Religion and Philosophy   

This class includes an overview of what is in the Bible, how to find it, in particular how Christians view the Bible, and how the Bible came to be in the form we know it. Methods will include presentations and handouts and especially discussion. This is for anyone who wants to understand the Christian faith, Christian or not. This includes a lot of stuff you were embarrassed to ask because you thought everyone knew it already (they don’t) or because you thought you were supposed to have learned it in Sunday School (it is good to start young, but it is actually a lifelong process). In part, the course will be based on questions submitted by course members. A bibliography will be provided for further reading. Students will need to bring a Bible to class (we will have extras if you need one).

Dr. Jeff Cashman and Dr. John Simmons are team teaching this course on medical ethics. They will start with an introduction to ethics and introductory cases. They will have sessions on the ethics of medical payment models and touch on topics within cultural differences in the practice of medicine. They will discuss the regulation of medical practice by outside authorities. There will be a session on the history of the opioid epidemic and ethical factors that played a role.  They will hold other discussions as time allows that can be prompted by historical medical cases and a discussion of doctor-patient relationships that have changed over the years.

Did you enter retirement happily? Warily? Intentionally? Defiantly? When exploring the various aspects of retirement--geography, economics, fitness and health--did you think about the "spirituality of retirement"? Apart from "activities" and "travel," did you think about the *spiritual* exercises that might keep you alert and fit for spiritual service? I am convinced that retirement is a season of spiritual possibility: that there are "itineraries" for this rich new season that help us not only pass the time but redeem this time. This class includes: lecture, bible study, journaling, a bit of outside reading, discussion and planning. 

Covid. A Threshold experience. Let’s examine how covid changed our lives and the world around us. This will be a conversation about beginning to put this time in our personal and global lives in perspective. Sabbatical? Quarantine? Creative resurgence? How will we catalog this period in our lives? Using archetypal themes and cycles of history we will reflect on the power of this life passage. Bring your ideas. The stories of your experience and your imagination. We will hold beginners' mind… a Once Upon Time… point of view. A little bit sociology, a little bit mythology and a little bit rock n roll.

"How We Got the Bible" traces the development of the Christian Bible and the historical contexts in which it was written. The course begins with the King James Version and the context of its translation. Then it moves backward in time through the Old Testament and New Testament translations and contexts exploring developments as far back as the earliest Old Testament scrolls. It then explores significant developments in Bible translation and interpretation beginning in the 1880s. Finally, it assesses the appropriateness of various contemporary translations. The course will be mainly by lecture supported by numerous PowerPoint slides, with ample opportunity for questions and discussion. PowerPoints and articles will be available to students via Google Drive.

Using the film and the book, The Ultimate Gift, starring James Garner and Abigail Breslin, we will watch the movie and read the book in 8 weekly segments. We will also examine scriptures that provide the foundation for each of the 12 gifts that lead to the Ultimate Gift. The gifts are work, money, problems, friends, giving, gratitude, family, learning, laughter, a day, dreams, love, and a life lived to its fullest! Come and be prepared to laugh and cry as we learn life's lessons and how to convey them to our progeny.

"What we have here is a failure to communicate!" (From the film Cool Hand Luke). Though we are living in the age of information we might readily imagine that we are really living in an age of static. Have you ever paid someone a compliment and it was taken as an insult? How do men and women communicate differently? This is a broad exploration of how we communicate through our humor, our words and the images we share! (Or fail to share!)