Many reflective men and women today, caught in the transition between two worlds, becoming increasingly aware of the inescapable moral ambiguities in their daily lives, and burdened by the pain of making necessary decisions in every complex life situation for which easy moral answers of the past are no longer adequate, are urgently seeking a chance to reflect creatively in depth upon the meaning of the moral life and upon the labyrinthine process of decision making.

Many reflective men and women today, acutely aware within themselves of a deep, uneasy, lonely emptiness which tranquilizers, diversions, and counselors do not cast out, and sick of the illusions, pretension, fake roles and masks by which they hide from life as it is, are yearning for the possibility of raising, in the company of similarly aware

people, the question of what life is all about.

Many reflective men and women today, forced to face the breakdown of authentic human relations in their marriages and homes, are becoming aware of their participation in the widespread estrangement and alienation in all social structures of our day, and are inwardly longing to find a context through which they can enter into an open dialogue with other awakened people about what it means to live genuinely as human beings before one another.

Many reflective men and women today, of all ages and in all walks of life, successful or unsuccessful, experiencing an underlying purposelessness in their work and sensing themselves trapped by the tyranny of the economic processes of our time, are asking for a situation wherein they can express and grapple openly and honestly with their desire for a sense of participating authentically in history in general and in modern man's creative response in and to the brand new world about us.

Many reflective men and women today, inside and outside the Church, disturbed by the too easy answers which the Church offers to the ills and anxieties of life, and grieved by the apparent irrelevance of the Church to the actual life of twentieth century man, are searching with real importunity for a way to raise anew the question of the significance of the Christian gospel to the human situation in our age and an occasion to discover new ways to serve the Church in her mission in and to the world.

Many reflective men and women today, aroused and frightened by the realization that they and others of our time are caught in a maze of manipulative, subtly hidden conformist pressures, highly developed propaganda techniques, and educational processes that leave men somewhat short of a genuine education, are demanding an opportunity to discover what it means for a man to dare to think creatively for himself in the midst of a continuing conversation with others. All of this points to the meaning and

purpose of Laic Theological Studies.




a theological education

"THE DECISIVE ELEMENT in the predicament of Western man in our period is his loss of the dimension of depth. . . What is the meaning of life? Where do we come from, where do we go to? What shall we do, what should we become in the short stretch between birth and death? Such questions are not answered or even asked if the "dimension of depth" is lost. And this is precisely what has happened to man in our period of history. He has lost the courage to ask such questions with an infinite seriousness-as former generations did-and he has lost the courage to receive answers to these questions, wherever they may come from."

-Paul Tillich

THE LAIC THEOLOGICAL STUDIES are stimulating, down­to­earth programs for men and women in all walks of life who are concerned to come to grips with the ultimate human problems as they present themselves in our day. In the studies, a group of adults with various backgrounds, unique insights, and individual concerns take part in the vital theological awakening that is present at the growing edge of every field of thought in our time, The program represents a twentieth century approach to practical theological education for persons who are awake to the perplexities of modern life and who desire to wrestle with basic issues of life in depth and breadth.

THE STUDIES INVOLVE both lectures and seminar sessions but the emphasis in time and intention is upon the latter. Since the entire program probes beneath the superficialities of life, serious study is

required of all participating, in order to grapple with the meaning of one's own responses to the upbeats and downbeats of human existence.

THE STUDIES ALSO PROVIDE the opportunity for a dialogue with culture. Contemporary art forms such as movies, plays, short stories, sculpture, painting, and poetry make possible the discovery of new ways to experience our own lives. This interchange makes possible a deeper understanding of the manifold ways in which the different responses to human existence are expressed.

ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURES of the studies is the chance to delve beneath the surface of our false relationships and wrestle with the problem of what it means to live before one another as whole persons. In our common life together, through open and honest discussion, the participants deal with the perplexities of friendship, contemporary marriage and family life, and social and business relationships in the midst of a world that is predominantly "other directed" with its many pressures of conformity. Serious attention is given to the common symbols through which one is enabled to become who he understands himself to be.

THE WHOLE PROGRAM is an endeavor to recover the possibilities of genuine vocation in this new world. Amid the many "­isms" that cry for our allegiance, the Laic Studies are an opportunity to regain the courage to dare to use our critical intelligence to decide and act in the light of our convictions, and thereby fulfill our legitimate responsibility to be free people in all aspects of our daily life.

­

toward an effective secular faith


Description of Courses

I­A The Meaning of Human Existence or The Problem of Faith. An examination of the way in which the problem of life's meaning is raised in the modern world and how the Christian understanding of life addresses this issue the study of such terms as God, Christ, Sin Community, etc.

I­B The Modes of Human Existence or The Christian Life as Faith/Unfaith: The various ways in which man in the modern world is present to his existence in relation to nature and history analyzed through the cate90ries of freedom and unfreedom or faith and unfaith

Il­A The Faith of the Covenant Community or The Gospel in the Old Testament. After brief consideration of the origin and nature of the writings and formation of the Canon Old Testament theology is explored through an inquiry into the various writers' views of man's self­understanding.

I!­B The Self­understanding of the Early Church or the New Testament Gospel An investigation of the various ways in which the Early Church articulated that which happened to them that they termed "the gospel " through a study of the works of Paul, the synoptic writers, John, and the later New Testament authors.

III­A The Christian Movement in History or The Church's Witness in Various World Views

The response of the Church in and to the various historical times, through an inquiry into the writings of representative fathers such as Augustine, Thomas, Luther, Calvin, Wesley

Edwards, and Schleiermacher.

.

III­B The Role of the Church in the Modern World or The Local Congregation as Mission

An analysis of the new understanding of the Church in our time The course will deal with such subjects as: the mission of the local congregation the meaning of common worship

the place and nature of education in the Church, and the nature and function of Christian Community.

.

JV­A The Meaning of Christian Responsibility or The Christian Faith in Action An inquiry into what it means to be a free, critical intelligent person in the midst of the events and structures of our age. This involves dealing with such concepts as responsibility decision, selfhood, vocation, etc.

IV­B The Life of Freedom in the Social Structures or The Christian Community in the World: This course deals concretely with the social orders their present ills, and what responsible participation in them involves: The family and married life the stale and citizenship. the economic order and vocation, are particular areas which will be considered.

1, 11, 111, IV, C and D-The Advanced Reading Courses are seminars in special subjects problems and writers past and present under the general curriculum divisions indicated in the chart. The intention in the advanced studies is to deal with relatively compact areas in some depth. For example, one entire course may be upon a work of Camus Luther, or Tillich, or upon worship. the sacraments, the mission of the Church, or upon marriage, race relations, the economic order, etc.

Faculty

The Laic Theological Studies are directed by an interdenominational group ministry of laymen and clergymen: Allan R. Brockway, Robert Bryant, W. Jack Lewis, William H. Maclay, Joseph W. Mathews, Joseph L. Pierce. and Joseph A. Slicker.

lar ministry In contemporary society

I sense everywhere a great desire on the part of intelligent laymen for theological education . . . . They are the persons who would like to know how they can minister in the crucial affairs of contemporary cultural and community life.

-Elmer G. Homrighausen, Dean,

Princeton Theological Seminary

The Christian Faith­and­Life Community was established in 1952 as an ecumenical research and training center for the purpose of pioneering and developing new ways and means in the theological education of the laity. Its several programs encompass residential theological education for university students "through the Community's College House) and a number of special programs for people of post­college age. The latter are conducted through the Community's Laos House. In 1959, the Laic Theological Studies were instituted to meet the needs of an increasing number of persons both inside and outside the Church who are seeking a theological education adequate to their desire for intellectual honesty and integrity.

The most significant expression of the Church that I have seen in the United States is the Christian Faith-and-Life Community and the witness it represents.

-Dr. Hendrick Kraemer, founder and former Director, Ecumenical Institute, Switzerland

the laic theological studies

For the purpose of making the Laic Theological Studies

available to increasing numbers of concerned persons,

the same program is offered in two forms: on a weekly

basis for people in the vicinity of Austin, and on a

weekend basis for people of the Southwest.

WEEKLY

Three 6­week courses per year are held weekly on Thursday nights, beginning with dinner at 6 P.M. and lasting until 9:30 in the evening.

Tuition is six dollars for each six­week course. The cost of the evening meals for the six­week period is six dollars.

The course studies are conducted in the lecture and seminar rooms of the Laos House at 700 West 1 9th Street. Dinner is prepared by the Laos House staff and served in the dignified setting of the old mansion. When desired, arrangements for child care are made by the Laos House at the nominal cost of fifty cents per family.

WEEK END

Week end studies are held periodical!) throughout the year. Each program begins with dinner on Friday evening and continues through lunch on Sunday

The cost is the nominal sum of six dollar! per day for room, meals, and tuition or twelve dollars for the full week end.

The week end studies are held at the Christian Faith­and­Life Community' Laos House at 700 West 19th Street which is the old Wooten mansion. The nicely appointed rooms and carefully prepared meals along with the atmosphere of the old house provide pleasant setting for the week end.

procedures

Lectures, discussions, seminars, study sessions, movies and other art form presentations serve to implement the Laic Theological Studies. Persons in all walks of life and of many different educational backgrounds participate in the studies.

LIFE IS ONLY GIVEN to me once and I shall never have it again; I don't

want to wait for the 'happiness of all'. I want to live myself, or else

better not live at all.... Where is it I've read that some one condemned

to death says or thinks, an hour before his death, that if he had to live on

some high rock, on such a narrow ledge that he'd have only room to stand,

and the ocean, everlasting darkness, everlasting solitude. everlasting

tempest around him, if he had to remain standing on a square yard of

space all his life, a thousand years, eternity, it were better to live so than

to die at once! Only to live, to live and live. Life! whatever it may be!"

-Dostoevsky

FOR APPLICATION

write

Director of Studies

Christian Faith­and­Life Community

2503 Rio Grande

Austin' Texas

Telephone GReenwood 7­4471