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This episode of the Auburn Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (AUUF) podcast features our recent Easter service on April 20, 2025.
Rev. Marti Keller plumbs the early history of Christianity, describing a theological shift from creating paradise on Earth to emphasizing the crucifixion, with paradise delayed until after death.
Rev. Marti summarizes the scholarship of Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker, from their book Saving Paradise. By surveying the art adorning churches throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean, they found Christian sanctuaries from the first millennium filled with images of Christ as a living presence: a shepherd, teacher, healer, and an enthroned god. He is serene and surrounded by lush scenes, depictions of this world as paradise. By the Middle Ages, however, the art had shifted to Jesus crucified and the earth no longer a paradise. Does this shift in art also reflect a change in Christian theology?
Jim Newton served as the service associate and gives the opening words.
AUUF is a faith community of shared values: equity, justice, pluralism, interdependence, generosity, and transformation, all in the service of love. We believe each of us has the right to seek spiritual truth and develop our own theology instead of accepting a religious creed. Our members represent all religious and non-religious beliefs. We join to build the Beloved Community, sharing our joys and sorrows as we walk together along the spiritual path.
AUUF is one of more than 1,000 Unitarian Universalist congregations around the U.S. If you're in the Auburn-Opelika area, we invite you to join us Sunday mornings at 10:00. Visit our website at auuf.org.
Our theme music is "A Call to the Soul" by Folk Acoustic Music, available from Pixabay.
