PACC : Park Avenue Christian Church

Quest is the new adult learning program at the Park Avenue Christian Church. It's been designed to stimulate your thinking about religion – your religion and the religion of others – and to inspire us to lives of joy, love, and understanding with all God’s children.

What we hope to do is create a safe and welcoming environment where your questions will be answered and your doubts respected.

Some of the notable lecturers and instructors of Quest. From left to right: Bishop John Shelby Spong, Dr. Jeanne Safer, Hussein Rashid, Dr. Deirdre Good, Rabbi Leonard Schoolman.

upcoming short courses

INTRODUCTION TO ISLAM
Four Mondays at 6:30 pm, beginning February 1
Instructor: Hussein Rashid
Tickets: $100 through smarttix.com
     Even the most sophisticated New Yorkers know little about Islam. What limited knowledge we do have comes through the media, where facts are often incomplete. This introductory course will cover the principal beliefs of Islam, the differences between Sunnis and Shiites, the Muslim “Bible” the Qur’an, as well as the idea of jihad. Class readings will be provided. Ample time will be provided for class discussion and questions.
     Hussein Rashid is one of the most sought-after teachers of Islam in the metropolitan area. A native of New York, he earned his undergraduate degree at Columbia University. He is in the final stages of completing his doctorate at Harvard University. In addition to teaching at Quest, he is on the religion faculty of Hofstra University.

WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE
Four Mondays at 6:30 pm, beginning March 1
Instructor: Rabbi Leonard A. Schoolman
Tickets: $100 through smartix.com
     For many moderns, the traditional notion of Reward and Punishment is a concept that is unacceptable. They seek a different idea about why evil occurs in the world, and why bad things happen to them. Rabbi Schoolman will explore the various ways in which people cope with sickness and evil in their lives. He will draw on Harold Kushner’s book When Bad Things Happen to Good People, and the biblical Book of Job. There will be ample time for discussion.
     Rabbi Leonard A. Schoolman is the director of Quest. He has had more than a dozen years of experience directing interfaith adult education programs in Christian churches. He was ordained a rabbi at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate. For almost 20 years, he was a staff member of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now Union for Reform Judaism), the last ten of which he was national director of programs. He is the author of The Changing Christian World: A Brief Introduction for Jews (Jewish Lights).

INTRODUCTION TO HINDUISM
Four Tuesdays at 6:30 pm, beginning March 2
Instructor: Rabbi Daniel F. Polish
Tickets: $100 through smarttix.com
     There are many ways of leaning about our own religion. One of them is seeing it through the eyes of a different faith. Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest religions, and the world’s third largest in terms of adherents. But we know little about Hinduism, even in New York. If we wish to understand the politics of India and Pakistan, we need to know about Hinduism and how it affects the lives of its adherents in India and Pakistan.
     Rabbi Daniel Polish earned his doctorate at Harvard, studying Hinduism under Professor Wilfred Cantwell Smith, one of the great historians of religion. He was ordained a rabbi at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He is the spiritual leader of Congregation Shir Chadash in Poughkeepsie. He brings a unique perspective to understanding Hinduism – through the eyes of a rabbi.

QUR’AN: PROPHETIC STORIES
Four Wednesdays at 6:30 pm, beginning March 3
Instructor: Hussein Rashid
Tickets: $100 through smarttix.com
     The Qur’an. Islam’s sacred scripture, is not like the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament. It is not organized by books or authors or prophets. Traditional Muslims believe that the Qur’an was dictated by God (Allah) to the Prophet Mohammed. The Qur’an makes reference, however, to many personalities and episodes found in Jewish and Christian literature. Hussein Rashid has chosen some of these biblical tales, and will show how they appear in the Qur’an, often changed in interesting ways.
     Hussein Rashid is one of the most sought-after teachers of Islam in the metropolitan area. A native of New York, he earned his undergraduate degree at Columbia University. He is in the final stages of completing his doctorate at Harvard University. In addition to teaching at Quest, he is on the religion faculty of Hofstra University.