Join us for a discussion of Norman Wirzba's book This Sacred Life: Humanity’s Place in a Wounded World.

On April 10, we’ll be discussing Chapter 6. Here are some questions for discussion:

1. In what ways did Thomas Berry want to transform the world’s faith traditions in his “Universe Story”? What does Norman Wirzba find lacking in Berry’s narrative? (155-58)

2. What does Wirzba see as the essential difference between how humans create something, and how God creates? How is the idea that “God is a no-thing,” as he writes on p. 162, connected to the divine reality being simultaneously immanent and transcendent? (159-64)

3. What is the difference between creation “ex nihilo” and creation “ex amore”? Why does Wirzba believe that Christians’ historical tendency to emphasize the former type of creation at the expense of the latter has led the Church to commit many sins? Do you agree with his assessment, on both historical and theological grounds? (166-67)

4. Make a list of the ways that creation is “through Christ” (167) for Christians. How does Wirzba – borrowing from Rowan Williams, perhaps – see Jesus as the model for living a “creaturely” life? (167-75)

Join us for the conversation led by Steve Knight and Father Beddingfield. Join us in person or through Zoom at at https://zoom.us/j/8753617165 (for the password, type the numerals for eighteen ninety-nine, two thousand nineteen. No comma or space.)

Books can be bought from your favorite vender or downloaded online. The church has ordered some copies which also may be purchased.