About this Event
Welcome to The Gospel of Genesis: Learning alongside the Ancient Israelites event!
Date: Thu Oct 10 2024
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Victoria Christian Reformed Church
VISTA- Vancouver Island School of Theology and the Arts is pleased to offer a 4 week course with Dr Paul Teel on the Gospel of Genesis. Starting Thursday Oct 10th from 7-9pm.
Come join us for 4 exciting evenings of exploring the Gospel of Genesis alongside the Ancient Israelites. Dive deep into the rich history and teachings found in this ancient text. Gain a new perspective on the stories and lessons that have been passed down for generations. This in-person event promises to be enlightening and engaging. Don't miss out!
The Gospel of Genesis
Listening Alongside the Ancient Israelites
The good news? We have very successfully turned early Genesis (chapter 1–11) into a series of
picture books, Sunday School lessons, videos, and flannelgraphs. As a result, most children
growing up in the church are quite familiar with those Bible stories. The bad news? There can be
trouble when we never move beyond that child-sized understanding. Ironically, early Genesis can
be a challenge precisely because of our strong start in childhood. We are very familiar with these
passages, but we are also significantly uninformed about their ancient setting.
A good, healthy way to ‘grow up’ in our understanding is to hear these passages in their original
ancient Near Eastern context, to listen alongside the ancient Israelites. What would they have
heard? What kind of literature would they have known this to be? What would have been the
obvious main points? What are we modern folks missing? These questions will be the focus of
this course.
When we approach early Genesis this way, we find that it is not about the various culture-war
issues we often bring to the text, but rather about things far deeper. Early Genesis proclaims
Good News about God, about the world, and about what it means to be human.
Paul Teel — Bio
Paul has been a teacher at Pacific Christian Secondary for over 30 years, specializing in
Calculus, Philosophy, and Biblical Studies. Somewhere in there he also enrolled at UVic and
earned an MA and a PhD in philosophy, concentrating on the relationship between Christian
theology and modern science. As a result, he was a guest lecturer at Regent College (a graduate
school of theology in Vancouver) for nearly 20 years, including a stint on faculty for a program
helping church leaders think about science in a more theologically robust and positive way.
Also during that time, Paul was the interim teaching pastor for one year at Saanich Community
Church before joining the preaching roster at St. Barnabas Anglican Church. For the last two
years, Paul has been one of the co-pastors at The Place Community Church. He and Heidi have
been married for 34 years and have three adult daughters (and two sons-in-law!).
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Victoria Christian Reformed Church, 661 Agnes Street, Victoria, Canada
CAD 134.46
