Our weekly adult study group is not afraid to tackle any subject or ask any question. We meet every Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. to talk about important questions of faith and spirituality and how they influence our lives.
Who/what/where is God? Why do bad things happen to good people? What does social justice look like on the ground today? Why should we care deeply about the Earth?
Theologically progressive, we study such thinkers as Matthew Fox, John Shelby Spong, John Dominic Crossan, Marcus Borg, Amy-Jill Levine, Reza Aslan and others.
We reclaim a little of our Jewish heritage in our willingness to “wrestle with the text” when needed. We have visited synagogues and mosques. Small groups of us make trips to conferences, museums and guest speakers across Ontario. In this and other ways, we try to incorporate action into our discussions.
The core of our meetings are DVD-series-based, relying heavily on the Living the Questions group of educational materials. However, that usually covers only a bit more than half the year, so the balance is generated by the ideas of the group.
We’ve talked about Judas and Mary Magdalene and what their roles might mean to us today; watched the award-winning documentary Inside Job together, then spent the following Tuesday evening discussing moral economic systems and ethical investing.
A few episodes of The Naked Archaeologist sparked discussion, as have the ideas of Joseph Campbell. We got a bit academic one winter delving deeply into the Old Testament with Amy Jill Levine and The Learning Company. We took at long look at Paul through the eyes of modern scholars, creation and the cosmos via a series called Painting the Stars and more recently Islam in another LTQ series called The Jesus Fatwa.
We welcome all ages, from late teens to mature adults, and we honour all ideas.
We meet weekly on Tuesdays through the year, usually taking a break in July and August and December. We rotate the provision of tea and treats among the membership, and there are the usual memorable offerings from the great Grace cooks and bakers.
Mainly, we are not afraid of open inquiry. God has given us the brains and the passion to come up with GREAT questions which we delight in exploring together.
