Living the Questions (LtQ) is a “DVD and web-based curriculum" designed to help people evaluate the relevance of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

in the 21st century. Living the Questions was co-created by the Arizonan

United Methodist The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelic ...

ministers Jeff Procter-Murphy and David Felten as part of the larger movement of Progressive Christianity. It is distributed through the Internet and through several denominational publishing divisions, like Cokesbury and Logos Productions. Living the Questions offers an alternative to the Alpha Course. the LtQ curriculum is in use in nearly 5000 churches across North America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.

Curriculum

Living the Questions does not offer a “systematic theology”, but is rather a thematic overview developed from questions raised in local parishes. It utilizes both written material and DVD-based input. LtQ curricula seek to expose lay people to the complex theological questions and perspectives that are taught in seminaries, but that often don't “trickle down” into the local churches. The programs do not aim to spell out new doctrine or to develop new dogma, but to resource people who are in the midst of a lifelong conversation about the mysteries of

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as " belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people ofte ...

and

life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

Reception

Reviewers have called Living the Questions both “enlightening and inspiring” and “fascinating” in that the series raises questions many have “thought about but have been afraid to ask, and topics they know are important but don't hear mentioned in church”. In her book, ''Christianity for the Rest of Us'', Diana Butler Bass notes that both the Living the Questions program and its methodology were part of the success and vitality of one of her subject churches, Trinity Episcopal Church in Santa Barbara, California. In ''Big Christianity: What's Right with the Religious Left'', author Jan G. Linn wrote: “Living the Questions is a welcomed … alternative to literalism that has promise in helping Christians find the biblical grounding for Bigger Christianity". The US liberal flagship mainline church magazine ''The

Christian Century ''The Christian Century'' is a Christian magazine based in Chicago, Illinois. Considered the flagship magazine of US mainline Protestantism, the monthly reports on religious news; comments on theological, moral, and cultural issues; and revi ...

'' criticized the original 12-session version of Living the Questions for taking a fundamentalist-like position, “close to a mirror image” of “fundamentalists”. The principal course has since been expanded to nearly twice the original length, doubling the number of contributing participants and broadening the mix of contributors to include more women, more racial minorities, and more representation from the LGBT community.

Book

Based on the Living the Questions curriculum and written by the series creators, the book ''Living the Questions: The Wisdom of Progressive Christianity'' was released by HarperOne (an imprint of

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...

) in August 2012.

Contributors

All of the following contributors appear in "Living the Questions 2.0"; some appear in other curricula in the Living the Questions catalog: *

Nancy Ammerman Nancy Tatom Ammerman (born 1950) is an American professor of sociology of religion at Boston University School of Theology. Life In 1984, Ammerman joined the faculty of Emory University. Her book, ''Baptist Battles'', won the 1992 Distinguished ...

* John L. Bell *

Marcus Borg Marcus Joel Borg (March 11, 1942 – January 21, 2015) was an American New Testament scholar and theologian. He was among the most widely known and influential voices in Liberal Christianity. Borg was a fellow of the Jesus Seminar and a major fig ...

* Rita Nakashima Brock *

Walter Brueggemann Walter Brueggemann (born March 11, 1933) is an American Protestant Old Testament scholar and theologian who is widely considered one of the most influential Old Testament scholars of the last several decades. His work often focuses on the Hebrew p ...

* Ron Buford * Minerva G. Carcaño * John B. Cobb *

John Dominic Crossan John Dominic Crossan (born 17 February 1934) is an Irish-American New Testament scholar, historian of early Christianity, former Catholic priest who was a prominent member of the Jesus Seminar, and emeritus professor at DePaul University. His res ...

* David Felten *

Yvette Flunder Yvette A. Flunder (born July 29, 1955) is an American womanist, preacher, pastor, activist, and singer from San Francisco, CA. She is the senior pastor of the City of Refuge United Church of Christ in Oakland, California and Presiding Bishop of ...

* James A. Forbes *

Matthew Fox Matthew Chandler Fox (born July 14, 1966) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Charlie Salinger on '' Party of Five'' (1994–2000) and Jack Shephard on the drama series ''Lost'' (2004–2010), the latter of which earned h ...

* Lloyd Geering *

Hans Küng Hans Küng (; 19 March 1928 – 6 April 2021) was a Swiss Catholic priest, theologian, and author. From 1995 he was president of the Foundation for a Global Ethic (Stiftung Weltethos). Küng was ordained a priest in 1954, joined the faculty o ...

* Cynthia Langston Kirk * Amy-Jill Levine *

Megan McKenna Megan Elizabeth McKenna (born 26 September 1992) is an English television personality and singer. After making appearances on '' Ex on the Beach'' (2015–2016), she received wider attention for appearing on '' Celebrity Big Brother'' (2016) an ...

* Pat McMahon * Culver "Bill" Nelson * Siyoung Park * Rebecca Ann Parker * Stephen Patterson * Helen Prejean * Jeff Procter-Murphy * Barbara Rossing * Tex Sample *

Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza (born 1938) is a Romanian-born German, Roman Catholic feminist theologian, who is currently the Krister Stendahl Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School. Life She was born Elisabeth Schüssler on 17 April ...

* Bernard Brandon Scott *

John Shelby Spong John Shelby "Jack" Spong (June 16, 1931 – September 12, 2021) was an American bishop of the Episcopal Church. From 1979 to 2000, he was the Bishop of Newark, New Jersey. A liberal Christian theologian, religion commentator, and author, he call ...

* Emilie Townes * Rick Ufford-Chase * Winnie Varghese *

Mel White James Melville "Mel" White (born June 26, 1940) is an American clergyman and author. White was a behind-the-scenes member of the Evangelical Protestant movement through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, writing film and television specials and ghostw ...

The 2010 release of LtQ2's “Home Edition” added the insights of

Brian McLaren Brian D. McLaren (born 1956) is an American pastor, author, speaker, and leading figure in the emerging church movement. McLaren is also associated with postmodern Christianity. Education and career Raised in Rockville, Maryland in the conser ...

, Robin Meyers, and Diana Butler Bass.

Curriculum

Developed originally for use at Asbury United Methodist and Via de Cristo United Methodist in Arizona, what started out as just one DVD series is now a growing catalogue of curriculum. * Living the Questions 2.0: An Introduction to Progressive Christianity * Saving Jesus Redux * Eclipsing Empire: Paul, Rome and the Kingdom of God with

and

, on location in Turkey * First Light: Jesus and the Kingdom of God with

and

, on location in the Galilee and Jerusalem * Countering Pharaoh's Production/Consumption Society Today with

* Questioning Capital Punishment with Sr. Helen Prejean * Tex Mix: Stories of Earthy Mysticism with Tex Sample * Jesus for the Non-Religious with

* Uppity Women of the Bible with Lisa Wolf * Singing the Unsung with John L. Bell * DreamThinkBeDo (a remix of LtQ's other work intended for young adults)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Living the Questions Protestant education Christian media Practical theology