The Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, is likely the most controversial, misunderstood, and misused of all its books.  In this six-week follow-up to last Spring's Good Look at the Good Book (attendance at which is not necessary for this class), we will explore this strange mix of numbers, symbols, and some very weird stories and images to pull out its essential message and meaning.  And as we did in the Good Look course, we will also take a good look here at the time, place, people, and events behind, as well as the ongoing influence in film, literature, rand religious extremism from, this timeless mystery that is the Book of Revelation! 

Paul Doherty is an armchair theologian with experience in music, broadcasting, and ministry. He has also been teaching for several years at two Maine senior colleges, including South Coast.

ZOOM

Friday 1-2:30

October 6

October 13

October 20

OIctober 27

November 3

November 10

Winners write history so we've ignored valiant Germans who risked their lives and families to destroy Nazism and help the Allies win. These Germans did not have to try to assassinate Hitler or make secret deals with Roosevelt, flee to France to work with the British or run through Berlin bombings to political prisons, knowing they risked concentration camps and gallows. They believed Nazism was so morally repugnant, they had to do something, anything. Discovering the hidden history of German resistance to Nazism illuminates a precedent for those troubled by our own fascist trending times, what fascism really is and the link between them and us. 

Sandra Garson was a journalist who in the early 80s stumbled on a cache of stories about Germans who challenged Hitler and went to Germany to meet some survivors. She met survivors who fled here and was working on a book when told: "They'll kill you if you talk about good Germans." So she boxed up the story and kept it in storage until headlines here started flashing the words Neo-Nazi and fascism. 

This class will run Wednesdays 10am to 12 noon on ZOOM

Oct 11,18,25  Nov 1,8, 15, 29    (NO class Nov 22... wednesday before thanksgiving)

Founded in 324, Byzantium is also known as the Byzantine Empire, the Roman Empire in the East, a Greek Empire, and the heart of Orthodox Christianity. Byzantium began in antiquity, stretched through all thousand years of the Middle Ages, and ended where it touched the Renaissance. Byzantium sat between the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Persian and Arab Empires, directly under the Russian Empire and among the contentious European powers that followed the Ottoman conquest of Byzantium's queen city of Constantinople in 1453. Rich in literary and artistic innovation (think mosaics and architectural treasures), brutal in devising singular methods of warfare (Greek Fire), the Byzantines were unmatched in commerce. Among its powerful leaders Byzantium also had its feminist moments. This class will help us understand how and why the West evolved as it has.