Subject: UUCPA announce: Tom Sheehan's talk on Apocalypticism this Thursday evening at UUCPA

From: "Jack Owicki" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 20:30:51 -0800

Folks,
 
For your info, here's our press release for TOM SHEEHAN'S TALK ON
APOCALYPTICISM THIS THURSDAY EVENING AT UUCPA
Should be an excellent lecture.
 
Best regards,
Jack Owicki
for the Adult RE Committee
 
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TALK ON THE APOCALYPSE IN CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIANITY

Palo Alto, Ca. - March 1, 2005 -Professor Thomas Sheehan of Stanford
University will deliver a public lecture entitled Apocalypse Then, Now, and
to Come at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto at 7:30 p.m. on
Thursday, March 24.  

Fundamentalist Christians have thrust the doctrine of the apocalypse --
God's cosmic destruction of evil and recreation of the world at the end of
time -- into the forefront of Christian belief and life. The success of the
Left Behind series is only one small indication of this.  But the notion of
apocalypse is quite complex and controversial. Is it central to
Christianity? Was Jesus of Nazareth an apocalyptist? 

This lecture will probe three issues: (1) the historical origins of the
religious idea of apocalypse, (2) the current uses (both religious and
political) to which it is put by conservative evangelical Christians, and
(3) its alleged predictions of the future.  An alternative way of
interpreting the apocalyptic language of the Christian scriptures will then
be presented.

A donation of $10 will be requested for attendance.

Thomas Sheehan is a Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at
Stanford University.  He is an authority on early Christianity and the
philosophy of religion.  Among the books that he has written is The First
Coming: How the Kingdom of God Became Christianity.  As a Fellow of the
Westar Institute, he participates in the Jesus Seminar, a project that seeks
to understand the historical Jesus.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto is a community committed to a
free and responsible search for spiritual meaning.  The church is located at
505 East Charleston Road in Palo Alto. For more information, call the church
office at 650-494-0541 or visit www.uucpa.org.