The Teacher & The Preacher
CFS-Spring 2022
Six Weeks
Thursdays 9am-11am
Course Title:
The Teacher & The Preacher: Secular Readings of Ecclesiastes & the Sermon on the Mount
Course Description:
Two teachers, two preachers, two testaments, one religion—but was it Judaism or a radical new hybrid worldview beyond religion, perhaps beyond theism? We will read the twelve chapters of Ecclesiastes alongside three chapters containing the “Sermon on the Mount” from a humanistic perspective searching for relevant wisdom for our pluralistic time. With respect for faith and freethought, this course is open for believers and nonbelievers interested in truth that unites rather than divides.
Recommended Texts:
The Message on the Mountain (Highland); Breath, Death and Koheleth (Highland); New Revised Standard Version of the Bible
Instructor:
Chris Highland has been teaching at OLLI since 2016. With degrees from Seattle Pacific University and San Francisco Theological Seminary, he was a minister and chaplain prior to becoming a humanist celebrant. Author of numerous books, Chris writes the “Highland Views” column for the Asheville Citizen-Times. His website is: Friendly Freethinker.
Syllabus
Session One–Koheleth 1-3 +Introduction to the texts, methods of interpretation
PDF: “Teacher”-Langston Hughes
PDF: Religion & Secular
PDF: World Religions & Scriptures
PDF: Reading Sacred Scriptures
PDF: Major Themes & Questions in Koheleth
Session Two–Koheleth 4-6
PDF: Paradoxes
PDF: Humanism
Session Three-Koheleth 7-12
Liberal Protestant Reading of Koheleth
PDF: Isaac Asimov on Reading the Bible
Session Four-Matthew 5
PDF: Tradition
PDF: Ego de Lego
Session Five–Matthew 6
PDF: Major Themes & Questions of the MM
PDF: Thomas Paine: The Age of Reason
Session Six-Matthew 7
What do we do with the Two Teachers?
Link: “The Golden Rule”
PDF: MLK (from “The Three Mothers”)
PDF: Gandhi and the Sermon on the Mount
Additional Resources:
PDF: Wendell Berry
PDF: Jefferson
PDF: Criticism
Friendly Freethinker 