A Jew and a Gentile Walk Into a Bar … Mitzvah

Charles Bretan, Chris Henson

Saturday, 4:00pm | Goosecast

Job the In-Patient: An Interfaithed Discussion on Depression, Faith, and the Meaning of Suffering
“The response to someone’s suffering isn’t theology . . . [t]he response to suffering is comfort and love” (David Freid).
What does Job tell us about depression? Does Job have depression because he has sinned or that his
faith is weak? Job also can inform he we interact with others living with depression.
Session participants will use Jewish and Christian interpretations of Job to discuss our faiths’ reaction to depression as well as the role of suffering in each tradition.

Charles Bretan

Both of my parents were Jewish, but that is not what makes me a Jew. I am a Jew because I choose to be: because I choose to live my life in a Jewish way. I choose to study Torah and to live by its precepts; I choose to keep Shabbat and to follow mitzvot; and I choose to eat toasted bagels with a shmear of cream cheese, lox (not nova), and a nice slice of onion. Born and raised in Miami, I now live in Greensboro, NC with my wife, Gail, and our two sons, Lee and Evan. I am a teacher by trade and by disposition. With degrees in education from the University of Florida and from Nova Southeastern University, I have taught almost everything from composition to scuba diving and from leadership to life saving.

Chris Henson

Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in Psychology/Human Resource Development from NCSU (1998), and received his M.Div. from Duke (2001). He is an ordained Elder (2006) in the Western NC Conference of the United Methodist Church, serving as a pastor for over 15 years, first in England followed by appointments in the Piedmont-Triad of NC. Chris was the Pastor-in-Residence with the Wesley-Luther Fellowship at UNC Greensboro. Presently, he’s a resident chaplain at WFBMC where he is responsible for the burn unit and adult behavioral health units. Chris is a husband to Summer, father to Sophie, admitted cigar-arsonist, creative, subversive, and living with clinical depression.

Session ID [26]