The Fountains, a United Methodist Church, will provide a 12-session DVD and web-based study of the historical Jesus and the kingdom of God beginning Wednesday, Nov. 29.

Facilitated by Pastor David Felten, First Light: Jesus and the Kingdom of God involves two of the world’s leading Jesus scholars, John Dominic Crossan and the late Marcus Borg.

Felten and colleague, Rev. Jeff Procter-Murphy, will lead the session in the church sanctuary, 15300 N. Fountain Hills Blvd., from 10 a.m. to noon. The classes will continue on Wednesdays through February with a break for Christmas.

Suggested tuition is $20. Contact the office at 480-837-7627 to register.

Filmed throughout Galilee and Jerusalem with Crossan, participants will discuss the answers to questions, such as “Why did Jesus happen when he happened? Why the tiny villages around the Lake? And how does Roman imperial theology continue to subvert Jesus’ message to this day?”

Felten said most people don’t know that the titles many Christians associate with Jesus are actually titles for Caesar Augustus, plagiarized by Christians: Divine, Son of God, God from God, Lord, Redeemer, Liberator, and Savior of the World.

Early on, Jesus followers adapted them for their own – emphasizing the political conflict between empires; the empire of Caesar and the empire of God.

Childcare is available upon request.

The weekly topics are:

Nov. 29, The Matrix of Jesus.

Dec. 6, The Advent of the Messiah.

Dec. 13, God’s Great Cleanup.

Dec. 20, Collaborative Eschaton.

Jan 3, The Lake as the World.

Jan 10, Parables as Lures.

Jan 17, Jesus as Lord.

Jan 24, Substitutionary Atonement?

Jan 31, Demonstrations in Jerusalem.

Feb 7, The Crowd and the Crucifixion.

Feb 14, Resurrection as Resistance.

Feb 21, America as the New Rome.