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Xplore: Keep Thinking

An Enrichment Program at the Intersection of Faith and Life

No matter your age, discovery can be a life-long delight. Xplore offers courses that investigate dimensions of the Christian faith, our world, and life in it. All without any assignments or examinations!

The Winter 2024 Xplore program will come to you in person and online, making courses available broadly across Canada and beyond. All in-person classes will be held on the CMU campus on Wednesdays.

Xplore happens in a six-week block with Winter 2024 courses beginning in February 2024.

Regardless of where you live, anyone with access to a computer and the internet will be able to benefit from these courses.

View course, tuition, and registration information below.

All who delight in a stimulating exploration of faith and life are invited to register.

 

Tuition and Registration

Fees are $50 for each course (in person or online), with a $25 reduction per online course for a second person at any one screen. Registration for a larger group for any online course is $100. There is no discount for in-person registrations.

Online Registration Form

 

Tuesdays: February 20 – March 26, 2024

9:30–10:30 AM CT

Silouette of a family
Family Today: Fractured Mess or Fractal Beauty (Zoom Class)

Family is at the center of political debate and acrimony. Religious and political conservatives tend to express concern that there is an assault on the traditional family. Those to the right fear progressive values and permissive practices weaken individual well being and the social structure necessary for stable political and religious institutions. Religious and political progressives are concerned that laws and practices that narrowly define family as a man and a woman and their binary children perpetuate patriarchal violence and curtail individual freedom in the expression of sexuality, gender, and love. Many political debates are fought on the battleground of the family.

The Bible itself provides surprisingly few examples of healthy, enduring families--at least, families that fit the modern Western myth. Nevertheless,  family  remains  a  central  feature  to  individual  identity, social organization, culture, and religious life. The  church  has  played  a  role in  fostering  positive,  enduring  understandings of family. It has also played a role in perpetuating ethically harmful and theologically unsound understandings. Two questions motivate the material of this course: (1) How can the church play a positive role in supporting families without relying on a narrow understanding of the ideal family unit itself? (2) What definition of family needs to replace the antiquated  and  probably-never-accurate  conceptions  of  the  traditional, neclear famliy.

Andy Brubacher Kaethler pastors at Ottawa Mennonite Church in Ottawa, Ontario and is a Core Adjunct Faculty at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana.

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM CT

People looking in opposite directions
Reconciling Witness in a Polarized World (Zoom Class)

Ever get the sense that the church and the world are coming apart at the seams? Drawing from his 2023 book (Stuck Together: The Hope of Christian Witness in a Polarized World), Nelson Kraybill addresses the challenge and hope of conflicting perspectives in the Bible, ancient Judaism, the early church, and our world today. How can Christians sustain clear convictions and be part of God's plan to "unite all things in Christ"? This class will include reflections on Nelson's year as scholar-in-residence at Bethlehem Bible College in Palestine (2022/23) and his response to current violence in the Middle East.

Nelson Kraybill was President of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (1997–2009) and President of Mennonite World Conference (2015–2022). He served as a Mennonite pastor in Vermont, England, and annually leads tours to Bible lands with TourMagination.

Wednesdays: February 21 – March 27, 2024

10:00–11:00 AM CT

Hands praying over a Bible
Creating a Spiritual Container for Values and Practices (Hybrid Class) 

Have you ever gotten to the end of your day or week and wondered where the time went? Have you had an intention to get something done and the month slipped by without even getting started? Or have you woken up and wondered what to do with your day? Creating an intentional guideline to set priorities and values can help you with this. Have you ever felt like you’ve outgrown your current spiritual practices but don’t know what else you could do to deepen your relationship with God? Learning new ways to pray can reinvigorate your journey with the Holy One.

In this course, we will explore the ancient practice of living by a Rule of Life. This is not to be confused with “rules for life.” Think of a Rule of Life as a guideline or holy container to put your values and priorities, an accountability tool to help you get the important things into your regular habits. In each class, you will also have the opportunity to try a spiritual practice in an atmosphere of experiment and learning, taught by a trained, ordained, and experienced Spiritual Director. Come and be invigorated by joy!

This course is taught by Laura Funk who is a graduate of CMBC with a BTh and CMU with an MA in Christian Ministry. She is the founder of the ministry, Butterfly Journeys, and the author of People and Places of Sacred Interior Spaces. She has six years of experience in congregational ministry and 12 as a Spiritual Director. Funk is a member of Hope Mennonite Church in Winnipeg. She enjoys spending time in nature, crafting with fabric, yarn, glass, and wood. She has been working on her own Rule of Life for several decades. Most of all, she loves walking alongside people in their spiritual journeys at whatever age and stage of life.

10:00–11:00 AM CT

Walter Brueggemann
Walter Brueggemann: The Man, His Writing, His Contribution (Hybrid Class) 

With more than 100 books to his name, Brueggemann is one of the most influential Biblical scholars of his generation, especially within the church. This course will identify what influences shaped him and his thinking, and then pay focussed attention to a few of his most important writings: The Land, The Prophetic Imagination (with a presentation by Dan Epp-Tiessen, CMU Associate Professor Emeritus of Bible), Theology of the Old Testament, The Psalms and the Life of Faith (with a presentation by Gordon Matties, CMU Professor Emeritus of Bible ). We will pay look at his major theological emphases, his way of reading Scripture, and consider his longer term contribution to Biblical scholarship and the church.

Gerald Gerbrandt, CMU President Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Bible.

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM CT

Pride flags
LGBTQ in Church: A Conversation (Hybrid Class)

The landscape for queer people in both culture and church continues to shift. One thing consistent, however, is that queer people seek to know and follow Christ and desire to be included in the church. While a small percentage of people are completely convinced one way or another about whether and how to include queer people in church life—and to what extent—it seems a majority find themselves in the middle with more questions than answers. This course explores perspectives on this issue in the hopes of assisting participants in their own processing, with a view to opening doors to inclusion. Topics include important Bible passages, how our understanding of salvation, church and the role of the Holy Spirit might affect this issue, and thoughts from science and psychology. Guests include Mallory Fast (neuroscience) and Gerald Loewen (psychology) who will present in the session on March 13. 

John Unger served as pastor in several Mennonite Brethren churches, and as president of Concord College during the transition to CMU. David Wiebe served the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches as Christian Education and then Executive Director, and the International Community of Mennonite Brethren (ICOMB). Both graduated in 1989 from MB Biblical Seminary.

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM CT

State of Palestine map
How Did We Get from the Bible to the War in Gaza (Hybrid Class)

This course will trace how the Bible has played a significant role in generating the war in Gaza in three different, yet intersecting ways.

  1. Seventeen-hundred years of Christian antisemitism, rooted in a variety of New Testament texts, led to centuries of widespread atrocities against Jews across Europe. This antisemitism sparked the Jewish Zionist movement which facilitated large-scale Jewish migration to Palestine in the early 20th century, with the goal of creating a Jewish state where Jews would be safe from oppression.
  2. God’s promises in the Bible to grant Israel the land of Canaan, have helped to nurture the Zionist conviction that Jews have an inalienable right to the land of Palestine. This conviction led to massive Israeli displacement and dispossession of Palestinians after the State of Israel was declared in 1948. Hamas’s horrific attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, is part of the wider Palestinian resistance—nonviolent and violent—to ongoing displacement and dispossession.
  3. The 20th century saw a burgeoning Christian Zionist movement that uses the Bible to argue that Christians must support the State of Israel no matter how it treats Palestinians. The current popularity and political clout of Christian Zionism in the United States is a major reason the American government supported Israel’s attack on Gaza and annually supplies Israel with billions of dollars of military aid.

Dan Epp-Tiessen, CMU Associate Professor Emeritus of the Bible recently retired from teaching Bible and other topics at CMU for the last 25 years. Prior to that he has been a pastor, Mennonite Central Committee worker, and homemaker. Epp-Tiessen's commentary Joel, Obadiah, Micah was published in the Believers Church Bible Commentary series in 2022.

Thursdays: February 22 March 28, 2024

9:30–10:30 AM CT

A happy child
Disability, Theology, and the Church (Zoom Class)

This short course will focus on how churches approach disability, both theologically and practically. The themes that we will explore will include: inclusion, diversity, safety, healthy boundaries, interdependence versus independence, and the challenge of adult baptism in relation to individuals with cognitive impairments. I am the parent of a son with complex needs including autism and developmental delay and have spent a significant amount of time thinking about the theological implications of disability and how the church can become a more inclusive space for individuals with a variety of needs and challenges.

Christina Reimer has a diverse professional background as a university professor in the field of world religions in Ontario and Quebec and has worked for a number of years as a facilitator of conflict resolution, communication and leadership workshops. Reimer is also the Chair of the board of Silver Lake Mennonite Camp in Ontario, and has a passion for making spaces like church and camp more welcoming for people with a range of abilities.

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM CT

Tom Yoder Neufeld
The Letter to the Ephesians (Zoom Class)

Note: This class meets February 15 to March 21, starting and ending a week earlier than other classes

At a time when we are experiencing widespread erosion of commitment to the church and its calling, when there is pervasive hunger to overcome the destructive polarization and division, and when peace is so imperiled, Ephesians speaks to us as few other documents in the Bible do. 

Likely intended to be circulated widely from the very outset, Ephesians is less focused on specific congregations than on communicating an encompassing vision of the church and its mission. At the core of this vision is that the church is God’s creative work of peace in and through Christ, bringing into one “body” strangers and enemies. Not surprisingly, it sounds an urgent summons to nurture and sustain this “unity of the Spirit.” At the same time, the church is called to live in the world in radically transformative fashion, in keeping with its messianic DNA. To motivate the readers, Ephesians reminds them repeatedly of their baptism, a drama of transformation from death to life.

We will explore this great letter, imagine its context, and wrestle with those parts of the letter that seem out of step with contemporary perspectives and experience (e.g., the famous household code).

Tom Yoder Neufeld (MDiv, ThD, Harvard University Divinity School) is Professor Emeritus at Conrad Grebel University College (New Testament and Peace Studies, 1983–2012). After studies at MBBC, University of Manitoba, and Harvard, he served as hospital and prison chaplain in Winnipeg, as well as pastor in Thompson, MB, and Boston. Yoder Neufeld was a member of the Christian Formation Council of Mennonite Church Canada, and is presently chair of the Faith and Life Commission of the Mennonite World Conference. His teaching and preaching have taken him beyond Canada and the U.S. to Europe, Asia, and Africa. He and his wife Rebecca are members of First Mennonite Church, Kitchener, ON. Tom has previously taught Xplore courses on Jesus and Paul.

Yoder Neufeld is author numerous articles, both popular and scholarly, as well as books such as, Put on the Armour of God! The Divine Warrior from Isaiah to Ephesians, 1997; Ephesians (Believers Church Bible Commentary), 2002; Recovering Jesus: the Witness of the New Testament, 2007; and Killing Enmity: Violence and the New Testament, 2011.

 

If you have any questions, or would like more information, please email xplore:@:cmu.ca.

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