Welcome to the blog site for Rev. Gregory Jones courses offered and proposed.

We seek to share the awesome contributions people of color represent in these offerings as well as suggest  important topics for study in this academic community.

We hope you will review the recommended courses  as well as leave your suggestions toward improving and enhancing this information. Thank you for sharing your time.

Respect the contributions of others to your journey!

We are all learning and growing every moment that we live.

This journey is sacred and the instructors are many!

Consider that all we have witnessed and participated in life is a means to advance our intellect to a position of respect for all life . Learning is an instrument that should invoke compassion and concern for all life. We can not learn if we refuse to understand that all life is a sacred gift to the entire universe.

To understand the true depth of the African contribution we suggest  the serious student start  with one of the great African American thinkers regarding the origins of the cognitive development of African and African American people.  Dr. Jacob Carruthers!

http://www.africawithin.com/carruthers/carruthers.htm

We acknowledge the great gifts given to us by our African ancestors!

Honor greatness in our musical community!

The great Jazz Artist Pharoah Sanders is a important

contributor to the African  American  musical  community!

Thank God we always have intelligent and gifted people to rise to the challenge of the larger societies constant question of authenticity. African American thinkers have always been able and willing to defend the right to self determination in a environment of conformity. We must recognize the tremendous contributions that have been made by these pioneers of African American culture and religion.

We celebrate the awesome gifts of these brothers and sisters of the diverse faith community that provided a  firm foundation for the progressive communities of faith today.

James Cone

This young man authored some of  the first works that spoke deeply about Black Theology.

http://cas.uchicago.edu/workshops/rrtpm/Dr.%20Cone%20Biography.htm

J Deotis Roberts

A great thinker and contributor to the understanding  of  Africentric Christianity!

 http://www.nathanielturner.com/contextualtheology.htm

This sister is an outstanding example of African American Womanist theologians breaking new ground in Theology.

Delores S Williams                  

http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=445

Understanding the foundations of our faith as a spiritually rooted universally applied reality for all  life.

Readers

The purpose for this segment is to share some of the foundations that make up the Black theological experience.

One such foundation is the concept of presence.

The theological perspective that suggests that it is Christ`s presence and agency in the every day life of the Christian that presents profound meaning and value in the world.

Christ presence is always about the  loving of all life. God loves all creation!  It is the presence of the Christ spirit that invokes the power and grace of the creator.

There is no judging  in unconditional love.

The relationship to Christ is not punitive its restorative.

Sadly in our attempt to survive in this society we have dismantled some of the most important foundations of our faith.

Lets return to what we know.

Jesus Christ is more than a way to live .

Christ is a formula  for the restoration  of All Life everywhere.

There are many wonderful thinkers who have given their life to the process of evolving an intellect of compassion and mercy.  We should learn and grow from these great thinkers.

God blessed me to be able to have a conversation with Bell Hooks and get to hear and listen to one of the great thinkers of our time!

We need to learn how to listen for the tone of inspiration and genius in the people around us.

The creator is present all around us every day in the genius

and creativity of life that surrounds our every action and presence. The answers to the questions reside in the perfection of all life. We all are a part of that creation!

“There is no understanding without relationship”

Theological Perspectives of Urban ministry is an attempt to share the story of christian work that happens in Urban settings.

We will gather information about programs and ministry that happens in the city. There is a vital need for Christians  to work in urban situations.

The city is a important cultural and social setting that must be included in our service to Christian life. The world is  being urbanized and we must consider the compassionate response that Christians  must make to these future ministries.

Join us in the passion and victory of christian service in the Urban setting.!

http://www.urbanministrycenter.org/

Czech/chanov projects Europe

Projects are the same all over the world.

What kinds of ministry will be needed to mend this suffering in our cities?

We will explore the people and programs committed   to the

solving of these problems in the urban setting.

Violence is everywhere these urban settings and poverty exist. The understanding of urban ministry must include the end to violence in all of its various forms.

http://www.communityrenewalsociety.org/

The religious nature of our collective growth as human beings demands that we consider more creative approaches to the healing of the human spirit.

Thank you for your consideration of these courses as a means to become more human in the quest for spiritual growth.

“To thine own self be true”

1. To help students understand more fully the nature and function of religious diversity and community.

2. To help students develop some skills in deciphering the religious and cultural meanings of symbol, myth, and ritual in Native American Spirituality..

3. To acquaint students with some of the variety in cultural and religious patterns among Native American societies (especially in this decade of the Anniversary of the Columbus landing and European encounter with the indigenous people of America).

4. To help students understand and appreciate some of the characteristic features of Native American religions.

5. To help students discover new depths in their own spiritual traditions through appreciative study of Native American religions.

6. To encourage students toward a respectful concern for the place and conditions of Native Americans in contemporary American society.

7. To help students develop their skills in library research and writing.

       NATIVE AMERICA RELIGIONS

Theology 364

Syllabus 2009-2010

Course Description

A study of the most common religious features found in Native American societies north of Mexico.  Attention is given both to the older traditions and to the more recent religious developments.

Required Texts The land looks after us    Joel martin

Spirit and Reason Vine Deloria Reader

Native American Religions Sam Gill

On Library Reserve

 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown (Bury)

 The Sacred Pipe, by Black Elk, edited by Joseph Epes Brown (Pipe)

Teachings of the American Earth, by Barbara and Dennis Tedlock (Earth)

Indian Givers: How the Indians Transformed the World, by Jack Weatherford (Givers)

Native Roots: How the Indians Enriched America, by Jack Weatherford (Roots)

Crying for a Dream, by Richard Erdoes

“An Easter Liturgy: The Creative Syncretism of the Arizona Yaquis,” by Edgar P. Senne, in

The Cresset, March 1986, pp. 6-14.

The Gift of the Sacred Pipe, by Black Elk, special edition with art work by Louise Drysdale

Native American Traditions: Sources and Interpretations, by Sam D. Gill

Black Elk Speaks, by John Neihardt

Course Requirements

1.  Regular attendance in class is required.  Excessive absences will be reflected in the course grade.  A student may have an absence recorded as “excused” by filling out an “Excuse Me” form, available from the instructor.     Administration of this attendance policy is detailed on page seven (7) of this syllabus.

2.  Reading and/or writing assignments for each class period should be done on time, since this makes in-class participation much more helpful to all.  Quizzes may be used to check this discipline.  Assignments will sometimes be adjusted from class period to class period.  Even if absent, students are responsible for adjusted    assignments.

3.  Students will produce one research paper and presentation on subjects identified in course

1. Two examinations, a midterm and a final will be given.
2. .  Topics for course papers and titles for book reports may be determined in consultation with the instructor.  Those choosing the course paper option will submit a prospectus on a specified date.

Attendance Policy

As stated in first course requirement, regular attendance in class is expected, and excessive absences will be penalized in the assignment of the final course grade.  The administration of this policy is here specified:

Native American Leaders

A Cree Warrior

Native American dancers

Celebration of life through dance and singing

Music is the heart of the spirit !!!

Apache Warrior.

The land is always the most sacred thing.

Respect mother Earth and All Life.

To disrespect the earth and all of life is to brake the sacred hoop. We must learn from our mother earth and bend our will towards peace and understanding.

To be a man does not mean you must dominate and control all of life.

To be a man means that you have understood that all of life is a lesson in wisdom and must be learned before you and I can move forward.

To enter into right relationship is the goal of all good spiritual journeys.

To claim one belief is better and more profound than another is a detour in your goal to be one with All things.

http://www.tahtonka.com/spirituality.html

Native American Dancers

We must strive to live in peace with all life everywhere.

We must always seek to mend the sacred hoop of life!!

The Ghost dance seeks to reclaim and make right the lost and injustice done to a people!

Visit this blog and make comments on the issues of violence facing our communities.

We will always focus our concern toward the end of violence in the global community as we build this course offering for the Valparaiso university community.

The question of violence is a prime root issue that reflects a less than civilized perspective  regarding social and cultural problem solving.

We will attempt to explore a means to address issues without the use of violence to gain some spiritual perspective to these concerns.

we invite your comments as we construct this new theological approach.

War is not a Game.

Until we learn how to live in peace we are not fully Human!

Violence and the quest for global sentience

There are two kinds of people who inhabit the earth. There are people who operate in a reality that reflects the products

of self interest, material, and intellectual fabrication; and there are people who from the intimate caverns of their

heart, operate in a reality of freedom and love for all life. There are no people who sit in the middle of this division of operation.

Both peoples are vexed by the inability to grow beyond the present violent reality within the world they inhabit.

Both groups have not been able to claim the sentient intellect of a civilized global community.

Each of these groups would strive to be “better” or more civilized as a people; however both still employ systems of violence to exist as

a community.

The first group makes no pretense in their desire to control and dominate the reality they inhabit.  The world they understand

to be real is for their manipulation and use. All existence belongs to those who show the power, ability and desire to exploit

everything in that  reality. Anything that does not exist within the material reality is not worth their interest. Violence is a necessary tool

to be used by those who need to control others that are contrary to their interest.

The other group recognizes that violence to life forms is an error in judgment, however the quality of life that they are accustomed to is

Supported by the violent actions of first group. They face a seemly unanswerable quandary. To reject the actions of the first group is to cause issues and problems to arise in their own group.

Thus the simple solution has been to avoid any communication at this level with anyone but those who agree and understand this concern.

The time for silence has ended. These two groups of potential sentient life on this planet must communicate and remove the use of violence

From human community.

If we do not act to remove violence this might be our future;

http://www.army.mil/-news/2009/02/06/16536-army-creates-electronic-warfare-career-field/ 

Christian Response to Social Victims

Spring 2009 9:05am to 9:50 am URH 116

Professor Gregory A. Jones Huegli Hall room 11

12194645052 Gregory.Jones@valpo.edu

Christian Response to social victims is an upper level study addressing the issues of Christian ethics as it is applied to persons who are victimized in the course of daily living. The course seeks to provide a theological framework for reflective action to address these concerns. Students will be challenged to dialogue and think critically about global issues.

Visit this site!

 http://globalethic.org/

There is only one way to live on this planet together.

We must make peaceful existence a goal  of the entire Global community.There is nothing more important than finding an end to violence in our culture. To ignore this issue is to live in denial of the teachings of Jesus the Christ.