The Bible and             
        Early Church History

The New Testament: Is it Historically Trustworthy?

The historical reliability of the New Testament has been under attack for more than two hundred years. Some today are even suggesting that the gospels and the Acts of the Apostles were never actually meant to be taken literally! Rather, these people feel they are comprised of myths and metaphors rather than historical facts. This lecture/seminar seeks to respond to this contemporary challenge using the best tools of modern historical and critical research.

Early Christianities: 
            Distinguishing the Authentic Faith

Many popular writers and even a few scholars have recently suggested that there was no such thing as Christian orthodoxy until the 4th Christian century. For the first three centuries, it is suggested, Christianity was as diverse as it is in our day. Alongside of the writings included in the New Testament there were many other gospels, acts, epistles, and revelations that were recognized as ‘Scripture’ by varied groups of early believers. Thus, Gnostics and others later rejected as heretics by the leaders of the church have as much claim to represent authentic Christianity as do the representatives of what became ‘orthodoxy.’ This seminar/lecture seeks to challenge these claims.

Rediscovering Celtic spirituality for Christian life today
From the fifth through eight century, Celtic Christian spirituality swept through Ireland , Britain and into Europe re-evangelizing and revitalizing parts of the early western Church.  This seminar provides an  introduction to Celtic Christian Spirituality and an exploration of how we can integrate aspects of this into our modern lives.