Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. St. Peter's Episcopal Church offers many classes for children and youth:

Level I Atrium, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd – Charlie Redditt
        Children in the 3 to 5 year old age group attend this Sunday morning 9:00 a.m. class. Children are taught Bible stories using the Montessori method of teaching. Parents and other adults are welcomed and encouraged to participate by assisting and leading classes.

Come Join the Circle – Paulette Bane and Jared Johnson

        Children in the first through third grades attend this Sunday morning 9:00 a.m. class. Come Join the Circle is a curriculum that explores the Bible through storytelling, art, music, and other activities.  Parents and other adults are welcomed and encouraged to participate by assisting and leading classes.

 

Telling the Good News – Matthew Windsor and John Vanderslice

        Fourth through seventh graders attend this class on Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m.  This class uses drama as a way to bring scripture to life. Parents and other adults are welcomed and encouraged to participate by assisting and leading classes.

 

High School Coffeehouse – Tracy Simpson
        Youth in grades eight through twelve attend this Sunday morning 9:00 a.m. class. They gather in the high school coffeehouse, with frequent forays to local coffee shops, and discuss their faith using the Caffeine + Character curriculum.  Parents and other adults are welcomed and encouraged to participate by assisting and leading classes.

Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. St. Peter's Episcopal Church offers classes for adults:

Freedom All The Way Down: A Brief Introduction to
Process Theology
with Donna Bowman – January 10th, 17th, 24th, and 31st

In the mid-twentieth century, a group of Christian theologians who were dissatisfied with the implications of certain traditional ways of thinking about God, the world, and the relationship between the two, used metaphysical ideas outlined decades earlier by mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead to develop a new theological vision. Process theology remains a movement on the fringes of Christian thought both in churches and in most seminaries and divinity schools. Yet in the fields of ecological theology and religion-science dialogue, this way of conceptualizing divine and creaturely life is thoroughly mainstream. We will sketch the major revisions and redefinitions of Christian ideas that process theology attempts, and in the process observe theologians at work responding to their time, culture, and faith resources.

Arkansas, Arkansans, and Why We Are
the Way We Are
(Not Always As We Have Been Portrayed)
with Sondra Gordy – February 7th, 14th, and 21^st
Through an exploration of geography, art, and literature, Sondra will lead us in a study of our Arkansas culture—how others have learned about us, and what they have learned or not learned from us. Aside from being interesting in its own right, this topic is relevant to our lives as Christians, for part of our call to ministry inevitably involves understanding the culture in which we find ourselves.

Religion in Film
with Chuck Bane – February 28th, and March 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28^th
This class hopes to explore the relationship between Christianity and film. The class will not focus on films with a "moral agenda" nor will it look at historical re-enactments of the "made-for-tv" variety. Rather, the class will look at theatrically released films that make either an implicit or explicit appeal to religion and religious elements. Some films will present Christianity historically, while others will view it comedically or even irreverently. Still others will show our religion playing out in our post-modern world, sometimes addressing controversial topics. Films discussed will include Black Robe, Jesus of Montreal, The Apostle, The Exorcist, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and The Simpsons Movie.

 “The Evolution of God”
with Mike Schaefer – April 11th, 18th, and 25th

It’s commonly held as an article of faith that God made humans in God’s own image. In his 2009 book "The Evolution of God," Robert Wright argues for the contrary view—that, in fact, humans have made God in their image. Weaving together archeological, historical, and literary analyses, Wright surveys the metamorphoses the idea of God has undergone from its emergence in the pre-Abrahamic Middle East through its treatment in the Old and New Testaments, the Koran, and various other Abrahamic texts. In every case, Wright says, God has not shaped the “facts on the ground,” as believers would argue; rather, the facts on the ground have shaped God. While Wright characterizes himself as a materialist and cheerfully says that his book contains something to offend everyone, his conclusions are surprisingly favorable to religious belief. A carry-over from this past fall, Mike Schaefer will facilitate three more weeks of discussion about Wright’s provocative argument.

New Monasticism
with Teri Daily – May 2nd and 9th

In today’s world of increasing fragmentation, materialism, and secularism, more and more Christians are searching for a way to live out Jesus’ call to radical discipleship that encompasses their whole lives. These “new monastics” are forming intentional

Christian communities shaped by the “way of Jesus.” Blending elements of traditional monasticism with contemporary realities, these communities are marked by the following characteristics (among others): geographic proximity of their members, inclusion in most cases of celibate persons, married couples, and families, hospitality to the stranger, sharing of economic resources with fellow community members and with those who are in need, concern for the plot of earth on which they live and for local economies, the pursuit of reconciliation in the face of racial and economic divide, and the commitment to a disciplined contemplative life. We will explore how this new movement in the Church is revitalizing Christianity and what its prophetic witness might have to say to our own community of faith.

Modern Poems of Religious Unbelief
with Jim Fowler – May 16th and 23rd

Come join Jim Fowler for a discussion on three modern poems of religious unbelief that variously express feelings of exultant liberation, ambivalent skepticism, and grinding despair. On May 16 the topic will be Wallace Stevens' "Sunday Morning," on the 23rd Philip Larkin's "Church Going" and "Aubade." Copies of the poems will be provided. The idea is that through discussion of these poems, we can acknowledge our own regions of doubt or disbelief and consequently highlight the terms of faith.