A digital discipleship course on 1 Thessalonians
On the Way
Seven sessions through the oldest surviving Christian document
1 Thessalonians is, by steady scholarly consensus, the oldest page in the New Testament — written around the year 50, a generation before the first gospel. It is a pastor's letter to a bereaved, harassed young church in a free Roman city that put god on its coins, and it announces a rival good news in the empire's own vocabulary: another Lord, another assembly, a peace built on justice rather than victory.
This course works through the letter in seven sessions. The first stands apart, on Paul and his world; the remaining six walk the letter itself at roughly a chapter a week, ending where Wesley loved to end, with the God of peace who sanctifies entirely.
Each session has three layers: preparation at home in the days before; time together in a small group; reflection and practice through the week that follows. The materials draw heavily on John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan L. Reed's In Search of Paul, and on Wesleyan and liberationist readings of the letter.
Opening podcast
Economic rebellion in the oldest Christian text
An introduction to the whole course before Session 1 begins: why this letter is very likely the oldest surviving document in the New Testament, its quiet resistance to Rome's ideology of peace and security, and its down-to-earth economic ethics read as a rejection of status-climbing rather than mere practical advice.
The seven sessions
The standing close
The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.