Personal Theology Fall/Winter 2010

Sept.5: Walter Truett Anderson, Ph.D. in political science and social psychology, author of numerous books and President Emeritus of the World Academy of Art and Science. Human Psychology and Global Climate Change.

Sept. 12:  Sam Keen, author of Fire in the Belly: On Being a Man, and his just published In the Absence of God: Dwelling in the Presence of the Sacred. Elemental Sacred Emotions.

Sept.19: Huston Smith and Friends in Conversation. A panel of friends both from this group and the outside will converse with Huston before opening the conversation up to everyone.

Sept.26: Rev. Bill Hamilton-Holway, Co-Minister of UUCB, 3-D Vision: Death, Darwin, and Deity. (The theological Theme for September is "Vision.")

Oct. 3: Rev. Barbara Hamilton-Holway, Co-Minister of UUCB. Cosmic Blessings: Ongoing Creation and Participation. (The theological theme for October is "Creation.")

Oct. 10: Rev. Marilee Baccich, interfaith minister, and Trish Clifford. Awaking the Dreamer, a Powerpoint® presentation, showing how sustainability, social justice, and spiritual fulfillment come together to address the stresses of our planet.

Oct. 17: Dwight Merrill, long time group member and life long Unitarian Universalist, shares his personal religious philosophy as it developed in this church, defined in part by his perception of the purposes of religion. 55 Years as a Unitarian: My Personal Outlook.

Oct. 24: Helene Knox, poet, UU scholar, Starr King graduate, and 'Bioneer' writer. To Learn to Love the "Eaarth" Enough: Eco Poems and Stories for Our Times.

Oct. 31: Helene Knox, Spells and Incantations: Archaic and scary verses in observance of the ancient holy day when the veil is thinnest between the worlds of the living and the dead.

Bill Garrett, Professor of Religion and Philosophy at John F. Kennedy University. Evolution and its Anxieties.

Nov. 7: Why evolutionary theory has, since 1859, seemed like the end of all values and decency. The basics of natural selection theory and its perceived affronts.

Nov. 14: The roots of morality and religion understood as rooted in the dynamics of natural selection, from predators to Buddhas.

Nov. 21: Accelerating the processes of natural selection; rethinking self interest; integrating the human and the technological.

Nov. 28: Ann Weiser Cornell, founder of the Focusing Institute, past president of the American Association of Humanist Psychology. Making Calm, Clear, Decisions.

Dec. 5: Carolyn West earned a bachelor's degree in Religion from Princeton University and an MFA in poetry from Warren Wilson College. She is the storyteller at the Northbrae Community Church in Berkeley. Journey into the Heart of Story.

Dec. 12: Dr. Rebecca Parker, President of Starr King School for the Ministry, will speak on her latest book, House of Hope: The Promise of  Progressive Religion for the Twenty-first Century.

Rev. Jeremy Taylor is a U.U. minister and teacher of dream work, who has taught and worked in the Bay Area for more than 40 years.  He is the author of 4 books on dreams, mythology, and the role of the unconscious.

Dec. 19: Sex, Religion, and Politics: The Role of the Unconscious in Liberal Religious Thought. Any plan of salvation (personal or collective, religious or political) that ignores the unconscious is doomed to failure.

Dec. 26: What the Dream World Tells us About Evolution and Change. The greatest problem we make, awake or asleep, is mistaking symbolic information for literal fact.

Jan. 9: Cynthia Josayma, Conversations with the Dalai Lama: How Buddhism and Western Culture have Merged. An overview of a 2 day dialogue with the Dalai Lama in November 2010.

Hana Matt has been a teacher of World Religions at the Graduate Theological Union, and the Chaplaincy Institute where she also is Co-Director of the Interfaith Spiritual Direction Training Program.

Jan. 16: I - Transforming Anxiety and Worry into Calm. This will enable effective action. Teachings and Practices from World Religions.

Jan. 23: II - Transforming Fear, Agitation, and Stress. Teachings and Practices from the World Religions.

Jan. 30: III - Cultivating Self-Esteem and Self Love. Teachings from the World Religions.