The Center's Summer Seminars are a popular offering in our program year, drawing a national audience to Portland for all over the country. An exploration of some of the most pressing questions and issues in Christianity today, Summer Seminar speakers have included Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan, Sr. Joan Chittister, Diana Butler Bass, Brian McLaren, Barbara Rossing and Jim Wallis.
2010 Summer Seminar with Marcus Borg & John Dominic Crossan
Speaking Christian: Redeeming Christian Language
June 21 - 24, 2010
Join Dom Crossan and Marcus Borg as they explore "the surplus of meaning" behind some of the most important words in the Christian language. Understanding words like God, salvation, justice, compassion, and collections of words such as the Lord's Prayer, parables by and about Jesus, the creeds, and eucharistic language, shape what it truly means to be Christian.
The Christian language must be reclaimed, redeemed, and liberated from the distorted meanings it has acquired, bound to conventional domestications. Dom Crossan and Marcus Borg suggest that the key to setting it free, discussed in this year's Summer Seminar, is through an historical and metaphorical approach-a parabolic and symbolic understanding of the language itself. The material is a snapshot of upcoming books by both Crossan and Borg.
CD's for the 2009 Summer Seminar: The "First" Paul: Radical Apostle of Jesus
CD sets are now available for this informative 2009 Summer Seminar on Paul. The package includes all presentations and large group question and response sessions with Borg and Crossan along with any discussions, and all handouts for the seminar. Cost for the CD set is $75 and can be order over the phone by calling the Center, (503) 478-1218 or by mailing this order form in to the Center.