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Normal People
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When Old Answers Stop Working: Ecclesiastes on Doubt, Disappointment, and Faith After Certainty
Did you know there’s a book in the Bible whose main voice is in full-blown faith-crisis mode for twelve chapters? Now you do. His name—or at least his pen name—is Qoheleth, and the book is Ecclesiastes. He looks at life, death, work, wisdom, and even God and asks: What’s the point? Why care? So if you’ve ever been mad at God, wondered what any of this is for, or found that the old answers just don’t work anymore, Ecclesiastes might be your new best friend.
Understanding Eve: Looking At The Harm & Why It Didn’t Have To Be That Way
For centuries, the story of Eve has been used to say something about women: that they are more easily deceived, less trustworthy, or even responsible for humanity’s downfall. But is that really what the story says? In this class, we’ll explore how interpretations of Eve have shaped the way women have been understood and treated —and how reading the story from different perspectives can reveal an Eve we've never been taught to see. Along the way, we’ll discover that the harm caused by this story wasn’t inevitable but came from choices people have made about how to interpret it.
Is The Bible Relevant?
Many of us grew up being told the Bible had an answer for every moral dilemma, every political debate, every life decision. When we discovered it didn't work that way, we were left wondering: Is the Bible even relevant anymore?
In this class, theologian Drew G. I. Hart argues that if we're looking for a rulebook, the answer is clearly no. But if we're willing to read scripture as a living conversation of wisdom and inspiration that bends toward justice, liberation, and shalom, then the Bible becomes extremely relevant. Drawing on his own theological traditions, Drew will walk through how different parts of the Bible are healing as well as harmful, yet collectively can inform some of today's most urgent concerns (race, empire, gender, land, and peacemaking) and how we can interpret, wrestle with, and embody scripture’s wisdom for pursuing more just and mutually liberative communities rather than as a weapon to dominate others.
Is The Bible Inspired?
What if we got 2 Timothy 3:16 wrong?
For generations, Christians have built an entire view of the Bible on 2 Timothy 3:16. This verse was proof that Scripture is “God-breathed” and therefore inerrant. But what if that famous translation has actually been a mistranslation? What if inerrancy, and hundreds of years of Bible-reading, was based on a Church Father’s mistake? We’re not trying to sound all Davinci Code over here — we’ve just got some questions.
So we’ve invited biblical scholar John Poirier, to teach our July class to look at that one word: the word behind “God-Breathed.” John will help us:
Look at the ancient Greek context for the word behind “God-breathed”
Look at the history of how it’s been translated
What are the implications if we re-translate it differently?
Is The Bible Authoritative?
Most Christians would affirm that the Bible is “authoritative” in some way—not just important, but also revelatory, instructive, reliable, or even definitive in its communication of certain truths. The word “authority” has its roots in the idea of an author: a singular origin or source imparts meaning through the words of a text, and the reader’s job is to receive whatever the author intended to communicate. But how can a text be “authoritative” if its readers cannot agree on what it means? Which readers get to decide which interpretation is the “right” one?
In this class, Cameron Howard will explore what it might mean to shift our understanding of biblical authority away from discerning the authors’ intent and toward embracing the messy, generative encounters between the text and its readers. That is, what if the Bible’s authority rests not in narrowing down meaning to the “right” interpretation, but rather in the conversations, conflicts, possibilities, and uncertainties that critical study of the Bible unleashes? We will look together at several biblical texts, ranging from the mundane to the controversial, to explore how meaning is unstable in them, and we will consider how we might find authority in the Bible because of this instability, not in spite of it.
Following Jesus in the American Empire
What is the right relationship of faith to politics? If you’re watching the news lately you might have seen it play out in a lot of ways, many of them harmful. This class invites us to reflect on what it means for the U.S. to be an “empire” and how the values of empire continue to shape our lives. Rather than separating faith and politics we will look at how Scripture has things to say about politics: about power, injustice, and the mercy and justice of God. In this class, instructor Kat Armas will teach us about the stories we have inherited—about power, belonging, fear, and control—and consider how they echo the logic of empire present throughout Scripture.
Together, we will explore what it means to follow Jesus when our politics are full of division and domination. How can our theology move us toward faithful presence rather than passive acceptance? What does it look like to embody mercy, justice, and truth in our personal lives, our families and neighborhoods, and out in public?
Is This The Apocalypse?
Few questions have haunted human beings more persistently than this one: are we living in the last days? From the early church to the medieval plague years, from the World Wars to the Cold War, every generation has had its reasons to suspect the end was near. Our own moment — with its wars, pandemics, environmental crisis, and fracturing political order — feels no different.
In this class, Robyn Whitaker takes a candid look at scripture's apocalyptic texts and how they have been interpreted within American Christianity. We'll explore what texts like the Book of Revelation and Daniel meant in their ancient context and ask how that should shape the way we read them today. We'll also reckon with the history of apocalyptic prediction in the USA, and why dispensationalism has proven so persistently popular due to the influence of the Scofield Bible and the Left Behind novels. We’ll see how the theologies of Rapture, Tribulation, the Antichrist, and Armageddon have hijacked our thinking and quietly shaped foreign policy and popular culture.
But this isn't just a history lesson. We'll wrestle seriously with the unsettling feeling that our own moment somehow feels like the end of something. What do the Bible’s apocalypses have to say to people living in genuinely frightening times? And what does it mean to live faithfully when the world seems to be unravelling?
What Is Biblical Marriage?
A common refrain in many Christian spaces today is the call to pursue a “biblical marriage.” But what if that phrase tells us more about modern culture wars than it does about the ancient world? In this class, Dr. Jennifer Bird draws on her extensive research to reframe four passages most often used to define “biblical marriage.” This class invites a more historically grounded, theologically responsible conversation about marriage and human flourishing—helping us reframe how we approach the Bible for guidance today.
The Real David
David is the hero of the Hebrew Bible: the great warrior, the great poet, the king against whom all others are measured, the “man after God’s own heart.”
From Goliath to the Psalms, David’s name and story have inspired generations, and continue to be deeply embedded in modern culture. Even his failings are held up as proof of his humanity: after all, what is a hero without a tragic flaw (or two)?
But how much of this story is true? What can we know about David, and how, at a distance of three thousand years, can we know it?
Back to the Beginning: How to Ask Better Questions of Genesis
Questions about why God does what God does have baffled readers of the Bible since forever, especially when it comes to the book of Genesis. But what if we’ve been asking the wrong questions? What if Genesis isn’t giving us unchanging information about what God is actually doing or thinking, but instead doing something completely different?
In this class, Pete Enns will guide us through why Genesis was actually written—and how understanding the “why” will help us to ask better questions of the text.
The Bible is Not a Rulebook
For many Christians, the Bible has long been treated as a moral instruction manual—offering clear, timeless, universal rules for right and wrong. But what happens when the text doesn’t behave like a rule book? When it contradicts itself, feels outdated, or refuses to give us the clarity we crave?
Shaped by Suffering: How Trauma Impacts the Bible and Its Readers
Shaped by Suffering: How Trauma Impacts the Bible and Its Readers with Alexiana Fry explores how trauma-informed interpretation reshapes our understanding of Scripture, from the wounds of war and exile to the grief we carry as modern readers. This class offers tools for reading the Bible with greater empathy, honesty, and awareness.
Anti-Apologetics 101: Better Ways to Read the Bible
The Bible has too often been used as a weapon to subjugate women, justify racism, harm LGBTQ+ people, and cover up abuse. In Anti-Apologetics 101: Better Ways to Read the Bible, Zach W. Lambert offers a more Christlike, justice-centered approach to Scripture that leads to healing and liberation instead of harm.
American Christianity: How Did We Get Here?
Why is Christianity in the United States so deeply entangled with white Christian nationalism, political extremism, and racism today? Led by Dr. Jemar Tisby, this class will confront hard truths about how race and power shaped Christianity in the United States and how we can come together to imagine a better path forward.
Who the @#!% Wrote the Bible?
Curious about who really wrote the Bible? This class with Dr. Aaron Higashi probably won’t give a final answer—but it will give you the tools to understand how scholars approach the question. If you want to think more deeply and critically about biblical authorship, this is the class for you.
Mythbusting the Bible with Dan McClellan and Pete Enns
In this class, historical critical Bible scholars Dan McClellan and Pete Enns invite you into a different kind of conversation about the Bible—one that’s honest, curious, and unafraid to wrestle with tough questions. They’ll share key realizations—their aha! moments—that shifted their entire perspective, not just on how to read the Bible, but on what the Bible even is.
Jesus and the Culture Wars: The Gospels as Guides
How do stories told by and about Jesus help us ask the right questions about the issues fracturing society today? Are the Gospels even valuable to people who don’t believe in G-d, miracles, or final judgement? AJ Levine explains how Jesus’ parables, healings, instructions, and debates help readers navigate both community responsibility and personal ethics on topics such as health care, economics, ethnicity, slavery’s legacy, and family values.
Digging Up Dirt on Joshua: Historical Conquest or Fan Fiction?
Digging Up Dirt on Joshua: Historical Conquest or Fan Fiction?. Is the book of Joshua an accurate historical rundown, a tall theological tale, or something in between? Join archaeologist and Hebrew Bible scholar Dr. Cynthia Shafer-Elliott as she digs into how Joshua fits into the big-picture Bible narrative and tackle big ethical and theological questions about divine warfare, land possession, and how these texts have been used—and misused—in modern times.
Blood and Belief: Exploring the Biblical Texts of Terror
Blood and Belief: Exploring the Biblical Texts of Terror. The Bible features both explicit and subtle depictions of violence, join scholars Caroline Blyth and Emily Colgan as they examine how these “texts of terror” reveal enduring lessons that help us understand and confront contemporary violence in its various forms.
Making of the Modern Mindset: How Did We Get Here?
Where do our views on authority, tradition, ethics, and identity even come from—and how do these views influence the way we interpret the Bible? Together we’ll explore how these cultural shifts continue to impact our understanding of ancient texts and examine how the forces of our time shape the faith we practice today.