In September 2021 Anima Education ran their Introduction to Scripture – The Greatest Story Ever Told.
Due to its popularity it is back for 2022!
This series, presented by David Schütz with tutor Natasha Petrakos, offers an introduction to Scripture – how to read Scripture, the history behind it, and how the Church reads it today. It is avaliable to anyone interested in learning more about the Word of God.
It begins Monday 19th September at 7pm and will continue every Monday evening until 17th Oct.
The course is 10 hours (5 x 2-hour sessions) and will be offered via Zoom.
Cost: $95 plus booking fee
This course is also MACS Accredited.
Below is the Course outline. If you have any questsions at all about this course you can email David Schütz here.
If you would like a flier to advertise this course click here.
An Introduction to Scripture; The Greatest Story Ever Told – Course Outline
Rationale:
“You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life”
John 5:39
At the heart of the Sacred Tradition of the Church, and forming with it “one sacred deposit of the word of God” (Dei Verbum, 10), are the Sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. This series seeks to introduce you to Scriptures, what kind of writings they are, how they came to us, and how the Church reads them. As a collection of books by many authors from many centuries, the Bible contains many different kinds of writing. The course will particularly focus on the narratives sections of Scripture and on the history of our salvation, which is the “Greatest Story ever told”.
“All story does truly begin with creation and end with a last judgement”
Chesterton – The Everlasting Man
Aim:
Practicing Catholics probably have a greater familiarity with the Scriptures than many other Christians, because they are exposed to large segments of it in the liturgy through the Sunday and Weekday lectionaries and even in the Divine Office. However, the lectionary presents the scriptures in disjointed segments and Catholics may have a lesser degree of familiarity with the bible itself as a book.
This course aims at putting the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together, giving an understanding of the scriptures as a coherent whole, and the relation of the scriptures to the history of God’s relationship with his people and the advent of his Messiah.
At the same time it aims to introduce students to the way Sacred Scripture has been read by the Church in its tradition as a locus of God’s revelation of himself through his Son, the Incarnate Word.
Learning Objectives:
This course will assist students to gain
- a familiarity with the origin, nature and contents of the Scriptures
- an appreciation of the use of the narrative genre in the Scriptures and the way in which the sacred story conveys spiritual truth
- an appreciation of the creation stories in the Scriptures
- a familiarity with the passages in the Scriptures that are pivotal for the salvation history of God’s people and the advent of his Messiah
- An appreciation for the different ways in which the Gospels tell the story of Christ
- encouragement to incorporate the scriptural story into their own personal meta-narrative
Student participation:
Through questions and discussions in lectures, reading sections of scripture in class, and recommended reading at home.
Presenter:
David Schütz has a Master of Theology at Catholic Theological College and a casual academic at Australian Catholic University. He was an ordained minister of the Lutheran Church before entering the Catholic Church in 2001. From 2002 to 2020 he was Executive Officer for the Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission of the Archdiocese. From 2004 to 2007 he was an Adult Education Officer for Catholic Adult Education Melbourne. Together with Anna Krohn, he founded and taught for Anima Education from 2007 to 2017.
Formal qualifications:
- Bachelor of Theology (Luther Seminary, North Adelaide),
- Graduate Diploma in Ministry (Luther Seminary, North Adelaide),
- Bachelor of Arts (University of Adelaide),
- Graduate Diploma in Library and Information Management (University of South Australia)
- Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (Australian Catholic University)
Duration: Five 120 minute sessions over five weeks
Programme Topics
Week 1 – What is the Bible?
Week 2 – Beginnings
Week 3 – Prophets and Kings
Week 4 – Exile and Messianic Hopes
Week 5 – The New Covenant
