(Last update : May 31, 2001 )
From Jesus to Christ Video Series and Discussion
Using the PBS video series "From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians" and other print resources, the parish of St. Stephen's explored for our Easter Christian Education study the time spent from Easter Day to Pentecost in the early church.
* "From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians" tells the epic story of the rise of Christianity. The four hours explore the life and death of Jesus, and the men and women whose belief, conviction, and martyrdom created the religion we now know as Christianity.
Drawing upon historical evidence, the series challenges familiar assumptions and conventional notions about Christian origins. Archaeological finds have yielded new understandings of Jesus' class and social status; fresh interpretations have transformed earlier ideas about the identity of the early Christians and their communities.
Through engaging on-camera interviews with twelve scholars--New Testament theologians, archaeologists, and historians--the series presents their contributions to this intellectual revolution. For example they talk about the quest for the historical Jesus - what can we really know? And how do we know it?
The scholars together represent a range of viewpoints and diversity of faiths and a shared commitment to bring new ways of thinking about Christianity to a public audience. They discuss the value in a historical approach to Jesus and the Bible and whether Christian faith can be reconciled with such an approach.
* The preceding was taken from the website of PBS and Frontline: New Content Copyright © 1998 PBS and WGBH/FRONTLINE
Have we whetted your appetite? Visit the PBS Frontline webpage for a more comprehensive write-up of the video series.
LUTHERAN-ANGLICAN-ROMAN CATHOLIC (LARC)
CELEBRATION OF OUR COMMON BAPTISM
PASTORAL LETTER FROM THE BISHOPS
(Read to the respective congregations on Transfiguration Sunday
The Sunday before Ash Wednesday: February 25, 2001)
Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We write to you with joy as we celebrate this day the unity we share in Baptism. As proclaimed in the Letter to the Ephesians (4:4-6), "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all."
Together, we give thanks for the working of the Holy Spirit in and among our churches and for the steps that our churches have taken towards unity. We are blessed by the gifts that we bring to one another.
As we prepare to begin our Lenten journey, we recommit ourselves to walking together on the path towards unity. As bishops, we encourage each of you to work and pray for the unity that Christ wills for the Church.
We now invite you to renew your Baptismal promises, recalling and celebrating that we share a common Baptism.
United in Christ,
Bishop Bruce Howe - Huron Diocese of the Anglican Church of Canada
Bishop Michael Pryse - Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
Bishop Ralph Spence - Niagara Diocese of the Anglican Church of Canada
Bishop Anthony Tonnos - Hamilton Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Canada
Bishop John Sherlock - London Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Canada