Dr. Chad's Classes

The Virtual Classroom of Dr. Chad Foster

Welcome to the virtual classroom of the Rev. Dr. Chad Foster of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Murray, KY. Dr. Foster offers two weekly classes to the public. The Sunday morning class is archived on this page and the Torah Tuesday class is linked above.

The virtual classroom will offer some of the handouts and audio from the classes, however, the best way to experience the classes is in person. Often, there are "bonus" discussions and material that are not recorded or posted online.

The Sunday morning class meets at Immanuel at 9:00am and Torah Tuesdays meets at Immanuel at 7:00pm.

You may email Dr. Chad Foster at immanuel@murray-ky.net

The Sunday Morning Class

The most recent completed class at Immanuel was on the book of James (aka the Responsa of Jacob to his first-century hearers!). The book of James has a universal moral and ethical message. Written at the beginning of the “Jesus movement,” the brother of Jesus was witnessing some of the controversies and issues pressuring the new assembly. How would this new community of Jewish believers, now fully accepting Gentile converts, resolve the tensions between the two worldviews?

In this class, we simply went verse-by-verse, translating the text from the Greek and Hebrew sources, to uncover how James engages the delicate topics such as works and grace, obedience and charity, and other ethical dilemmas. Some of the audio from the classes are listed below. Please enjoy.

Week One Audio for James

Week Two Audio for James (the first few minutes are bad quality, but stick with it, for it does improve!)

Week Three Audio for James

Week Four Audio for James

Week Five Audio for James

Week Six Audio for James

Week Seven Audio for James

Week Eight Audio for James

Week Nine Audio for James Special Handout for the Week

Week Ten Audio for James

Week Eleven Audio for James

Week Twelve Audio for James

Week Thirteen Audio for James

Week Fourteen Audio for James

Week Fifteen Audio for James

Week Sixteen Audio for James

Some Previous Classes

Please Enjoy Some Materials from Previous Sunday Courses:

Lessons from the Early Church. For many people today, faith in God can seem to be merely an intellectual choice. However, for the very early church, faith was a matter of life and death. In this five week class, we will discover the passion and commitment early believers displayed as they attached themselves to Jesus in the face of fierce consequences and powerful adversaries.

The format of the class will include an introductory lesson for the theme of the day, followed by a DVD filmed on location at sites relevant to early church locations (i.e. Caesarea Philippi, Sardis, Ephesus, etc.)which will continue to highlight and bring the theme of the day to life. The class concludes with thoughts and questions to take home for the week’s devotion.

Much of this course is driven by watching video clips, however, each week's lesson begins with a lecture to introduce the theme of the day and to serve as the basis for the later class discussion. Posted below are the brief opening lectures and we hope it will inspire you to come to a class and join us.

The Opening Comments for Week 1 - Caesarea Philippi (Korazin, Mount of Olives)

The Opening Comments for Week 2 - Sardis

The Opening Comments for Week 3 - Pergamum

The Life and Ministry of the Messiah. In this course, we used DVD clips of Israel and historic biblical sites to journey back to the time of Jesus. We scrambled among the ruins of Qumran, wondered at the simplicity and wisdom of Jesus' parables, and discovered how the events of Jesus' day impacted his life, ministry, and communication. Much of this course was driven by watching clips, however, each week's lesson began with a lecture to introduce the theme of the day and to serve as the basis for the later class discussion. Posted below are the brief opening lectures and we hope it will inspire you to come to a class and join us.

The Opening Comments for Week 1 - The Herodium

The Opening Comments for Week 2 - Masada

The Opening Comments for Week 3 - Qumran

The Opening Comments for Week 4 - Korazin and Mount of Beatitudes

The Opening Comments for Week 5 - Gamla

Week 6 - Sepphoris (audio not available, sorry!)

The Opening Comments for Week 7 - Belvoir

The Opening Comments for Week 8 - En Gedi

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Study of Scripture. We post some of the materials from this course for your listening pleasure.

The discovery of the texts at Qumran is sometimes described as the most important textual discovery of the twentieth-century. Forty percent of the biblical texts in Qumran are closely aligned with the Hebrew text that lies behind our English Bibles. This indicates that the biblical texts were copied with the utmost care over the centuries.

The discovery of non-biblical texts was also very important. This greatly increased our knowledge of Jewish movements during the Second Temple period and the time of Jesus. For instance, we now know that there was not one mainstream “Judaism” at the time of Jesus, but instead there were various and varied expressions.

The Qumran texts provide rich background material for today’s Bible student. They shed light on the New Testament and are helpful to all serious students of the Bible for deepening their understanding of the Scriptures.

Below are some of the materials from the classes.

Dead Sea Handout Week 1 Dead Sea Scrolls Week 1 Audio

Dead Sea Handout Week 2 Dead Sea Scrolls Week 2 Audio

Dead Sea Handout Week 3 Dead Sea Scrolls Week 3 Audio

Dead Sea Handout Week 4 Dead Sea Scrolls Week 4 Audio

Dead Sea Handout Week 5 Dead Sea Scrolls Week 5 Audio