We just launched an updated version of When We Get Angry with God with Laurie Brock For Individuals and For Groups.

What Does “Updated” Mean?

First, a brief explanation of what it means when we update courses, since we’ve re-launched a number of updated courses recently.

We’ve been looking at some of our older offerings to see if they hold up with time. Just as books with high-quality content need to be updated occasionally, some of our earlier courses do as well. When we relaunch a course, that means its video content remains strong and relevant, but the accompanying materials (introductions, discussion questions, supporting materials) could benefit from an update, either to remain consistent with what we’re doing now in terms of style or content or because references we made might have started to feel dated. When we find a good course that needs a little routine maintenance, we update it and re-launch it so you know it’s been reviewed and revised to remain current and helpful.

Course Information

When We Get Angry with God, Laurie Brock discusses our discomfort with the idea of being angry at God. Years of conditioning have taught us that not only is anger bad, but that anger at God is almost akin to heresy. In this class, Laurie, an Episcopal priest and author, examines anger as an emotion that is part of the human experience, neither good nor bad. She argues that we must learn to see anger not as a negative emotion, but as a gift from God, placed in our souls to be a useful part of our spiritual growth and a holy part of what it means to be a person of faith.

Laurie presents anger as a transformative opportunity, likening it to fire which burns, clears and leaves way for new growth. Malcolm X once said, “usually when people are sad, they don’t do anything. They cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change.” Laurie argues that anger can give us the transformative energy we need to move ourselves into a new and better place.

Laurie’s lectures include:

• What is Anger?
• Why Do We Get Angry with God?
• Is Anger at God Okay?
• Coping with Our Anger with God.
• Transforming Our Anger with God.

This class is ideal for anyone who is angry. Which is a lot of people these days, so really, you should probably check out this class.

About the Instructor

The Rev. Laurie Brock is an Episcopal priest, former attorney and author of God, Grace and Horses and Where God Hides Holiness:Thoughts on Grief, Joy and the Search for Fabulous Heels. She is also a celebrity blogger in the Lent Madness series. Learn more about her work on her website.

For a course preview, please click below.

We just launched an updated version of Why I Am Not an Atheist with Frank Schaeffer For Individuals and For Groups.

Frank Schaeffer is the child of fundamentalist Christians who has spent his adult life writing and speaking about his journey away from fundamentalist belief systems — including atheism. Frank sees atheism as one of the major world religions. What some might think of atheism as a staunch lack of religion, he argues, is its own committed belief system, complete with a faith– a faith that there is no God. Atheists claim the tangible, the scientific, the purely rational as the only means for understanding life and the universe rather than belief in a higher power. Frank believes there are rational arguments for atheism’s being a faith system of its own — one that cannot accommodate many aspects of human experience.

This course focuses on why atheism attracts people, especially in our time, and on those reasons being the ones people generally feel when embracing fundamentalist religious belief systems: impatience with gray areas, a need for clarity, a straightforward set of answers to the questions that hover around human existence. Frank also offers his reasons for preferring non-fundamentalist belief systems (as opposed to either fundamentalist faith systems or atheism, which he views as mirror image born-again experiences) and Christianity in particular.

Frank’s video lectures include:

• What is Atheism?
• Why is Atheism So Attractive?
• Why Does Christianity Make Sense?
• Why I Am a Christian

This course is ideal for anyone who is interested in atheism, who has ever questioned their faith, or who is interested in the relationship between intellectualism and faith. For a preview, please see below.