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Community Formation: the Witness of Community of Christ Scriptures Instructors: Dale Luffman, Robin Linkhart, Joann Fisher

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Community Formation: the Witness of Community of Christ Scriptures Instructors: Dale Luffman, Robin Linkhart, Joann Fisher Community Formation: The Witness of Community of Christ Scriptures Instructors: Dale Luffman, Robin Linkhart, JoAnn Fisher Locations and Dates: Arizona Mission Center February 4-6, 2011 Luffman/Linkhart Inland West MC (Spokane) February 18-20, 2011 Luffman/Fisher/Linkhart SPRING and FALL DATES: Arizona Mission Center April 29-May 1, 2011 Sept. 30-Oct 2, 2011 Inland West MC April 22-24, 2011 (Spokane) October 28-30, 2011 (Boise) Course Description: A major task before the church is to develop a liberative understanding of scripture, one that is understood in relationship to its central content and function in the Community of Christ. This Discipleship NOW course will explore the significance of Community of Christ “standard works” [Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Joseph Smith’s Revision of the Bible] for ministry and witness. Their contribution to the unique and irreplaceable witness of scripture will be explored by participants seeking to understand the significance of Community of Christ Scriptures in light of Doctrine and Covenants 163:7 and the official statement, “Scripture in the Community of Christ”. Intentional connections will be made between the course content and mission lived out as various questions are explored in the classroom. Among some of the issues to be explored will be: What role does/should scripture play in the life of the church? What is the role of the “standard works”? How can I hear God’s voice in these texts? How can these scriptures shape and form us as faithful disciples in the contexts in which we minister? What role do Community of Christ Scriptures play in witness? Required Texts: 1. Howard, Richard P., Restoration Scriptures: A Study of Their Textual Development , second edition [Independence, MO: Herald House, 1995] 2. Luffman, Dale E., The Word and Witness of the Book of Mormon: A Nineteenth-Century Reading [Unpublished Manuscript/Draft] **students will be provided a hard copy** 3. “Scripture in the Community of Christ” [official statement find at www.cofchrist.org ] 4. The Bible [Inspired Version & The New Revised Standard Version] 5. The Book of Mormon [1908 & 1966 versions] 6. The Doctrine and Covenants [all 164 sections] 1 Recommended Reading: 1. Roberts, B. H., Studies in the Book of Mormon , second edition [Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books, 1992] Session One: Orientation to the Course of Study Readings: Community of Christ Scripture Statement Howard, pages 5 – 48 Luffman, chapters 1, 2 & 3 Objectives: 1. Understand that the Book of Mormon was “the founding event” of the Restoration Movement. 2. Discover a doctrine of scripture for the Community of Christ and how “scripture works”. 3. Become familiar with the Book of Mormon as a nineteenth-century text and with the purpose of the Book of Mormon. Session Two: The Book of Mormon: Characteristics, Sources, Visions, the Enchanted World, and the Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon Readings: Luffman, chapters 4, 5 & 6 Objectives: 1. Understand the literary characteristics of the Book of Mormon text - - it is a distinctive literary work! 2. Understand the significance of “narrator commentary” in interpreting the Book of Mormon. 3. Consider the place of spiritualization of texts, typology, narrative forms, and biblical parallels and their contribution for understanding how the text “says” what it says. 4. Explore the sources that contribute to the meaning of the Book of Mormon’s dictated text. 5. Contemplate how the enchanted world view of the early nineteenth-century contributed to the development of the Book of Mormon text. Session Three: The Book of Mormon: Some Thematic Concerns Expressed in the Witness of the Book of Mormon Readings: Luffman, chapters 7, 8 & 9 Objectives: 1. Examine the unchanging nature of God as portrayed in the Book of Mormon text. 2. Demonstrate “how God is to be found” in the Book of Mormon witness. 3. Show how the Book of Mormon text assists the reader toward living in openness to God’s revelatory activity. 4. Discover how the Book of Mormon becomes an identifiable revalatory means of reception: revelation in the form of scripture! 5. Show how the Book of Mormon advocates for “the infallibility of the inner Word of God”. 6. Understand that prophecy is central and essential to the Book of Mormon and its message. 2 7. Demonstrate the ways in which the Book of Mormon text joined critics of the Bible in questioning the appropriateness of a closed canon. 8. Explore the Book of Mormon’s relationship to the Bible. Session Four: The Book of Mormon: Letting the Text Speak For Itself Readings: Luffman, chapters 10, 11 & 12 Objectives: 1. Explore what it means to “believe in God” in the Book of Mormon. 2. Contemplate the “unchangeable nature of God” in the Book of Mormon narrative. 3. Examine the “nature of God” and the relationships among the persons of the Trinity in the Book of Mormon narratives. 4. Demonstrate the importance of the topics/themes of human nature, sin and evil in the Book of Mormon narrative. 5. Explore the witness to be found in the Book of Mormon regarding Jesus Christ, his person and his work [Christology & Soteriology]. Session Five: The Book of Mormon: The Experience of Conversion and Some Troubling Texts Readings: Luffman, chapters 13 & 14 Objectives: 1. Explore the phenomenon of revivals and conversion narratives of the early nineteenth-century and the manner in which they are in evidence in the Book of Mormon text. 2. Understand the significance of “the Revivalist Conversion Form” for eliciting faith in the first readers of the Book of Mormon narrative. 3. Observe how “the experience of faith” works in the Book of Mormon narrative. 4. Examine the concerns expressed about issues of justice in the Book of Mormon. 5. Explore the “Lamanite legacy” and its literary purpose and value in the Book of Mormon texts. 6. Understand the lack of gender recognition in the Book of Mormon text - - “where are all the women?!” 7. Examine the anti-Catholic tone expressed in the narrative of the Book of Mormon. Session Six: Joseph Smith’s Revision of the Bible: What is it? What is it’s purpose? How does it assist in the formation of the Community of Christ? Readings: Howard, pages 49 – 136 Objectives: 1. Explore the nature and significance of the “Inspired Version” and it’s emergence in and through the seer role of Joseph Smith, Jr. 2. Understand the connections between the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith’s revisions of the Bible. 3. Observe the manner of the textual development of the “Inspired Version”. 4. Ponder the significance of this unique text for spiritual formation of members of the Community of Christ. 3 Session Seven: The Development of the Doctrine and Covenants and its Continuing Significance in Forming the Community of Christ Readings: Howard, pages 137 – 266 Objectives: 1. Explore the nature and significance of the recording of revelations and their publication in “Evening and Morning Star”, the Book of Commandments, and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. 2. Observe the textual development of the Doctrine and Covenants over the years. 3. Understand the connections between the Book of Mormon and initial documents contributing to the development of the Doctrine and Covenants. 4. Ponder the ongoing significance of the Doctrine and Covenants in the formation and guidance of the Community of Christ. 4 .
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