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This course addresses the question of the reasonableness of the Christian faith in the modern world.
It features N. T. Wright and is based on his best-selling book Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense. In this ten-session course, Wright begins by exploring what seem to be universal longings — for justice and relationship, spirituality and beauty — and goes on to simply and powerfully explain the core of Christian faith.
N.T. Wright is the former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England and one of the world’s leading Bible scholars. He is now serving as the Chair of New Testament and Early Christianity at the School of Divinity at the University of St. Andrews. For 20 years he taught New Testament studies at Cambridge, McGill, and Oxford Universities. Being both one of the world’s leading Bible scholars and a popular author, he has been featured on ABC News, Dateline, The Colbert Report, and Fresh Air. His award-winning books include The Case for the Psalms, How God Became King, Simply Jesus, After You Believe, Surprised by Hope, Simply Christian, Scripture and the Authority of God, The Meaning of Jesus (co-authored with Marcus Borg), as well as being the translator for The Kingdom New Testament. He also wrote the impressive Christian Origins and the Question of God series, including The New Testament and the People of God, Jesus and the Victory of God, The Resurrection of the Son of God and most recently, Paul and the Faithfulness of God.
Audience
This is an excellent course for both established believers and seekers that can be used with or without the Simply Christian book. (The book itself is written for a general audience but might prove a bit challenging for those not used to reading theology. The relevant section of the book is briefly summarized and then expanded upon in each lecture.) The book is available at Cokesbury and Amazon. Some churches have used Simply Christian again and again, even adapting it for use with youth groups and with new members classes.
Lessons and Video Presentations
Simply Christian Introduction (20:45)
Justice & Spirituality (16:30)
Relationships & Beauty (15:22)
God (16:47)
Israel (17:24)
Jesus (19:49)
The Holy Spirit (16:27)
Worship & Prayer (18:43)
Scripture (18:33)
Church & New Creation (18:37)
Preview of Lesson 1: Simply Christian Introduction
Bonus Video Presentations
The bonus video showcases stimulating, in-depth conversation between N. T. Wright and Richard B. Hays. The conversation can be viewed as a whole or watched by topic.
This video-based study curriculum is 2.3 GB in total and may take several minutes to download. We recommend a broadband connection for faster download times.
Upon purchase you will receive an email receipt with links to download each video (MP4) and document (PDF) file separately. If you do not receive a receipt, please check your spam folder for an email from wesleyseminary.edu@mg.wesleyseminary.edu.
Video files range from 26.2 MB to 180.5 MB, and document files are smaller than 1.9 MB. All files will be available for download for one year from date of purchase.
This article is reprinted by permission from Leading Ideas, a free e-newsletter from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary available at churchleadership.com.
