Westminster's
Adult Education
​Ministries

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​Morning 
Virtual Bible Study's
Tuesdays and Fridays at 11am on zoom

August 30 – October 28 
 
Book Study: What do our neighbors Believe?
Questions and Answers on Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

 ​The current social and political climate makes it easy to benefit from religious misunderstanding. Political and religious leaders create fear of the religious other in order to drum up support for themselves. But the best way to combat deliberate misrepresentation is to provide accurate, timely information about the three great monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. 
Originally published in 2007, What Do Our Neighbors Believe? Second Edition organizes the three belief systems, asking the same questions of each: When and where did each originate? What are the sacred writings? What kind of leaders does each have? What are their most essential beliefs? New sections explore current ethical questions and issues, including the deliberate use of misinformation about Islam to bolster power and generate fear and the recent rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes. By introducing the common aspects of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the authors make understanding their genuine differences and their many similarities much more possible.
Click Here to purchase using Amazon for books or Kindle
Click here to purchase at the PCUSA Store for the book

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The ​Fall 2022-Easter 2023 Schedule 
​for the Morning Bible Study

November 1- December 9 
 
Book Study: A Lens of Love: Reading the Bible in Its World for Our World
 
Click Here to purchase using Amazon for books or Kindle
Click here to purchase at the PCUSA Store for the book
 
December 13 – December 22
 
The Christmas Story Told
During this class we will talk about the biblical story as well as how books and other media tell the Christmas. 
 
Recommended Reading 
Home Another Way by Barbra Brown Taylor
 
December 27 and 30 No Class
 
January 3 – February 3
 
Book Study:     Delivered out of Empire: Pivotal Moments in the Book of Exodus Part 1
Click Here to purchase using Amazon for books or Kindle
Click here to purchase at the PCUSA Store for the book
 
February 7 – March 22
 
Book Study:     Delivered into Covenant: Pivotal Moments in the Book of Exodus Part 2
Click Here to purchase using Amazon for books or Kindle
Click here to purchase at the PCUSA Store for the book
 
March 28 – April 6
 
Comparing Holy Week. 
In this study we will look at Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, the Crucifixion, and Easter in parallel seeing how they differ and stay the same in each gospel.

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Finances or ability to get a book should never be a barrier to participating in these studies. if you cannot afford a book please let Pastor Bryan or Linda know and we will get a copy for you. Please note that it may take a little more time.

Wednesday Evening
Virtual Bible Study's
Starting September 7 at 7pm on Zoom

New Adult Study
The History of Religion in California
with guest presenter 
Dr. Robert M. Senkewicz
September 7 -October 5
7pm-8pm

​In this course we will examine the role of religion in shaping the development of California. While there are many well-known factors that have contributed to forming the California in which we all live– such as Spanish colonization, the gold rush, the transcontinental railroad, the progressive era, World War II, and immigration– the equally significant role of religion has been less widely understood.

Religion played an important role in Spanish colonization, a process that combined church and state from the time of Columbus until well into the nineteenth century. We will look at the way in which traditional Spanish Catholicism interacted with the varieties of indigenous and settler spiritualities throughout New Spain, especially in California. The popular form of Mexican Catholicism that emerged here contributed much to life and culture before the US invasion in 1846. 

After California became part of the United States, evangelical Protestantism, shaped by a series of early nineteenth century revival movements east of the Mississippi River, became the dominant religion. The Manifest Destiny orientation that was so central a part of US revivalism played a large role in the denigration of non-Protestant (Mexican and Irish Catholics) and non-Christian (Chinese) inhabitants of 19th-century US California.

In the twentieth century, California religion was marked by strong evangelical and revivalist currents, symbolized by the African-American led Azusa Street revival in the 1910s and subsequent preeminent role of Aimee Semple McPherson and her Church of the Foursquare Gospel in Los Angeles. California revivalism became influenced by the rise of Hollywood in the 1920s and that influence was largely responsible for the rise of the mega-church movement in the twentieth century. But older patterns still persisted. For instance, Chinese exclusion at the end of the nineteenth century led to their being replaced as dangerous “others” by the Japanese.

The increased immigration from Asia and Latin America as a result of the 1965 Immigration Act made California a much more diverse place yet contemporary California still bears the imprint of these earlier religious-oriented patterns. Understanding them will help us understand more deeply the dynamics that continue to form contemporary California society.
 
This class will be taught by Robert M. Senkewicz, Professor of History Emeritus. Santa Clara University. Bob is a renowned expert in California history and the Series editor for: Early California Commentaries (Documentary Series), Before Gold: California under Spain and Mexico (Monograph Series) and the University of Oklahoma Press.

​Upcoming Wednesday Evening Bible Studies

October 12 - November 16

Book Study:     Six Themes in Psalms Everyone Should Know

Click Here to purchase using Amazon for books or Kindle
Click here to purchase at the PCUSA Store
 
November 23 No Class for Thanksgiving
 
November 30 – December 21

Discoveries into Advent led by Rev. Samantha Evens
 
December 28 No Class
 
January 4 – March 8
 
Book Study:     Practicing: Changing yourself to Change the World

Click Here to purchase using Amazon for books, Audible, Audio CD or Kindle
Click here to purchase at the PCUSA Store for the book
 
March 15- April 5
 
Book Study: Rogue Saints: Spirituality for Good-Hearted Heathens

​Click Here to purchase using Amazon for books or Kindle
Click here to purchase at the PCUSA Store for the book
 
April 12 no Class
 
Easter to the Fall Class topics will be announced during Lent.