(#2) Becoming Christians Bible Study

Readings for the discussion on March 28, 2025:

1. Read through the end of the fourth page of Rachel Held Evans’ Chapter 8
   1. Interesting quote: “Modern readers benefit immensely from seeing how the earliest followers of Jesus applied his teachings to their lives and communities, particularly in the midst of outside persecution and internal debate.”
   2. Interesting quote: “the Epistles are a lot like wisdom literature, for they remind us that wisdom isn’t just about knowing what is true; it’s about knowing when it’s true”
2. Read chapters 3 and 4 of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians: link

Things to consider:

• What problems is Paul trying to address in this letter? Why does he care?
• If you’re really interested in this text, you can watch all or some of Margaret Mitchell’s great lecture on I Thessalonians: video.
• Last week we talked about Paul’s four different journeys around the Mediterranean. Here is a map of his travels: link. You can see that he went to Thessalonica (in modern Greece) twice. His first letter was written between his two visits.