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Gutenberg College’s tuition for 2013-2014 is $12,000–an affordable cost for a quality education. Financial aid is also available, which Admissions Director Tim McIntosh explains. It’s not too late to apply for fall 2013. See Gutenberg’s online catalog for details.

Link for online streaming (See information below.)
The Bible and the History of Ideas: Some Musings
Teacher: Dr. Jack Crabtree
Spring term: Wednesday nights, April 3–May 29
6:30–7:30 p.m.

Dr. Crabtree continues his survey of some of the more important moments in the history of philosophy, theology, religion, and culture; and gives a comparative critique of those various philosophies and ideas from a biblical perspective.

The class will meet at Gutenberg College in the main classroom. There is no charge for the class, but donations to Gutenberg College are gratefully accepted. This class is available for real-time video streaming. For instructions on how to participate, see below.

Information for streaming video:

• You will need a computer with a high-speed internet connection using any internet browser.
• You do not need to download any special software; the class uses Adobe Flash which is loaded on most computers. It is recommended that you have an updated version of Flash, which can be downloaded here: get.adobe.com/flashplayer/.
• To attend the class, simply use this link (url): http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/jcrabtree01/.
• The class will include an audio-video stream of Jack teaching. You will be able to interact and ask questions using a chat box.
• It is recommended that you try to log in prior to the beginning of class in order to make sure that your feed is working. A moderator will be available to assist you at least 15 minutes before class.
• Maximum online attendance is 25 participants. We will admit participants on a first-come, first-served basis.

Audio recordings of the class are available, or use the links below to access the recorded video streaming.

Video links for “The Bible and the History of Ideas” (spring quarter):

• April 3: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p12bmba1snf/
• April 10: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p503zupzx2v/
• April 17: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p5n5gitusj6/
• April 24: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p167zvsb5bd/
• May 1: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p7xqrefvklh/
• May 8: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p49ixncq67j/
• May 15: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p459t0jxc7u/

Video links for “The Bible and the History of Ideas” (winter quarter):

• January 9: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p8dc7l0ljwy/
• January 16: No recording available.
• January 23: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p2gaw4uaibs/
• January 30: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p5yhsd07vod/
• February 6: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p9ighj3cmd2/
• February 13: Class did not meet.
• February 20: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p7y3i21675k/
• February 27: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p1h7ki47lti/
• March 6: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p9fz61qxw2e/

Video links for “The Bible and the History of Ideas” (fall quarter):

• October 3: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p9nrve3inh5/
• October 10: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p6ur08jdt7m/
• October 17: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p5grpseljzh/
• October 24: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p880s2lj4yp/
• October 31: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p4v5avvvdd0/
• November 7: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p53aszphqj6/
• November 14: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p7elmlbm1eq/
• November 21: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p868zet4hch/

Link for online streaming (See information below.)
 
Christianity in America
Teacher: Tim McIntosh
Spring term: Wednesday nights, April 10–May 29
7:45–8:45 p.m.
 
This class explores big questions about Christianity in America: Was America ever a Christian nation? How are we similar and different from comparable countries? Why did the Liberal/Conservative divide begin? Along the way we will meet the most influential personalities in the American church–from Billy Sunday to Billy Graham.

Why study church history? For this reason: Most Christians first experience Christianity–not through reading the Bible–but by going to church. We are raised in an interpretation of the Bible before we ever read the Bible. Thus, studying church history is uniquely valuable in understanding one’s expectations, hopes, and biases about the Old and New Testaments.

The class will meet at Gutenberg College in the main classroom. There is no charge for the class, but donations to Gutenberg College are gratefully accepted. This class is available for real-time video streaming. For instructions on how to participate, see below.
 
Information for streaming video:

• You will need a computer with a high-speed internet connection using any internet browser.
• You do not need to download any special software; the class uses Adobe Flash which is loaded on most computers. It is recommended that you have an updated version of Flash, which can be downloaded here: get.adobe.com/flashplayer/.
• To attend the class, simply use this link (url): http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/jcrabtree01/. (Tim’s class will follow a class taught by Jack Crabtree.)
• The class will include an audio-video stream of Tim teaching. You will be able to interact and ask questions using a chat box.
• It is recommended that you try to log in prior to the beginning of class in order to make sure that your feed is working. A moderator will be available to assist you at least 15 minutes before class.
• Maximum online attendance is 25 participants. We will admit participants on a first-come, first-served basis.

Audio recordings of the class are available, or use the links below to access the recorded video streaming.
 
Video links for “Christianity in America”:

• February 20: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p5i6sfgdph5/
• February 27: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p8ucqyjgnl9/
• March 6: Class did not meet.
• April 3: Class did not meet.
• April 10: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p23jiq2qy4n/
• April 17: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p3k052fm9t8/
• April 24: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p6xl5684323/
• May 1: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p9ou7h03rqe/
• May 8: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p7wbpwpkss7/
• May 15: http://meet94806701.adobeconnect.com/p6icfhre3wh/

———
Tim McIntosh is a tutor at Gutenberg College. He earned his M.A. in theology from Reformed Theological Seminary.

Gutenberg president and tutor Dr. David Crabtree hosts a reading group on the topic of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Each of the books below was assigned to someone to read and teach to the rest of the group. Other participants can choose to acquire and read each book—or not. Discussion is welcome. The reading group meets Tuesday evenings at Gutenberg College from 7:00-9:00 in the library.

Schedule of Books:
(Descriptions are from Amazon.com.)

• April 16—Raphael Patai, The Arab Mind (1983, revised 2010). The classic study of Arab culture and society is now more relevant than ever. Since its original publication in 1983, the revised edition of Raphael Patai’s The Arab Mind has been recognized as one of the seminal works in the field of Middle Eastern studies. This penetrating analysis unlocks the mysteries of Arab society to help us better understand a complex, proud and ancient culture. The Arab Mind discusses the upbringing of a typical Arab boy or girl, the intense concern with honor and courage, the Arabs’ tendency toward extremes of behavior, and their ambivalent attitudes toward the West. Chapters are devoted to the influence of Islam, sexual mores, Arab language and Arab art, Bedouin values, Arab nationalism, and the pervasive influence of Westernization. With a new foreword by Norvell B. DeAtkine, Director of Middle East Studies at the JFK Special Warfare Center and School, Fort Bragg, N.C., this book unravels the complexities of Arab traditions and provides authentic revelations of Arab mind and character.
• April 23—Raphael Patai, The Jewish Mind (1977; 2007). A Landmark Exploration of Jewish History and Culture.
  First published in 1977, The Jewish Mind provides a penetrating insight into the complex collective reality of the Jewish people. Raphael Patai examines how six great historical encounters, spanning three millennia, between the Jews and other cultures led to both change and continuity in Jewish communities throughout the global diaspora.
  A Timeless Analysis by a Prominent Scholar.
  Patai, a noted cultural anthropologist and historian, drew on a lifetime of research and personal experience to explore the contemporary Jewish mind in its many manifestations, including an exploration of the notion of Jews as a race, an investigation into Jewish intelligence and talents, a discussion of Jewish self-hate, and a profile of Jewish personality and character.
• April 30—Thomas Sowell, Conquests and Cultures: An International History  (1999). This book is the culmination of 15 years of research and travels that have taken the author completely around the world twice, as well as on other travels in the Mediterranean, the Baltic, and around the Pacific rim. Its purpose has been to try to understand the role of cultural differences within nations and between nations, today and over centuries of history, in shaping the economic and social fates of peoples and of whole civilizations. Focusing on four major cultural areas (that of the British, the Africans (including the African diaspora), the Slavs of Eastern Europe, and the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere—Conquests and Cultures reveals patterns that encompass not only these peoples but others and helps explain the role of cultural evolution in economic, social, and political development.
• May 7—Barry Rubin, Israel: An Introduction (2012). This comprehensive book provides a well-rounded introduction to Israel—a definitive account of the nation’s past, its often controversial present, and much more. Written by a leading historian of the Middle East, Israel is organized around six major themes: land and people, history, society, politics, economics, and culture. The only available volume to offer such a complete account, this book is written for general readers and students who may have little background knowledge of this nation or its rich culture.
  Based on research by scholars with extensive firsthand knowledge of Israel, this book offers accessible, clearly explained material, enhanced with a generous selection of images, maps, charts, tables, graphs, and sidebars. This book provides readers with a solid foundation of knowledge about Israel and provides useful reference lists by topic for those inspired to read further.
• May 14—Sandy Tolan, The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East (2007). In 1967, Bashir Al-Khayri, a Palestinian twenty-five-year-old, journeyed to Israel, with the goal of seeing the beloved old stone house, with the lemon tree behind it, that he and his family had fled nineteen years earlier. To his surprise, when he found the house he was greeted by Dalia Ashkenazi Landau, a nineteen-year-old Israeli college student, whose family fled Europe for Israel following the Holocaust. On the stoop of their shared home, Dalia and Bashir began a rare friendship, forged in the aftermath of war and tested over the next thirty-five years in ways that neither could imagine on that summer day in 1967. Based on extensive research, and springing from his enormously resonant documentary that aired on NPR’s Fresh Air in 1998, Sandy Tolan brings the Israeli-Palestinian conflict down to its most human level, suggesting that even amid the bleakest political realities there exist stories of hope and reconciliation.
• May 21—Saree Makdisi, Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation (2010). “A compelling account . . . and a reminder that a true peace can be built only on justice.”—Desmond M. Tutu.
  Tending one’s fields, visiting a relative, going to the hospital: for ordinary Palestinians, such activities require negotiating permits and passes, curfews and closures, “sterile roads” and “seam zones”—bureaucratic hurdles ultimately as deadly as outright military incursion. In Palestine Inside Out, Saree Makdisi draws on eye-opening statistics, academic histories, UN reports, and contemporary journalism to reveal how the “peace process” institutionalized Palestinians’ loss of control over their inner and outer lives—and argues powerfully and convincingly for a one-state solution.
• May 28—Benny Morris, Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict 1881-2001 (2001). At a time when the Middle East has come closer to achieving peace than ever before, eminent Israeli historian Benny Morris explodes the myths cherished by both sides to present an epic history of Zionist-Arab relations over the past 120 years.
  Tracing the roots of political Zionism back to the pogroms of Russia and the Dreyfus Affair, Morris describes the gradual influx of Jewish settlers into Palestine and the impact they had on the Arab population. Following the Holocaust, the first Arab-Israeli war of 1948 resulted in the establishment of the State of Israel, but it also shattered Palestinian Arab society and gave rise to a massive refugee problem. Morris offers distinctive accounts of each of the subsequent Israeli-Arab wars and details the sporadic peace efforts in between, culminating in the peace process initiated by the Rabin Government. In a new afterword to the Vintage edition, he examines Ehud Barak’s leadership, the death of President Assad of Syria, and Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon, and the recent renewed conflict with the Palestinians. Studded with illuminating portraits of the major protagonists, Righteous Victims provides an authoritative record of the middle east and its continuing struggle toward peace.