The next two weeks I am teaching more than preaching. Next week in a synagogue, this week in a Lake Forest classroom.
"Evil...Human or Divine?" is a lecture I've been invited to give at the Jewish Temple Beth El in Charlotte next Tuesday at 7pm. Its an installment in the middle of their 2014 weekly comparative religion series, and I've been invited to give the Evangelical, or classical Christian view. I'm deeply honored by the invitation and have friends who worship there. I haven't written my talk yet (45 minutes of presentation, 45 minutes of question and answer). But I know it will include my reading of J.R.R. Tolkien's lyrical account of creation and evil in the opening chapters of "The Silmarillion," St. Augustine's speculative account of the fall of the angels, and quotes from a Gordon-Conwell Seminary professor. The lecture is open to anyone of any faith (others in this series have presented the Jewish, Unitarian, and Muslim perspective on the question). Here is a link to the series info http://www.beth-el.com/comparativereligion.html
Tonight I begin the first of six weekly lectures (skipping next Tuesday because of my committment at Temple Beth El) on Church History at LFC at 7pm. It's a challenge to telescope 2,000 years into six talks, but I'm excited to pass along this important subject. What's awesome about this is I get to pay ZERO attention to presentation and 100% attention to content (my version of teaching). In my preparation I've indulged the academic in me and have sub points to the sub points of my sub points. And prolegommena (a word only a professor can love, or even know...it means 'what comes before' and is all the preliminary stuff you want to say before you get to the actual subject at hand.. the equivalent to Star Wars' 'A long time ago in a galaxy far far away...' typing at the beginning of each movie). I know of a community group that is attending this class together, and a homeschool family as one of their classes. Cool. Its a great refresher for me.
