ELCA's Spring 2005 Mosaic Television On New Testament

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "Introducing the New Testament" is Mosaic Television's March 1, 2005, release, a 30-minute program that focuses on the origins of the New Testament and on its authors. The program examines the New Testament in three parts: the Gospels, letters and the book of Revelation.
Mosaic Television is a quarterly video program produced by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Department for Communication. It is intended for educational use in a variety of congregational settings including Sunday school classes, adult forums, youth groups, women's and men's groups, new member classes, congregational council, committee and other organizational meetings.
The New Testament program features scholars from three ELCA higher education institutions: the Rev. Kenneth S. Jones, assistant professor of philosophy and religion, and the Rev. Mark C. Mattes, professor of religion and philosophy, Grand View College, Des Moines, Iowa; the Rev. Charles D. Gavin Jr., associate professor of religion, and the Rev. Joy E. Heebink, associate professor of religion, Waldorf College, Forest City, Iowa; and Dr. Judith A. Jones, assistant professor of religion, and the Rev. Frederick M. Strickert, professor of religion and Slife Professor in the Humanities, Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa.
Tim Frakes, ELCA Department for Communication, produces Mosaic Television. Melissa Ramirez Cooper, associate director, ELCA News Service, Department for Communication, hosts Mosaic Television.
This issue is designed to help readers experience how engaging one part of the Bible, the New Testament, can be for our lives and concerns, Frakes said. A user's guide that comes with the program includes information that can be used with adult and new member classes, and in Confirmation classes and junior high-level Sunday school classes, he said.
"It is impossible to have a saving faith apart from Scripture," Kenneth Jones said in the program. "It is in Scripture that God has chosen to reveal who Jesus is -- for you, for me."
"The whole point of the New Testament is a witness to the resurrection of Jesus," Strickert said in the program. "The disciples live, breath and die on that one doctrine -- that this Jesus, who was dead, is alive."
"The New Testament is the new covenant," Heebink said. "It is, in a sense, a sequel to the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible in which we learn of God's covenant with the people of Israel."
"My favorite is [the Gospel of] Luke. I see Luke as the most sensitive to the marginalized people -- the most concerned about the lost -- about women, about children. All the Gospels have this. I mean, it is the same Jesus. But the sensitivity showed in Luke, the language, the style, it is lovely Greek. And it reads nicely in English too," she continued.
"Introducing the New Testament" can be viewed for free on the Web. It is also available in VHS and DVD formats. Some ELCA colleges and universities carry Mosaic on local cable channels.
Each issue includes a user's guide with a synopsis of each segment and discussion questions. Annual subscriptions are available through the ELCA Department for Communication.
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Specific information about Mosaic Television subscriptions and the content of each issue are available on the Web at http://www.elca.org/mosaic/ or by contacting the ELCA Department for Communication by phone at 1-800-638-3522, ext. 6009.

Editors: Digital photographs that accompany "Introducing the New Testament" can be requested by e-mail at mosaic@elca.org or by phone 1-800-638-3522, ext. 6009.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news