Introducing a new adult Christian Formation course coming in January 2014! Michael Merriman and parishioner Antonio Rivera are both great fans of a gifted biblical/theological thinker and teacher, James Alison. Alison is a spokesman for an approach to Christianity led by Rene Girard whose work seeks to free Christian thinking from violence and scapegoating. This will be an eight week series on a weekday evening (probably either Mondays or Tuesdays) to be determined in December. This information now will be supplemented in the Notices in the weeks leading up to January. What follows is some information about the course.
Jesus the Forgiving Victim offers something quite fresh in the field of introductions to faith while embracing a straightforward Christian orthodoxy. Most Christian formation courses follow the format of education courses in general, which is to invite learners to be taught by an expert. Novices are taught what they need to know in order to belong to that local church or denomination. Once they “pass” the course, they are welcomed into the community and expected to behave as good Christians.
This approach to Christian life and learning has led many people away from the faith rather than closer to God. Why? Because it is actually quite a boring way to live and not at all what Christ had in mind when he invited his followers into a fullness of life they could barely imagine (John 10:10). What James Alison had in mind when he began putting together Jesus the Forgiving Victim course over 12 years ago, was to restore to the Christian life the wonder and transformative power of discovering not some new Biblical fact or church doctrine, but that you are loved far more than you know. Where a course of instruction tells you about something, gives you information, a course of induction, which is what Jesus the Forgiving Victim is, works cumulatively and allows you to find yourself summoned into being on the inside of something new.
By embarking on this course, you join others on a journey of discovery that will open your hearts and minds to discovering new things about yourself and your faith. It is a journey from fake goodness, from a false and insecure self, to relaxing into a goodness and security not your own, but in which you discover yourself held. And it is a journey from a unity that needs to create victims toward a unity received from the risen and forgiving victim in our midst. We hope that Jesus the Forgiving Victim will be a meaningful part of your journey toward a deeper faith and fuller life in Christ.
James Alison (b. 1959) is a Catholic theologian, priest and author. He has studied, lived and worked in Mexico, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile and the United States as well as his native England. A systematic theologian by training, James’ has developed “Jesus the Forgiving Victim,” a program of induction into the Christian Faith for adults, following on from the insight into desire associated with René Girard. He has taught the course, either as a whole or in portions, to small groups around the world over the last 14 years, and its form and content has been shaped by those experiences.