Every Sunday, from 09/18/2022 to 05/21/2023, 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
The Covenant Class features guest teachers on a rotating schedule who teach on a topic for a week or more. All are invited to join this class at any time. To join the Zoom on Sundays at 9am use tinyurl.com/CovenantClass23. Childcare available by request. To watch past recordings, visit fpcrichmond.org/covenantclass.
Upcoming Classes
April 2, 16 | Christine Luckritz Marquis
Christian-Jewish Relations on the Eve of Islam
These two classes explore the history of religious interactions between peoples of the Arabian Peninsula, Ethiopia, and the Roman and Persian Empires. In particular, it examine how various factions of Christians (Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian) interacted with the growing kingdom of Himyar (modern-day Yemen) under its Jewish ruling elite. Taught near the holidays of Passover and western Christian Easter, this class invites us to rethink the history of Christian-Jewish relations in one little-known historical moment. Beyond helping us engage the complex realities of Jews and Christians interacting, knowledge of this era also offers a more nuanced understanding of what Arabian peoples had witnessed on the eve of Islam coming to power.
April 23 | Derek Redwine
Topic TBA
May 7, 14, 21 | Stuart Nixon
How Did Religion Come to America -- Where Does the Narrative Really Begin?
In our current political climate, there is great temptation to speak theologically of the Founding Fathers as though their faith was a clearly enumerated set of beliefs and values to which they all subscribed. But is that historically correct? Is the popular account of our forebears arriving in the New World with their religious creeds and customs really that simple? In this class, we will journey backwards from the planting of religion in America in an attempt to trace its true roots and the rather complicated pathway that multiple faith traditions followed in the context of what we understand today as a predominantly Christian society. As happens so often when historians go in search of "the story behind the story," there will be surprises awaiting us all along the way.