Weekend Event—Rita Nakashima Brock
September 24-25, 2010
Fri. 7:30-9pm - Sat. 9 am-2:30pm
Saving Paradise:
How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire
A riddle: why are images of the crucified Christ absent from early Christian art? After visiting Mediterranean and European sites sacred to early Christians a provocative answer comes forth—the dying Christ never appears in early Christian art because early Christians did not believe Christ’s redemptive death had opened a heavenly afterlife for the faithful. Rather, early Christians looked to Jesus as the exemplar who showed how to defy injustice by creating paradise on Earth in a loving community. In this theory, images of Christ’s passion and death invaded Christian art only when the Church started using a theology of otherworldly salvation to recruit the forces necessary to build a Christian empire.Upcoming Weekend Events
Friday & Saturday, 10/22/10 & 10/23/10 - BISHOP JOHN SPONG, Retired Episcopal Bishop
Friday & Saturday, 2/25/11 & 2/26/11 - JOHN DOMINIC CROSSAN, Professor, Speaker, Author
Friday & Saturday, 4/15/11 & 4/16/11 - PAUL KNITTER, Professor, Speaker, Author
DO READ AND ACT ON THIS NOW
Like so many, we face a tight budget and need to trim expenses. We are moving from U.S. Post Office mail service to email. We plan to have the transition completed by October 31, 2010. We want everyone to respond to this (even if you know you are on our email list, please respond so that we have your name as well [not all email addresses tell us the name of the owner]).
Email us at: fct@contemporarytheology.org
Those who do not have an email address, need to tell us by mail at P.O. Box 25222, Houston, TX 77265-5222 or by phone at 713-668-2345, and we will continue to send you information as we currently do through the U.S. Postal Service.
Many thanks from the Foundation for Contemporary Theology Board of Directors!

