ad radicem

Here is a quick update about what we are doing at Ad Radicem. 

Last week (6.24.08), we talked about the developments in the first two hundred years of the church—how worship, leadership, and attitudes to the surrounding culture changed within that time. We looked at hymns and prayers of the earliest church that many churches still use today. We discussed the way that the New Testament was brought together from diverse collections of letters and documents carried around the Mediterranean and assembled to become the Bible we read today.

This week (7.1.08), we will continue and look at a few specific issues within the early church that have a great impact on the way we live out our faith today.

Specifically, we’ll spend time talking about the role that women played in spreading the faith through the whole Roman empire and the way that the church both challenged the injustices of Roman patriarchy and built its own gender hierarchy. There is plenty to talk about here!

Then we’ll spend some time talking about attitudes toward force and violence in the earliest church and how a movement known for courage in the face of martyrdom eventually turned into an institution that used violent force against heretics.

Understanding the attitudes of the earliest Christians is like using a mirror—it helps us to see our own faith and our own culture in new light. Join us for a rich conversation!

We are still exploring the best way to connect with people to let them know what we are doing and how they can join us. If you’d like to see some of the people who have been participating in our weekly conversations and find out more about what we are talking about, then you can visit the Ad Radicem page on Meetup.com by clicking here.

It is free to join the group and the site includes a host of helpful features that will allow you to RSVP to the meetings, rate them or offer feedback afterwards, and vote on which topics you’d like to discuss in the near future. Enjoy!

For the next two weeks, June 10th and June 17th, we will be gathering at El Mariachi for some good food and good conversation about Creation.

On June 10th, we will start by looking into what Scripture says about humanity’s place in God’s creation and the responsibilities that we have for the planet as people made in God’s image. We’ll talk a little bit about what it humanity’s disobedience and sin means in ecological terms (the Bible says more than you’d think!). Come and join us for a conversation about the spiritual practice of caring for creation!

Then, on June 17th, we’ll balance the first conversation by talking about God’s work of redemption for a broken Creation and the Spirit’s work in perfecting what God has made so that the book of Revelation can speak of a “new heavens and a new earth.” The Bible talks about Jesus as the “firstborn of the new creation,” and in his resurrection after three days in the tomb, we have both a sign and a promise of the the work that God is doing to heal the wounds in the cosmos that he loves.

Two Bible studies to help us all connect in a richer way with the dirt on which we live. Come join us!