Experiencing The Heart of Christianity

2005-06-08T17:00:00.000-07:00

Marcus Borg's book, The Heart of Christianity, has been the focus of seven weeks of reading and conversation for 25 people - associated with the Kippax Uniting Church. To guide the conversations we used a resource written by Tim Scorer titled, 'Experiencing the Heart of Christianity'. The purpose of the study series was to seek different ways to see what has become familiar. And to attempt to get a conceptual overview of Christianity as a way of being, relating, knowing and acting meaningful for our time. Most participants acheived these goals, according to their evaluations.

Tim's resource includes a DVD, which has a variety of resources - such as some fine art works that can be used with the various sessions, video clips of Marcus Borg introducing and developing his key concepts, and a collection of handout resources for use with each session

Tims session guide book provides detailed outlines for twelve sessions. A helpful foreword and intorduction to the group process is useful for planning and preparation of each session. The resource is excellent educationally, offering variety or experiential methods and activities to aid Christian spiritual formation - one of Tim Scorer's areas of passion and strength.

Our group covenanted to meet seven times, so we selected particular sessions from Tim's twelve. Each session ran for 90 minutes, allowing us to select material from Tim's guide spanning two of his session plans. This meant that usually we prepared conversation on two chapters from Marcus' book at a time.

Tim's guide provides resources for the Christian spiritual formation of participants. These include experiences with meditiation, contemplation, styles of conversation, ddep discussion, sharing of personal stories and faith shaping events, various forms and styles of prayer, various approaches to theological thinking. We augmented Tim's sessions guides and handouts with powerpoint presentations of Marcus Borg's key concepts, drawn from each chapter of The Heart of Christianity.

Essentially, Marucs Borg's thesis is that a former paradgim of Christianity - which he simply names as 'The Earlier Paradigm' - is no longer convincing, valid or useful. A new paradigm is emerging - which he simply names as 'The Emerging Paradigm'. Borg then develops his awareness and experience of the emerging paradigm into a broad conceptual framework, exploring the ideas and practices that are determining its style and vitality and persausiveness.

Tim Scorer's 'Experiencing the Heart of Christianity' is a very helpful resource for engaging a small group with reading and conversations around Marcus Borg's book, 'The Heart of Christianity'. Evaluations by the people who participated show that their thinking was deeply engaged and minds stretched; their emotions were often stirred; their appreciation of what Christianity is about in our time was both nourished and enlivened. Many were relieved to find that things they had thought about but never spoken to others about concerning Christianity were openly discussed by Borg and in our grroup, too. Participants found a deeper belonging to their Christian faith and to each other. They report being refreshed, refurbished and repositioned.

I recommend both books to Christians who are seeking ways to undertsand and practice a contemporary, meaningful Christianity, and especially those seeking a vibrant relationship with Christ that makes sense in our time.

Forming Faith

Experiencing The Heart of Christianity