Adult Formation at the Cathedral
Fall 2025 offerings include a study of the book of Romans, “The Heart of Christianity” book discussion, and the addition of an EfM Wide Angle group. Additional details are listed below!
Questions? Contact Rev. Hillary Peete
Led by Rev. Hillary Peete, we’ll meet in the Chapter Room on Tuesday mornings at 10:30 to discuss Romans. To guide our conversation, we will use “Romans for Normal People.” Copies of the book will be available for purchase ($12) at the front desk.
August 19: Chapter 1 (Romans from 30,000 Feet) and Chapter 2 (Romans 1:1-17 Introducing Romans)
August 26: Chapter 3 (Romans 1:18-2:29 We’re in this Together) and Chapter 4 (Romans 3 The Faith of God)
Romans for Normal People
Paul’s letter to the Roman church is one of the most widely read, rigorously discussed and minutely dissected epistles ever written. What more could there be to say?
Plenty, it turns out.
In this highly engaging, perceptive and accessible commentary, J. R. Daniel Kirk situates Romans firmly in its first-century context, redirecting our attention from a modern-day concern with individual salvation towards the theological questions that consumed the apostle Paul. Questions such as what are the Jews and Gentiles to make of one another? Practically, how are they to live, worship and be community together in the right here and now? And, most importantly for Paul, how can God be faithful if God’s great act of salvation excludes God’s own chosen people: the covenantal community to whom all promises had been made?
By approaching the text from a first-century perspective, Kirk illuminates a letter and its writer deeply concerned with the day-to-day lives of its readers. A letter written not to provide answers and rules, but encouragement and inspiration. A writer concerned less with waiting for the new creation, than living it. And a God intent on inviting outsiders into a worldwide family.
Romans for Normal People is an invitation to lay down everything you think you know about Romans and discover the text as it is. And in doing so, encounter a letter as relevant today as it was some 2000 years ago.
This parish-wide book discussion is co-led by Matt Freeman and Canon Brandon Peete. It will meet on the 1st + 3rd Sundays of the month at 11:45 am. All are invited! Copies of the book ($12) are available at the front desk.
In The Heart of Christianity, world-renowned Jesus scholar and author of the bestseller Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time argues that the essential ingredients of a Christian life—faith, being born again, the kingdom of God, the gospel of love—are as vitally important today as they have always been, even during this time of conflict and change in the church.
Borg wants to show us, as today's thinking Christians, how to discover a life of faith by reconceptualizing familiar beliefs. Being born again, for example, has nothing to do with fundamentalism, but is a call to radical personal transformation. Talking about the kingdom of God does not mean that you are fighting against secularism, but that you have committed your life to the divine values of justice and love. And living the true Christian way is essentially about opening one's heart—to God, and to others. Above all else, Borg believes with passion and conviction that living the Christian life still makes sense.
EfM: Wide Angle was created by the desire to offer an authentic EfM seminar experience that incorporates the Core Practices to those who may want to:
try EfM without the four-year commitment of the classic program
continue in their groups after they graduate from the 4-year program
engage in formation through a variety of learning resources – videos, podcasts, blogs and short readings
limit the reading, watching and listening prior to the seminar to 60 – 90 minutes
experience a less academic introduction to EfM and Christian Formation
enter a first or second faith formation experience as a transition to the academic study EfM: Classic offers
Interested? Contact Michelle Thomas (mthomas@spcathedral.com).