No Class: October 9 & 30

Clergy molest children. Evangelists tell people to vote for scoundrels. People are alienated by hypocrisy. Churches close for lack of members and funding. Congregations are torn apart by music and style. Christianity in America is in crisis. Amid all the turmoil, whatever became of Jesus? Religions around the world are intertwined with the cultures within which they have been imbedded for millennia. Cultures have been rooted in the religions that gave them their sense of ultimate identity. In turn, religions have been profoundly influenced by the cultures within which they’ve grown. Culture and religion have had a symbiotic relationship. And so, when one changes, it affects the other. Changes have taken place with the advance of the sciences, technology and globalization. Those changes have impacted cultures throughout the world in many ways, including how people make sense of their life and identity. Those cultural changes, in turn, have challenged the religions indigenous to them. As a result, religions have been shaken. Some have adapted their ways and others have reacted against the changes to varying degrees. This course examines how American Christianity lost its way in the process. We’ll follow a lecture/discussion format. About 2/3 of each class will involve a presentation and 1/3 will involve discussion of each point along the way.