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About this series

Led by Ken Kovacs | 10:30 a.m. in the Library and on Zoom

Thursday Morning Bible Study resumes for a special series that explores the Bible’s understanding of death. The Bible does not speak with one voice on this subject. What we find in Judaism is a gradual unfolding of insights into the nature of death, God’s relationship to death (and the dying), and speculations about life after death. Many of these ideas are present in the New Testament but take on new and deeper meanings after the accounts of Jesus’ resurrection. Each week, we’ll study a different passage of scripture and related theological themes, supported by additional articles and reflection pieces to inform our discussions.

Contact the church office for the Zoom link.

Schedule

Part 1

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• February 22: Genesis 3
• February 29: Psalm 23 and Ecclesiastes
• March 7: Ezekiel 37
• March 14: John 11
• March 21: 1 Corinthians 15

Part 2

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• April 11: Hades and the Second Death (Revelation 20)
• April 18: Eschatology: Endings and Beginnings (Romans 6:1-14)
• April 25: Proximate Forms of Death (Luke 1:67-80; Acts 2:22-28)
• May 2: Near-Death Experiences/Life After Death
• May 9: Harrowing of Hell/Holy Saturday (1 Peter 4:16)
• May 16: All Shall Be Well: Apocatastasis (Acts 3:11-26; Romans 8:18-39)

Bibliography

• William Barrett, Death of the Soul: From Descartes to the Computer (Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1986).
• Ernst Becker, The Denial of Death (The Free Press, 1974).
• Alex Blasdel, “The new science of death: There’s something happening in the brain that makes no sense” , 2024 April 2, The Guardian.
• Lucy Bregman, Death in the Midst of Life: Perspectives on Death from Christianity and Depth Psychology (Baker Book House, 1992).
• Atul Gawande, Being Mortal (Metropolitan Books, 2017).
• Kahlil Gibran, “On Death.” https://poets.org/poem/death.
• Caitlin Gibson, “The children who remember their past lives,” The Washington Post, 2024 May 2.
• David Bentley Hart, That All Shall be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation (Yale University Press, 2019).
• C.G. Jung, cultural complexes
• C.G. Jung, “Jung on Life After Death,” The Atlantic (December 1962).
• Paul Kalanithi, When Breath Becomes Air (Random House, 2016).
• Alan Lewis, Between Cross and Resurrection: A Theology of Holy Saturday (Eerdmans, 2003).
• C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed (HarperOne, 2015).
• John Macquarrie, Existentialism: An Introduction, Guide, and Assessment (Penguin Books, 1973).
• Graham Standish, “Embracing mysticism, near-death experiences and spiritual encounters at church,” The Presbyterian Outlook, April 10, 2024, https://pres-outlook.org/2024/04/embracing-mysticism-near-death-experiences-and-spiritual-encounters-at-church/
• Daniel Ott, “No Wisdom in Sheol: A Theology of Death,” 21 March 2023, The Presbyterian Outlook. https://pres-outlook.org/2023/03/no-wisdom-in-sheol-a-theology-of-death/
• Walter Rauschenbusch, “Facing Death”
• Judith Wolfe, “At the Threshold: Begin With the End,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtJZILpprss.
• Phoebe Zerwick, “What Deathbed Visions Teach Us About Living,” The New York Times, March 12, 2024.

Banner image: Matthias Grünewald, Isenheim Altarpiece (1512-1516)