DIGITAL CLASS Offering by NRIT

The Northern Rockies Institute of Theology, a continuing education ministry of the ELCA is entering the world of digital education. Our first digital offering is now available on our website. When you purchase the class, you will have access to it throughout 2016 so can offer the class as a multi-session adult study or watch it on your personal computer at your convenience.

DIGITAL EDUCATION CLASSES

Learning Our Place: Wilderness and Wonder from a Biblical Perspective
Taught by Dr. Kathryn Schifferdecker, professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary
This course explores the book of Job and several biblical texts for insights about God, creation and humanity. What kind of world is this? What is our place in this world? How does the Bible speak of wilderness and wild creatures? What about “acts of God?” Cost of 12 months of access to the class is $40.

Syria in the Bible and in the Early Church: A Heritage at Risk
Taught by Dr. Thomas Lee who served for many years as Lutheran campus pastor at the University of Montana, Missoula, where he also—as a faculty affiliate—taught biblical Hebrew and Aramaic in UM’s Religious Studies Department. During the 1980s and into the 1990s he served on the staff of two archaeological projects in the Kingdom of Jordan and one in the Republic of Syria.

 In recent months we’ve become aware as well of the tragic loss of Syria’s rich cultural heritage at the hands of ISIS and by those who profit from the looting and sale of antiquities. This loss of antiquities and the humanitarian tragedy are not unrelated. As Dr. Amr al-Azm, a former official in the Syrian Ministry of Antiquities who now teaches Middle Eastern History and Archaeology at Shawnee State University in Ohio, reminds us: “A people without a history is a lost people . . . and history without people is meaningless.”

Not only the Syrians, but we too are deeply invested in Syria’s history as evidenced by the bible and in the history of the early church. The loss of Syria’s cultural heritage, then, is not only a tragedy for the Syrian people, but a tragedy for us as well.In this NRIT presentation by Tom Lee, we will explore the importance of ancient Syria for the bible and the church and will attempt to convey some sense of the threat posed by the Syrian civil war to our common cultural heritage.  The cost of the class is $25.

After the percentage taken out by the online registration company, the remaining amount of each registration fee will be sent to the American Schools of Oriental Research for their “Syrian Heritage Initiative.” ASOR's "Syrian Heritage Initiative" is committed to assist in whatever ways possible the preservation of antiquities under threat by the Syrian civil war.
 
To purchase these classes, go to www.nrit.org. Click on the NRIT logo on the upper left side of the page. This will bring you to the NRIT home page. On our home page, under the logo, to the right side, click on NRIT Digital Education Store. Then click on the class you would like to access.
You will need to pay online with a credit or debit card.After you have placed your order, you will be sent an email with all of the access information.