9:30am - 2:30pm
Sat. January 28th
Our Spiritual Development Team (part of the Congregational Life Team) invite you to join the First Unitarian Church of Portland for a virtual Seminary for a Day on Saturday, January 28. The theme is Transcendentalism.
The keynote speaker, Rev. John Buehrens, served as UUA President from 1993-2001. A prolific author, his most recent piece about our heritage is CONFLAGRATION: How the Transcendentalists Sparked the American Struggle for Racial, Gender, and Social Justice (Beacon, 2020).
Rev. Buehrens will offer a keynote on the first Unitarian Transcendentalist on the Pacific Coast, the Rev. Thomas Starr King. He exemplified key spiritual practices of the Transcendentalists that need renewal among us today: personal reflection (often in the form of keeping a journal), and deep interpersonal connections crossing conventional boundaries.
In addition, Rev. Buehrens will offer a workshop entitled, “God Optional: Theologies Among Us Today.” John Buehrens and Rebecca Ann Parker surveyed the hope-filled thought patterns in progressive religion today in their book, A House for Hope: The Promise of Progressive Religion in the 21st Century (Beacon, 2010). While their framework borrows from a heritage of Judeo-Christian systematic theology, it also makes room for humanist, indigenous, and non-Western a/theologies. All such thinking, however, needs to meet some overriding and important tests to be effective. Tests which will be revealed in the workshop.
Details: Saturday, January 28, 2023 from 9:30am to 2:35pm (Pacific Standard Time).
Registration is open until 4pm on Sunday, January 22nd. You will receive a link to join via email on January 23rd.