Mother Diana will lead a four-part Advent Adult Forum series on the birth of Jesus leveraging video by Dr. Amy Jill Levine as she covers her book Light of the World.  Each week we will watch a part of the video and discuss what we learned.  So, grab a coffee after the worship service, and meet her in the Coursen Room.  You can purchase the book, but that is not necessary for this series, as we will base our conversation on the videos.  For more information, see the Amazon description below.  We will meet on 11/23 & 11/30, skip a week, and then again on 12/7 & 12/21.

In Light of the World: A Beginner’s Guide to Advent, author, professor, and biblical scholar Amy-Jill Levine explores the biblical texts surrounding the story of the birth of Jesus. Join her as she traces the Christmas narrative through the stories of Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary, the journey to Bethlehem, and the visit from the Magi. These stories open conversations around connections of the Gospel stories to the Old Testament, the role of women in first-century Jewish culture, the importance of Mary’s visitation and the revolutionary implications of Mary’s Magnificat, the census and the stable, and the star of Bethlehem and the flight to Egypt.

Amy-Jill Levine is the Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace and University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies Emerita, Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies Emerita, and Professor of New Testament Studies Emerita at Vanderbilt University. An internationally renowned scholar and teacher, she is the author of numerous books.