Rev. Thomas of Community Church to teach online class on ‘New New Testament’
The Community Church of the Pelhams on Washington Avenue.
Editor’s note: This press release was provided by the Community Church of the Pelhams.
Rev. Dr. Asayo Okumura Thomas from the Community Church of the Pelhams will teach a exciting class on the BeADisciple.com learning platform: “A New New Testament.” The course will start September 13 and run for two weeks. Most of the course is self-guided, but there is a robust thought sharing and response by participants on the platform, and an occasional live online discussion time.
Her course introduces you to the ancient texts written as early as the Gospel of Matthew and the letter to the Ephesians, which are both included in the New Testament canon. But many many ancient writings did not get selected for the New Testament. Why might we want to study these unfamiliar writings? As the author of A NEW NEW TESTAMENT, Hal Taussig writes, “The first reason we want to study a new New Testament about the traditional New Testament is to know what is outside it, we must know what is outside it, and the second reason is that concerning the traditional New Testament is to know what is inside it, we must know what is outside it.”
Reading these ancient texts will provide you a joyful richness of experience!
Rev. Dr. Asayo Thomas is the Assistant Minister for Spiritual Development at the Community Church. She holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from New York Theological Seminary.
Go to the BeADisciple.com website and look for IFD330 – “Exploring a new New Testament: Sept 13 – 27, 2021” to register.
Dr. Donald W. Haynes • Dec 31, 2021 at 8:52 pm
Dear Rev. Thomas. I have read that you are about to launch a course on hymns, including the reason for their being written. That, of course, will include a bit of bio about the author and the composer.
I have just had published a book, “Singing Our Faith–Hymns for Each Life Season. For about three years, I researched approximately 200 of our traditional hymns and a handful of contemporary praise songs– the “story behind the hymn.”
If you think this book could be of value to you, I should be glad to send you a complimentary copy. If you wish to recommend it to persons enrolling in your class, they can order it from Amazon or from me. If from me, I shall be happy to endorse each one with the buyer’s name as well as my own.
Happy New Year!
(I am a retired United Methodist clergy in the Western North Carolina UMC conference, living in Asheboro, North Carolina. I was graduated from Duke Divinity School in 1958; ordained Elder in 1958 and retired in 1999. I served 34 years in the parish, four as WMC Conference Director of Ministries, three as Superintendent of the Charlotte District, two as Vice President of St. Paul School of Theology. After retirement I was Director of Wesleyan Studies a t Hood Theological Seminary in Salisbury, NC for sixteen years)