Imagine receiving a letter from a dear friend and mentor you haven’t heard from in a year (who is in grave peril and may or may not be in prison, you’re not sure). You pick it up and read over a few lines, and then set it down. “I’ll finish it in 5-minute chunks over the next 10 days,” you think to yourself.

Sounds crazy right? Who reads a letter like that? But that’s how we 21st-century westerners read the New Testament letters. In this 7-week class taught by Paul and Stacy Petersen, Reading Other People's Mail: Exploring the Epistles, we will throw away chapters, verses, and section headings, and together read some of the epistles in one sitting...like a letter. Each week will offer a short lecture on how to read the genre of “epistle”, including insights related to original context, culture, and history...but the bulk of time each week will be devoted to 1) reading out loud one of the shorter epistles in its entirety; 2) doing so in community; 3) participating in group discussion about the reading experience and common threads discovered with this reading method.

Sundays 4/7-5/19 @9am