Ten years ago, the real world needs of two United Methodist pastors in Arizona led to the development of a DVD and web-based curriculum designed to help people wrestle with the relevance of Christianity in the 21st century.
Rev. David Felten and Rev. Jeff Procter-Murphy believed that, “at its core, Christianity has something good to offer the human race. At the same time, many have a sense that they are alone in being a “thinking” Christian and that “salvaging” Christianity is a hopeless task. What is needed is a safe environment where they have permission to ask the questions they’ve always wanted to ask but have been afraid to voice for fear of being thought a heretic.”
The result was Living the Questions, a program designed to help people wrestle with basic spiritual and theological questions often avoided by the Church.
Now an entire catalog of DVD curriculum and resources, Living the Questions seems to have struck a nerve. Today, over 6,000 churches around the world use LtQ curriculum as a catalyst for asking important questions about where the church is going and the part each of us has in the process.
To celebrate the ten year anniversary of material that has been called both “inspiring” and “transformational,” Living the Questions has released A NEW CATALOG FOR 2015. Distributed as an insert in a recent volume of The Christian Century, we offer it here as a pdf file for your perusal.
Also available for a limited time is a SPECIAL 20% DISCOUNT on any adult curriculum order. Just enter the discount code LtQB2 as you check out at www.livingthequestions.com
Thank you for your continued support and encouragement. We look forward to the next ten years of “Living the Questions” together!
A memorial celebrating the life and influence of Marcus Borg will be held on Sunday, March 22nd, 2015. This public service of remembrance will be at 2pm at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Oregon. As a modest tribute to Borg’s contribution to “Living the Questions,” we offer this clip of Marcus demonstrating a body prayer for your own devotional and memorial use in concert with those celebrating in Oregon this weekend (excerpted from “Living the Questions: An Introduction to Progressive Christianity”).
Ever feel like Jesus has been kidnapped by the Christian Right and discarded by the Secular Left? Saving Jesus Redux is total revision of Living the Questions’ popular 12-session DVD-based small group exploration of a credible Jesus for the third millennium. New contributors including Brian McLaren, Diana Butler Bass, and Robin Meyers join Marcus Borg, Walter Brueggemann, John Dominic Crossan, Matthew Fox, Amy-Jill Levine, and a host of others for a conversation around the relevance of Jesus for today.
The 12-session curriculum edition program includes a printable participant reader/study guide with background readings and discussion questions. The basic format for each 1 – 1½ hour session includes conversation around the readings, a 30-minute video segment and guided discussion.
Saving Jesus Redux Curriculum Edition is licensed for small group use and includes a two-disc DVD set and one year renewable subscription to the downloadable study materials. List Price = $250.00 plus s/h.
Use coupon code SJR5CC before March 24th to receive 50% off the list price.
Please Note: You must be logged in to your member account when placing your order/entering the coupon code for the coupon code to be recognized and the discount to be deducted. If you do not have a member account set up, please do so at Create an Account prior to placing your order. You are welcome to share this offer with others.
David Felten, author and co-creator of Living the Questions, joins author, storyteller, and professional firebrand Peter Rollins presenting keynote addresses at this year’s Epiphany Explorations in Victoria, British Columbia.
Since 2003, First Metropolitan United Church has organized this eclectic mix of presentations, music, and visual arts. The conference includes stimulating and provocative presentations by prominent theologians, authors and writers from many Christian denominations, as well as speakers on social justice issues. Topics include church renewal, recent findings of theological scholarship, contemporary understandings of faith, as well as opportunities for spiritual nurture.
For more info on the Conference, CLICK HERE. For info on livestreaming the conference, CLICK HERE
With the recent terror attacks in Paris and Africa, it becomes all the more important to be vigilant in not letting Radical Islamists destroy the reputation of Islam. Creating a world at peace requires seeking understanding and building relationships with those whom we may not have had much interaction — especially those who are dehumanized and excluded by voices of hate and bigotry.
The Jesus Fatwah is a five-session DVD and web-based series that will introduce you to Islam through input from both Muslim and Christian scholars and provide a reader’s guide that will help you gain a broad understanding of what Islam is, what it’s not, and how you and your community can resist the urge to demonize your Muslim neighbors out of fear and unfamiliarity.
One of the contributors to The Jesus Fatwah is Dr. Rami Nashashibi, Visiting Assistant Professor in Sociology of Religion and Muslim Studies at Chicago Theological Seminary and Executive Director of Chicago’s Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN). Named one of the “500 Most Influential Muslims in the World” by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center, Nashashibi is a straight-forward and passionate voice of reason in the midst of often heated Islamophobic arguments. In The Jesus Fatwah,Nashashibi offers insights into the practice of Islam that are a catalyst for conversations about the common values held by Christians, Muslims, and Americans of all faiths.
“The way the vast majority of Muslims understand Islam revolves around the prophetic values of mercy, compassion, humility, and service. The idea of mercy in and of itself is so supreme in Islam that every chapter in the Qur’an (with the exception of one), begins with “In the name of God most gracious, most merciful.” There’s a prophetic kind of understanding that out of all the attributes of God — the most giving, the most loving, the most just — that out of all those characteristics the most supreme characteristic is mercy. And that’s how Muslims are supposed to think of the divine. Since every human being is so utterly in need of God’s mercy, that’s really the driving ethos of the Muslim community. If you want mercy, be merciful.”
Dr. Rami Nashashibi has served as the Executive Director of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) since its incorporation as a nonprofit in January 1997. He has a PhD in Sociology from the University of Chicago and has lectured across the United States, Europe, and Asia on a range of topics related to American Muslim identity, community activism and social justice issues, and is a recipient of several prestigious community service and organizing honors. In August of 2014, he began as Visiting Assistant Professor in Sociology of Religion and Muslim Studies at Chicago Theological Seminary. His work with IMAN have been featured on many national and international media outlets including the BBC, PBS and the Chicago Tribune. Follow him at @RamiNashashibi
O Holy One,
we are a sleepy lot,
slow to stir to the calling of the cosmos,
deaf to the cries of the Earth
and the forgotten ones,
human and other-than-human.
We distract ourselves
with trivialities that have become idols;
while the sun and the moon darken,
and the stars fall from the skies,
we are mesmerized by the market’s alluring power,
eyes unflinchingly fixed upon the naval of our own net worth.
“O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,”
cries the prophet,
or at least tear open our hearts, pry open our eyes,
and end this slumber that blocks out pain,
but with it, wonder.
Our hope, O Holy One, is found in eyes wide open,
in hearts linked in common cause,
in small gestures of compassion,
and in alertness to your coming,
again and again.
As fire kindles brushwood
and causes water to boil,
so we await to be set on fire
with hope and gospel passion.
“Apocalyptic Awakening” can be found in Sanguin’s book, If Darwin Prayed, available by clicking HERE
Rev. Bruce Sanguin is a leader in evolutionary Christianity, teaching evolutionary theology and practice with a passion for updating the theology and practice of the church in light of the reality of evolutionary processes and the creative impulse of the universe. He lives in Vancouver. Find more of his writingHERE.
For more of Bruce’s insights, check out Living the Questions series “Painting the Stars,” a DVD/web-based curriculum exploring the interface of Science, Religion, and an Evolving Faith.CLICK HERE (or on the graphic at left) for more information.
Fatwah n. a spiritually instructive opinion, usually given as the answer to a question about religious law.
When asked to name the greatest commandment, Jesus issued a fatwah: “Love God with every fiber of your being and love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Living the Questions is proud to introduce our newest DVD series, “The Jesus Fatwah,” a dynamic 5-session program that takes Jesus’ admonition to love our neighbors as we love ourselves seriously — even (and in these tense times, especially) if that neighbor is Muslim.
A “Jesus Fatwah” class at Dayspring United Methodist in Tempe, Arizona had over 120 participants (including the Imam and 15 members of a local mosque) [October 2014]
“The Jesus Fatwah” is an engaging catalyst for conversation about resisting the Islamophobia that is rampant and, in many segments of our society, growing stronger. With nearly 20 Muslim and Christian contributors and a helpful participant guide written by author and pastor, Rev. Ben Daniel (author of The Search for Truth About Islam: A Christian Pastor Separates Fact from Fiction), “The Jesus Fatwah” is a perfect vehicle for educating those unfamiliar with Islam about the basics of the faith and how, as followers of Jesus, we are compelled to reach out in love to our Muslim neighbors. The downloadable participant guide includes discussion questions to maximize your group’s experience.
FLASH GIVEAWAY! Go to Living the Questions’ Facebook page for your chance to win home editions of ALL FIVE of LtQs most popular programs.That’s a bundle of LtQ worth over $250! Find the graphic (pictured above) on our timeline and simply press “Like” and “Share” to your own timeline.
This promo begins on Friday, August 22nd and ends on Sunday, August 24th at midnight (MST). On Monday, a winner will be chosen randomly from those who have “Liked” and “Shared” this post between now and Sunday night. Good luck and thanks for your support!
What do Bob Marley and Hugh Sherlock have to do with one another? The Rev. Hugh Sherlock was a Jamaican, a Methodist minister, the first President of the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas — and, of all things, author of Jamaica’s National Anthem. He also ran a boys’ club in the shanty towns of Kingston. “Operation Friendship” he called it. And it was in such a township, under the tutelage of Christian teachers, that Bob Marley lived. That’s where he formed his political and social views. That’s where he developed his music. And that’s why we shouldn’t be surprised that, through his music, he wanted to address the society around him.
Reggae became the soul music of Black Caribbean people. And it became the vehicle for giving black people their pride. The only way black people could be superior to whites, argued Marley, was by refusing to practice the racism of white people. Marley was a peaceful, gentle, man who’d known great suffering but refused to reflect anger back into a world that had already seen too much of it.
Two days before Bob Marley was scheduled to perform at the “Smile Jamaica” peace rally, a gunman came to his house and shot Marley and several others. Despite his injuries, he walked out on the stage and wowed the crowd for 90 minutes. Impressed by his determination, somebody asked him, “Why?” He said, “The people who are trying to make this world worse are not taking a day off. How can I?”
From the authors of “Living the Questions: The Wisdom of Progressive Christianity” www.livingthequestions.com
“There is no question in my mind that had there not been some transforming experience that happened to the disciples after the death of Jesus that convinced them that he had conquered the boundary of human death there would be no Christianity. But what people don’t understand is that the idea that that experience meant the resuscitation of a body that could walk physically out of a tomb on the third day after crucifixion is a very late developing tradition. You will not find it in Paul; you will not find it in Mark. Most people are surprised to know that in the first gospel, Mark, written in the early seventies, that no where does the risen Christ ever appear in Mark to anybody! It’s only in the late gospels that he not only appears but offers his flesh to be inspected and eats and walks and talks and interprets scripture; it’s a very late development in the tradition. There is a powerful Easter experience that starts the whole Christian faith, transforms the disciples, changes them from cowards who had forsaken him and fled and brought them back into being heroic followers of this Jesus — changed the way they understood God so that whatever that Easter experience was they could never again think of God without seeing Jesus as part of that definition. They could never again see Jesus without feeling that God was part of that definition. Something incredibly powerful happened but it had nothing to do with the resuscitation of the body.”
The retired Bishop of Newark, New Jersey, John Shelby Spong is one of the featured contributors in several Living the Questions series. He is a columnist and author of over sixteen books including Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism and Why Christianity Must Change or Die. Lecturer at Harvard, Humanist of the Year, and a guest on numerous national television broadcasts including The Today Show, Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, and Larry King Live, Bishop Spong continues to write and lecture around the world. His newest book is The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic.
Pastors David Felten and Jeff Procter-Murphy, along with the voices of top Bible scholars and church leaders—including Marcus Borg, Diana Butler Bass, John Dominic Crossan, Helen Prejean, and John Shelby Spong—provide a primer to a church movement that encourages every Christian to “live the questions” instead of “forcing the answers.”
Based on the bestselling DVD course, "Living the Questions: The Wisdom of Progressive Christianity" tackles issues of faith, dogma, and controversial subjects that many churches are afraid to address. "Living the Questions" is the most comprehensive survey of progressive Christianity in existence today.
Available at www.livingthequestions.com, through online booksellers, and as a Kindle download!
“A welcome book that is bold (without being contentious) and courageous (without needing to be triumphant), Felten and Procter-Murphy give voice to a faith that provides a profound alternative to the dominant ideology of ‘American Christianity.’ Attention should be paid!”
— WALTER BRUEGGEMANN, PROFESSOR EMERITUS, COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Ten years ago, the real world needs of two United Methodist pastors in Arizona led to the development of a DVD and web-based curriculum designed to help people wrestle with the relevance of Christianity in the 21st century.
Dr. Rami Nashashibi has served as the Executive Director of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) since its incorporation as a nonprofit in January 1997. He has a PhD in Sociology from the University of Chicago and has lectured across the United States, Europe, and Asia on a range of topics related to American Muslim identity, community activism and social justice issues, and is a recipient of several prestigious community service and organizing honors. In August of 2014, he began as Visiting Assistant Professor in Sociology of Religion and Muslim Studies at Chicago Theological Seminary. His work with IMAN have been featured on many national and international media outlets including the BBC, PBS and the Chicago Tribune. Follow him at 
Living the Questions 
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