With or Without God – Gretta Vosper. why the way we live is more important than what we believe Chapter 2 Constructing Christianity – A Brief History of Beliefs

Part 1 - Media Presentations - 1. Desmond Tutu “Basic Income – Social Transfers” Krista Tippett and Jaroslav Pelikan “The Need for Creeds”

on page 91, Jomo Kenyatta is quoted: “When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said “Let us pray.” We closed our eyes. When we opened them we haad the Bible and they had the land”

Vosper then makes reference to Desmond Tutu whose genius has been to see in that Bible our forgotten commitment to justice. Here is a short video in which Bishop Tutu in Nov 2006 speaks in Cape Town about that justice “Basic Income – Social Transfers”.

Hans Küng: “No human coexistence without a world ethic shared by the nations No peace among nations without peace among the religions No peace among the religions without dialogue among the religions”

Creeds In this chapter Vosper speaks of creeds and the modern difficulty with the singing and recitation of these ancient understandings.

There is no better expert on creeds than Jaroslav Pelikan whose last opus “Credo” considered 200 of 2000 historical creeds. Krista Tippett is the host of Speaking of Faith on PBS and interviewed Pelikan before his death at 80 years of age. Here is a 12 minute snippett of the one hour interview.

Yaroslav Pelikan

The PBS SOF website for this episode has an interesting little slideshow. They found the personal bible of JS Bach complete with marginal notations. And they found it in Wisconsin! Check it out. Link on line.

With or Without God – Gretta Vosper. why the way we live is more important than what we believe - Chapter 2 Constructing Christianity – A Brief History of Beliefs - Part 1 Analysis of Chapter 2

The Vosper Thesis: - We construct God/Church/Bible. We can de-construct & re- construct God/Church/Bible.

Chapter 1 – Aspects Paradigm Paradigm Shift Philosophical Construct Reality Benefits of Belief

1.Paradigm A lens that shapes our worldview.

2. Paradigm Shift An altered perception of reality.

3. Philosophical Construct “There is nothing new under the sun.”

4. Reality Material and/or transcendant?

5. Benefits of Belief Challenge and/or Comfort?

Chapter 1 – Summary Points 1. Need for security births beliefs. 2. Preserving belief systems. 3. Circuitous reasoning (God, bible, God). 4. Beliefs create and destroy (Easter Island).

Chapter 1 – Summary Points 5. Standing outside our history. 6. Need for a creed (blessings & bains). 7. Faith Community: contextual and/or counter-cultural? 8. Grounding faith in human values?

Chapter 1 – Summary Points 1. Need for security births beliefs.

Chapter 1 – Summary Points 2. Preserving belief systems.

Chapter 1 – Summary Points 3. Circuitous reasoning (God, bible, God).

Chapter 1 – Summary Points 4. Beliefs create and destroy (Easter Island).

Chapter 1 – Summary Points 5. Standing outside our history.

Chapter 1 – Summary Points 6. Need for a creed (blessings & bains).

Chapter 1 – Summary Points 7. Faith Community: contextual and/or counter-cultural?

Chapter 1 – Summary Points 8. Grounding faith in human values?

Break - Discussion Questions Is the "new reality" described by Vosper true for you? What excites/troubles you about this chapter?