Chosen people have always excluded groups distinctly different from the then-current perspectives of who is acceptable to God: the physically imperfect during the time of the second temple; non-Jews during both Old Testament and New Testament times (a prejudice maintained by Christ’s followers until Peter’s vision); people who have been divorced; people who have used any form of birth control; and, up until forty years ago, people with any black ancestry. This presentation focuses on how our understanding of God and what kind of people God views as profane has developed over time. How might it still be changing today?

Lisa Hansen