Theology of the Cross | Leah Chang
1 Corinthians 1:20-25
20 Where is the smart stuff of this world? Where are the world's heavy thinkers?... 21 Since in God's wisdom the world did not know God through their worldly kinds of smarts, it pleased God through foolish proclamation to save anyone who trusts Him. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks crave wisdom, 23 but we proclaim Christ the crucified one, a scandal to the Jews and moronic nonsense to the gentiles: 24 But to those called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ--God's living dynamic power and God's kind of wisdom. 25 Because God's foolishness is wiser than humanity's intellectual cleverness, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength!
1 Corinthians 2:2
2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
Here are symbols to remind us of our lifelong need of grace;
Here are table, font and pulpit, here the cross has central place...
—Fred Pratt Green~ © 1979 Hope Publishing Co.
Week One
1. Theology of glory vs. theology of the cross
2. Hebrew Bible roots/wellsprings
3. Reading and interpreting scripture through a cruciform lens
Week Two
4. Paul, Mark and Jesus of Nazareth
5. Mark, Paul and Jesus the Christ
Week Three
6. Saul/Paul of Tarsus; Martin Luther
7. Some familiar theologians of the cross: Bonhoeffer; Dorothy Day; Gandhi; MLK; Desmond Tutu; Mother Teresa; us! Who else comes to mind?
Week Four
8. The cross and the sacraments:
a. A theology of baptism and
b. A theology of the eucharist
Week Five
9. What does the cross mean for each of us as individuals?
10. What does the cross mean for this church community?
11. What does all of this mean for our nearby neighbors?
Week Six
12. What does the cross mean for the world in which we live and serve?
13. The cross of Jesus Christ: Foolishness to the Greeks and foolishness to us?
14. Concluding questions, observations and loose ends
© 2006 Leah Chang
