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Niche demographics
Mar. 22nd, 2022 11:09 pmFor the last couple of years I've been gathering on Zoom with a small group of friends for biblical and theological study. We've been working through textbooks on first new and then old testament interpretation a chapter at a time. As we are now finally* approaching the end of the second of these, I've been casting around for something we might want to move on to next**. One book that I've been considering is Alistair McGrath's Christian Theology: An Introduction. It looks pretty good, but I was a bit underwhelmed by some of the reflection questions for the first few chapters on the history of theological thought. At least I was until I discovered the Additional Activities available on the publisher's website, which includes such delights as:
*Turns out there's a lot more of the Hebrew Scriptures than the NT
**If you've got any suggestions for theology books with a broadly Christian perspective and good questions for reflection and discussion, at approximately undergraduate level, preferably with rather fewer than 26 chapters, I'd be delighted to hear them.
- Do a mock trial of a group of traditores with the Donatists as the prosecution and Augustine as the defense. Call both traditores and Christians who had not surrendered their Scriptures under threat of persecution as witnesses.
- Set up a council with representatives from the western church (Latin-speaking Rome) and the eastern church (Greek-speaking Constantinople), and have the students play the roles of representatives who are airing their respective grievances and defending their positions. See if the two parties can come to an agreement or if they part ways at the end of the debate.
- Divide the group so that half are assigned the role of Catholics and half the role of Protestants. Have one side defend the motto semper eadem and the importance of continuity and tradition; and the other side defend the importance of innovation and creativity
*Turns out there's a lot more of the Hebrew Scriptures than the NT
**If you've got any suggestions for theology books with a broadly Christian perspective and good questions for reflection and discussion, at approximately undergraduate level, preferably with rather fewer than 26 chapters, I'd be delighted to hear them.
