Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

In the fall of 2006, RRC will introduce a distance-learning program.

The first offering will be Our Ancestors’ Search for God:The Many Faces of God in the Bible, taught by Tamar Kamionkowski, Ph.D, RRC’s dean and chair of the Department of Biblical Civilization.

The course will begin October 8 and will contain six sessions. Most of the course will be taught asynchronously, allowing people to participate at times convenient for them. To allow for direct contact with the instructor, there will be some synchronous (real-time) content as well. The cost for the course will be $75 for members of JRF congregations and $150 for others.

A second course, The Call to Leadership: Ancient Models, also taught by Kamionkowski, will be offered in the spring of 2007.

To enroll in either or both courses, apply for course registration online or e-mail Janis Smith at jsmith@rrc.edu.

Course descriptions
Our Ancestors’ Search for God: The Many Faces of God in the Bible
We live in communities in which many ideas of God reside side by side. We often assume that our ancestors must have had more stable and consistent experiences of God, yet a close examination of biblical texts teaches us that our ancestors grappled with many of the same issues that confront us today regarding the nature of God. In this six-session course, we will study a range of biblical texts that testify to the diversity of opinions that our ancestors held. The course will begin October 8, 2006.

The Call to Leadership: Ancient Models
The writings of the biblical prophets are among the most inspiring, troubling and complex text of the Bible. In this six-session course, we will delve into the self-reflections of a number of prophets to better understand what compelled them to take on the challenging role of a prophet in Israel. We will pay particular attention to the call narratives of Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The course will begin February 11, 2007.