EfM 2024-25 | Program and Books
Texts and Resources
The EfM curriculum is presented in a cycle of four Reading and Reflection Guides. A theme for each volume in the cycle provides a lens for focusing the work throughout the year. Weekly assignments guide participants’ responses to the readings. Weekly preparation includes practice in the disciplines of listening and theological reflection.
Volume A: “Living Faithfully in Your World”
Volume B: “Living Faithfully in a Multicultural World”
Volume C: “Living as Spiritually Mature Christians”
Volume D: “Living into the Journey with God”
During 2024-25, we move into Volume D: “Living into the Journey with God.”
Textbooks provide participants with their weekly readings in the Christian tradition: the Hebrew Bible in Year One; the New Testament in Year Two; church history in Year Three; and theology, ethics, and interfaith encounters in Year Four.
The Reading and Reflection Guide (RRG), which is your seminar’s guide to group work, is included with your course enrollment fee. The RRG supports EfM participants in preparing for their weekly seminar sessions. While it may not be possible to do everything assigned each week, giving priority to regularly completing as much of the work in the RRG as possible will enhance your formation for ministry through study and theological reflection.
Beyond the Reading and Reflection Guide, you must purchase textbooks required for participation in the EfM curriculum, which include:
2024-2025 Interludes
Your particular year participant textbooks (Years 1, 2, 3, or 4)
Bible with Apocrypha needed for Years 1 and 2
2024-2025 Interludes
Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman
The Four Vision Quests of Jesus by Steven Charleston
Year 1
A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Bible | John Collins
The Hebrew Bible: Feminist and Intersectional Perspectives | edited by Gale A. Yee
Year 2
Introducing the New Testament: A Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey | Mark Allan Powell
The Misunderstood Jew: the Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus | Amy Jill Levine
Year 3
Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years | Diarmaid MacCulloch
Year 4
Theology: A Very Short Introduction | David Ford
Mysteries of Faith | Mark McIntosh
The Christian Moral Life: Practices of Piety | Timothy F. Sedgwick
My Neighbors Faith: Stories of Interreligious Encounter, Growth, and Transformation | edited by Jennifer Howe Peace, Or N. Rose, & Gregory Mobley
Suggested Study Bible Translations
To learn more about EfM, or to find a group onsite or online and enroll, visit our WEBSITE.