gpbc@ginterparkbc.org • 804-359-2475 • 6100 Chamberlayne Rd Richmond VA

Starting this Sunday and running through the month of July, our special Summer Sunday School class for adults will focus on the Bible – not specific stories of the Bible, but what it means to love the Bible, take it seriously, and wrestle honestly with its origins and history.

The format each Sunday will include watching a video and then engaging in discussion around the ideas presented, some of which we may agree with and some of which we may disagree with!

From the series creator:

“What if the Bible is fine just the way it is? Not a well behaved Bible, where everything lines up and makes sense, but the messy, troubling, and weird Bible we actually have? What if the Bible doesn’t need to be protected and defended, but understood–just as it is? What if the real problem isn’t the Bible but the false expectations we sometimes bring to it? Perhaps, when we let the Bible be the Bible rather than what we expect it ought to be–or need it to be–we will find a deeper faith in the process. We hope these films with biblical scholar Peter Enns around the chapters in his book, The Bible Tells Me So will stir your imagination, deepen your trust in God, and that the Bible comes alive in new ways for you and your community. “

Schedule:

  • June 17: “I’ll take door number three” – Struggling with the Bible
  • June 24: “God Did What?” – Unsettling images of God
  • July 1: “God Likes Stories” – Literary device or literal truth?
  • July 8: “Why Doesn’t God Make Up His Mind?” – The Bible as inconsistent, diverse, and even contradictory
  • July 15: “Jesus is Bigger than the Bible” – How Jesus creatively engaged the Bible
  • July 22: “No One Saw This Coming” – Re-reading the Hebrew scriptures in light of Jesus
  • July 29: “The Bible, Just As It Is” – A vehicle for communing with God

Whether you regularly attend Sunday School or not, you are welcome to join us for any or all!  Sheryl will lead the opening and closing sessions and welcomes others who might wish to convene the conversation in the intervening weeks. (Contact her if you are interested or sign up.)