WE STARTED 7PM 16 JANUARY 2024 AT ST JUDE’S UPPER HALL BUT YOU COULD STILL JOIN US IF YOU WISH
(BEHIND THE CHURCH ON BEAUMONT ROAD)
PLEASE READ BELOW AND REGISTER WITH US IF INTERESTED
(SEE THE END OF THIS WEBPAGE FOR HOW TO REGISTER)
There has been a gap in the various courses available to churches to help us to explore scripture well. Now we have “The New Testament In Its World” by Tom Wright and Michael Bird.
St Jude’s have taken parts of the vast amount of video material produced in the same beautiful quality as above, to accompany these author’s book, to create a course to help us begin to understand the New Testament, from the perspective of when it was written, from its own world view.
Why is this important?
The authors of the Gospels and Epistles wrote to their audiences to convey a message with a particular meaning. While the application of that message may vary, the meaning is fixed by its author. However, in so many discussions, if people are asked, “what do you think these verses mean?”, so often we will get multiple answers. That is because we don’t really think about what it meant, rather first we jump without that knowledge to how we think it may apply to me or a situation. We don’t often reply to a question to a question like this with a meaning, rather we so often go straight to an application.
Our difficulty as Christians who want to follow God-inspired scripture, is we need to start from a meaning to then understand how it might apply into our very unique lives lived very differently in the 21st century.
This course takes us back to the “New Testament in its World”
Each time we meet, the videos will escort us through the history and culture of the author of the letter or gospel and their audience in their own time and place. For instance, what Paul wrote to the Philippian Church is coloured by the author and audience – from a devout Jewish scholar of Roman citizenship to mainly Roman citizens living in a very Greek culture. However, if we instead were to read one of John’s letters we have a different setting. These were written by an old man who knew Jesus in his youth, from a more normal and humble Jewish background, probably writing to his own Church in what is today modern day Turkey, but living within a Roman world full of threat, alternative beliefs and lifestyles.
If we are to find how God may want us to live today with purpose and hope, we should try to first understand what each author meant in what they wrote.
You will read and study the whole of the New Testament in a year
If we ever want to understand scripture, it has to be by reading and reflecting on it for ourselves. Engaging with authors writing about the Bible or listening to sermons can be very helpful, but to get both the wider spread of scripture as well and some of the nuance of individual texts, we have to read, reflect and ponder on it for ourselves – and now with the help of others.
Therefore this course is very deliberately set up to enable that, but also to give some background to each part of the New Testament and space for discussion with others to unpack areas we may want to explore or understand after we have read them.
An outline of the course for 2024
The basic principle is that on one week we will watch a video together from Tom Wright and Michael Bird about the culture and history surrounding a particular letter or book. Then, we don’t meet for at least two weeks – sometimes longer – when we each read and spend time in that part of the New Testament. When we get back together we have about an hour of discussion to unpack what we explored, before watching a new video on another Letter or Gospel to read for the next period of time.
Some weeks there will some additional short videos to give broader insights, for instance as we begin with new parts on the Gospels and how they came to be written, or fon our first evening together, how the New Testament was formed “The Canonization of the New Testament” and “The Story of Paul’s Life and Ministry” before watching a video about “Galatians”.
As we started, its looking like it would be helpful to have had a ‘skim’ read of the passage we will have video teaching on before we watch the video. Then in the weeks following, to not only read carefully and reflect on the passage we had a video on, but to also skim read the next one. For example, in approaching Week 2, we will read Galatians carefully having had the video input, ready to bring our thoughts to the conversation the next week – and also skim read 1 & 2 Thessalonians so that we can have a bit of background prior to the video in Week 2. Its not compulsory, but it seems it may be helpful.
Who is the course for?
Anyone – though it requires commitment.
We will meet 17 times across the year, from the 16 January to the 19 November 2024, with some longer breaks for Easter and Summer (and a gap in May). Do read below for the actual dates.
For both practical and copyright reasons, the videos cannot be shared outside of the course evenings so if you miss an evening, it will be hard to give you the content later. Missing just a few would be OK, but too many and you probably wouldn’t gain as much as you could. There is also the personal reading to be done between course evenings. This will enable the discussion when we next meet and without having read, a) the group conversations will be harder and b) you will miss out on the opportunity of personally engaging with scripture in a structured way that might set you up for life.
How do I register for the Course?
It will help us to know who is coming so we can ensure the venue is going to be right. Can you therefore drop us an email via our website’s Contact Us page here to let us know your name and email so we can stay in touch if need be before and during the Course?
Do I need anything to take part?
Definitely a Bible! Some people quite like a ‘journaling Bible for times like this (you can see one example here) as it has an extra wide margin specifically to write in. Alternatively your Bible and a note book for thoughts from the video talks and then your own inspirations as you read each book between course evenings. That will also help the discussions when we next meet to talk about the prior week’s text.
If you really want to splash out, you could buy the book of the video series, “The New Testament in its World” by NT Wright and Michael Bird. (You can see it here)
What time and dates are the Course evenings?
We will start each evening at 7pm to finish by c. 8.30pm.
The full outline of the 2024 course is:
WEEK 1 – 16 JANUARY
Video (6:17): The Canonization of the New Testament
Discussion
Video (9:23): The Story of Paul’s Life and Ministry
Discussion
Video: Galatians (22.47)
Read Galatians over the next two weeks
WEEK 2 – 30 JANUARY
Discussion on Galatians
Video (25:06): 1 and 2 Thessalonians
Read 1 and 2 Thessalonians over the next three weeks
WEEK 3 – 20 FEBRUARY
Discussion on 1 & 2 Thessalonians
Video (25.02) Philippians
Read Philippians over the next two weeks
WEEK 4 – 5 MARCH
Discussion on Philippians
Video (28:10) Colossians, Philemon, and Ephesians
Read Colossians, Philemon, and Ephesians over the next two weeks
WEEK 5 – 19 MARCH
Discussion on Colossians, Philemon, and Ephesians
Video (29:21) 1 and 2 Corinthians
Read 1 & 2 Corinthians over the next three weeks (incl Easter)
WEEK 6 – 9 APRIL
Discussion on 1 & 2 Corinthians
Video (22:44) Romans
Read Romans over the next three weeks
WEEK 7 – 30 APRIL
Discussion on Romans
Video (31:25) The Pastoral Epistles (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus & Philemon)
Read the Pastoral Epistles over the next four weeks
WEEK 8 – 28 MAY
Discussion on the Pastoral Epistles
Video (11:11) The Making of the Gospels
Video (21:05) The Gospel according to Mark
Read the Gospel of Mark over the next two weeks
WEEK 9 – 11 JUNE
Discussion on the Gospel of Mark
Video (19:03) The Gospel according to Matthew
Read the Gospel of Matthew over the next two weeks
WEEK 10 – 25 JUNE
Discussion on the Gospel of Mark
Video (30:33) The Gospel according to Luke and Acts of the Apostles
Read the Gospel of Luke and Acts over the next three weeks
WEEK 11 – 16 JULY
Discussion on the Gospel of Luke and Acts
Video (22:38) The Gospel according to John
Read the Gospel of John over the Summer
SUMMER BREAK
WEEK 12 – 10 SEPTEMBER
Discussion on the Gospel of John
Video (5:40) Introduction to Early Christian Letters
Video (16:27) The Letter to the Hebrews
Read Hebrews over the next two weeks
WEEK 13 – 24 SEPTEMBER
Discussion on Hebrews
Video (16:40) Letters by Jesus’ Brothers: James and Jude
Read James and Jude over the next two weeks
WEEK 14 – 8 OCTOBER
Discussion on James and Jude
Video (16:52) Petrine Letters: 1 and 2 Peter
Read 1 and 2 Peter over the next two weeks
WEEK 15 – 22 OCTOBER
Discussion on 1 and 2 Peter
Video (15:33) Johannine Letters: 1, 2, and 3 John
Read 1,2 and 3 John over the next two weeks
WEEK 16 – 5 NOVEMBER
Discussion on 1, 2 and 3 John
Video (19:34) Revelation
Read Revelation over the next two weeks
WEEK 17 – 19 NOVEMBER
Discussion on Revelation
Video (31:45) Bringing it all together
All concluding with a celebration end of course meal
If you want a printable pdf of the Course Outline above, it is available below: