This summer we’ll have our third annual collaboration between Barclay Press and Pendle Hill for a speaker series based on Illuminate, the Friends Bible study curriculum I edit and contribute to. This is a virtual series over Zoom on Mondays at 7:30–9:00pm EST. Dates are as follows: June 12, June 26, July 10, July 24, July 31, and August 14, 2023. Download this flyer to share with your networks.
We’ll be focusing on the Minor Prophets for this series, which is the current spring 2023 curriculum. If you’re using “Minor Prophets: The Book of the Twelve” now, you may be interested in joining the summer series to hear from those who contributed to the curriculum, revisiting these books and topics again with a group from a range of traditions and locations. If you haven’t been using the Illuminate curriculum during spring quarter, this summer series is a good opportunity to learn about these interesting and meaningful prophetic books from the Hebrew Bible.
The Minor Prophets seem to be biblical books that not everyone reads regularly, but they are no less important. They’re called “minor” because they’re short, not because they’re not as good. You may know a verse or two here and there from some of the books, or you may know some of the stories, such as Jonah getting swallowed by a big fish. But I think a lot of people today are not particularly familiar with the Minor Prophets.
And yet, I think these are fascinating texts, particularly for Friends. Friends discuss having a prophetic voice and speaking truth to power fairly regularly, and the Minor Prophets give examples of what it looks like to do this. Each prophet takes a different approach. Sometimes they’re critiquing their own political or religious leaders, sometimes they’re discussing the impacts of an external empire, and sometimes they’re discussing what it means to be a faithful follower of God in their community. They offer a good deal of social commentary on wealth inequity and power wielded to harm the most vulnerable. These topics and themes continue to remain relevant.
I’m excited about the line-up of speakers (though of course each of the folks who contributed to this quarter’s curriculum would have been great!). Join us for the Illuminate Summer Speaker Series 2023! I look forward to seeing you there.
- June 12: Cherice Bock and Sara Beth Terrell, The Book of the Twelve as a Collection
- June 26: Jennifer Newman and Rhiannon Grant, Jonah
- July 10: Ed Schneider and Lynette Davis, Amos and Micah
- July 24: Scott Wagoner, Hosea and Joel
- July 31: Leigh Tolton and Brent Bill, Micah and Nahum
- August 14: Daniel Smith-Christopher and Cherice Bock, Zechariah and Malachi
Download the flyer to share with your networks:
Cherice Bock 