The Bible Roadshow

After developing listening skills and learning social analysis, the third module of the Integrating Life and Faith course is focused on the bible. 

 As the fundamental text of the Christian witness, it is essential that course participants understand the basic outline of the scriptures.  The module covers the length and breadth of the scriptures including the stories of the Old Testament, the Prophetic writings and the New Testament teachings of Jesus and the Apostles.  While many course participants will have a good knowledge of that story, what makes the Craighead methodology unique is its experiential learning of scripture with a focus on liberation.

 Here are just a few examples of how we do that.  Following an Ignatian method of reading scripture imaginatively, participants are invited to put themselves in the story, to experience the hardship of the enslaved Israelites, or the blind beggar and to ask ‘how did it feel?  What was your perception of God?  What is God saying to you amid your encounters?’  Role play is also practiced, with extensive descriptions of the characters and their backgrounds.  Course participants might be invited to take on the role of the Samaritan, the Pharisee, a Jewish man or woman and ad lib their way through an imaginative scene of the bible.

 The aim of this approach is to engage participants in the ongoing reality of God’s presence in the world and their part in that unfolding drama, particularly the experience of liberation.  Through the imaginative exercises participants often see not only their own need for liberation but also the needs of their neighbours. 

 Following on from the module focusing on social analysis, course participants are drawn into the reality that God himself is engaged in social transformation and that God actively invites us to participate in that ongoing work.  Building on the work of Joseph Cardijn, the Institute believes that everyone has a ‘divine destiny and a divine mission’ to work towards a better life not only after death, but to a better life in the present. 

 No one is expected to be an expert in the bible, nor do we expect them to be experts when they complete the course.  Rather, the Craighead Institute begins with ordinary social experience and through the words of the bible, gives course participants the tools to recognise God’s presence in their lives and to discern God’s call, moving them forward into deeper relationship and more meaningful engagement with God’s purposes.

 Our tagline and mission statement provides a good summary: Integrating life and faith for a more just world.  God is inviting all to join in that good work.