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In this six-month theology programme we take a sustained look at Jesus, and what Christians believe about him. Jesus belongs to a particular place and time, within human history. So how did the first century Palestinian peasant known as ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ became the ‘Jesus Christ’ of Christianity, the ‘eternally begotten Son of the Father’, the ‘Word made Flesh’? What does it mean to claim that Jesus—a human—was God? What sense can we make of the idea that the crucifixion—a horrifying form of public torture and execution—was part of God’s plan for Jesus, and for all of humanity? And how should Christians understand the thought that the Church—with all its conflicts, flaws and failings—is the ‘body’ of Christ? We will examine these and other issues, looking at the past, present and future of Jesus Christ.
Participants will gain a better understanding of some of the most important Christian ideas, and emerge with a deeper, richer understanding of their own tradition.
How does this course work?
Study days
The programme will run across five study days at London Jesuit Centre, on Saturdays from October 2024 to March 2025; each study day will explore a different topic. Readings and audio talks will be available prior to the study days, which will be led by experienced LJC tutors with relevant expertise in Scripture, theology, philosophy and ethics.
During the study days, participants will also have opportunity to pause, pray and converse with others, so as to reflect on how what they are learning might be stimulating, stretching and shaping their own relationship with Jesus.
Tuition
Alongside the study days, participants will have access to individual meetings with LJC tutors, so as to engage in a programme of directed reading through the year. Participants will have access to The Heythrop Library, one of the biggest specialist theology libraries in the country.
Cost
The programme costs £180, and can be paid in instalments. This represents a discount of £120 compared with the cost of taking the equivalent LJC stand-alone courses, and includes membership of The Heythrop Library for the year (usually £65).
This first study day explores what it means to ‘know’ Jesus, and what this has to do with history. We explore the historical, cultural and experiential context in which Jesus lived, and the way in which the first followers of Jesus preserved his memory. What was the Jewish context in which Jesus lived? How was Jesus understood by those who met him? And what does all this have to do with our knowledge of Jesus?
Here we begin to examine the way that Jesus is presented in the New Testament, beginning with the letters of St Paul, which are the earliest accounts of belief in Jesus, and the idea that God has raised Jesus, and made him ‘Lord’. Then we examine the gospels, which are literary expressions that witness to and interpret the early Christian community’s convictions about Jesus. Each gospel has its own distinct identity, and we explore how the concerns of the gospel writers shaped their accounts.
Each week, millions of Christians recite the Nicene Creed, which contains phrases like ‘consubstantial with the Father’, and ‘through him all things were made’. In this study day, we explore the theology that lies behind phrases like this - the ‘Christology’ that developed in the first few centuries of the Church’s history, as successive generations of Christians wrestled with big philosophical questions about the person of Jesus Christ. How did Jesus of Nazareth become ‘the Son of God’?
At the centre of Christianity lies the belief that ‘Christ died for sins according to the Scriptures’. But how can one man’s death be ‘for’ anyone else, let alone all humanity – what does this little word ‘for’ mean? We explore some of the different ways in which Christian theologians have understood the meaning of the cross, and what these have to do with our understanding of Christian life.
Finally, we explore what the Creed calls ‘the life of the world to come’. One of the most striking things about the story of Jesus is the way that it is left unfinished, and open-ended: Jesus ascends into heaven, and his followers await the time when he will ‘come again in glory… and his kingdom will have no end.’ How should we understand this hope? What is the future of Jesus Christ? And what is the role of the Church – the ‘body of Christ’ – in this future?
Readings
PowerPoint
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Stuart is the Theology Lead at LJC. He graduated with a degree in Literature and Theology from the University of Hull in 2000. From 2003-9 he studied Philosophical Theology part-time at the University of Nottingham, whilst continuing to work in the third sector with vulnerably-housed or homeless people, and young asylum seekers (as well as pulling pints in a pub). He was Lecturer at York St John University for almost a decade, before moving to London Jesuit Centre in 2021. He now lives in South East London, and spends as much time as he can in the woods.
John Moffatt SJ works at the London Jesuit Centre. His first degree was in Classics. He taught in London secondary schools intermittently between 1985 and 2016 and has worked briefly in University Chaplaincy. He has been involved with teenage and adult faith education in Britain and South Africa and has recently completed a doctorate in medieval Islamic philosophy.
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Prior to coming to the LJC, David Birchall has been the director of Loyola Hall, an Ignatian Spirituality Centre on Merseyside, St Beuno's Spirituality Centre in North Wales and The Ignatian Spirituality Centre in Glasgow. In between times he worked in Dublin at the Jesuit Communications Centre and as Parish Priest in St Wilfrid's Preston. He brings many year's experience to the task of running the London Jesuit Centre.
Brian is a tutor in the theology stream. Originally from Birmingham, Brian studied philosophy and theology at the Gregorian University, Rome and later gained a Masters Degree in Franciscan Studies from St. Bonaventure’s University, New York. He has given retreats and courses throughout the UK and Ireland, North America, the Far East and Australia. He taught at the International Franciscan Study, Canterbury and at Campion House, Osterley before joining the Mount Street Jesuit Team when it began in 2004. Brian also taught at Heythrop College on the Foundation Degree in Pastoral Ministry. His particular interest is in opening up the Scriptures to people, young and old, at a level that they can understand and seek to apply to their daily lives. Brian is married to Deborah who works for CAFOD. They live in Buckinghamshire.
