The evolution of the concept of God is the story behind the story of the Old Testament, says Rev. Joseph Letendre. He said this evolution, even today, continues to shape and influence society.

Letendre, a member of the United Campus Ministry, will lecture on Brief History of God:20,000 BC to 0, Thursday.

Letendre said the last 2,000 years have been been left out of the lecture because after the birth of Christ, the root of monotheism the belief in one god began to split up, therefore redefining the image of God.

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He said it is important to understand the concept of God before the birth of Christ.

Throughout history, the role of religion went from monotheism to polytheism back to monotheism, he said. And God also went from the idea of mother to father.

Letendre said he will lecture on five topics:n The orgin of religion

n The world’s oldest religion (the worship of the mother goddess)

n The development of polytheism

n The development of monotheism in the Bible

n The evolving understanding of God in the Bible

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Letendre, who is also a priest at the Protection of the Virgin Mary Orthodox, was raised a Roman Catholic. During college he said, he joined the Orthodox Church.

The Orthodox church, he said, stemmed from the Protestant and Catholic churches. The Orthodox church believes the two churches it has stemmed from have changed, added to and have lost parts of the early Christian church.

The Orthodox church has preserved the original doctrines, spirituality, worship and world view of early Christianity, he said.

Aristotel Pappelis, a member of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship, said there 100 greek orthodox and a total of 400 orthodox students on campus, but there is no unity among these students.

Pappelis said Letendre is acting somewhat as a campus missionary to unite these students.

Through his work on campus, and through this lecture, Father Jospesh is bringing all of these students together, he said.

Letendre will speak Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Student Center Kaskaskia Room.