study group - our own experiences with the divine shape the experience of the community, and vice versa. Ron reluctantly cut off a motion to discuss the concept of evolution on the growth of our understanding of God, citing the instructions we had been given that the church buildings were to be vacated by 4:00 on July 3. Whew!!

Next meeting: Tuesday, July 10: Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, "The Last Week" - look at the discussion aids in the back for an introduction

• Facilitator: Audrey
• Opening prayer: Maura
• Treats: Vi
• Closing prayer: Jim