Reformation 500: A Study Celebrating the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation

Thursday Mornings  9:30-10:45am
November 2nd to 30th, 2017

The Protestant Reformation began 500 years ago. None of us lived before it. Some of the life-threatening, flabbergasting ideas that exploded out of those years are now a part of the air we breathe. 500 years ago people died for them. But time turns the revolutionary into the everyday. We take key Reformation claims for granted. We can’t even see them, they’re just a part of who are. Other Reformation claims are covered in dust, obscured and stuck away in a neglected corner of the church, like a long-forgotten Van Gogh languishing under wraps in someone’s attic. This study celebrates the United Church of Canada’s Reformation heritage by lifting up some of the Reformation’s central claims. There is beauty here. And ugliness too. Inasmuch as ideas can thrill, these ideas are thrilling. Brace yourself.

• November 2 (Introduction): The Reformation: “the Individual Before God” BBC film by Diarmaid MacCulloch
• November 9 (Study Session 1): Reformation Basics
• November 16 (Study Session 2): The Bible
• November 23 (Study Session 3): Hot Buttons
• November 30 (Study Session 4): Summing Up

Study guide required ($10 Suggested donation). Register by October 29 online using the form below or in the church office.