THEOOOGLOGY FOR A SSCUECULAR AGE · Your Aspirations What will make Theology for a Secular Age a...

Rev. Galen GuengerichgSenior Minister, All Souls Unitarian ChurchNew York City

THEOLOGY FOR A SECULAR AGEO OG O S CU G

Theology for a Secular Age © Galen Guengerich 2009

Your AspirationsYour Aspirations

What will make Theology for a Secular Age a meaningful investment of your time and energy?

What do you hope will happen here?

Take a few minutes to write your answer.Take a few minutes to write your answer.


“At the Smithville Methodist At the Smithville Methodist Church,” by Stephen Dunn


Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, by Richard Hooker

“TheologieTheologie, what is it, but the Science of things Divine?”g


Eli and Amelia SwartzentruberEli and Amelia Swartzentruber

The Courting Buggy, 1916


1985,Di t d bDirected by Peter Weir


For DiscussionFor Discussion

Wh i i lif What experience in your life most decisively shapes the perspective from hi h l k h i ?which you look at these issues?

What experience in your life decisively shapes your perspective on theology and religion?


A Secular Age, A Secular Age, by Charles Taylor


Course GoalCourse Goal

Th l f hi i The goal of this course is to suggest how we might begin to gg g gthink about faith and religion, as well as religious community and well as religious community and ethical conduct, in a different way.


The End of Faith: Religion, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, And the Future of Reason


A Third WayA Third Way

The seven questions we’ll address:q1. How do we know what we most truly know?2. What is the nature of existence and how do we fit

into the picture?into the picture?3. What in the world is divine — if anything?4. What is the uniquely human challenge?4 q y g5. What is the purpose of faith and the role of

religion?6 Wh t d it t b li i it ?6. What does it mean to be a religious community?7. How shall we live in order to transform ourselves

and our world?


1. HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT WE MOST TRULY KNOW?


What source of knowledge gives What source of knowledge gives you the most confidence?


A Christmas Carol, by Charles A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens


A Common Faith,by John DeweyA Common Faith,by John Dewey


IDAIDA

47 million47 million year-old primateprimate


“It all seems to us to hinge on one overriding g gquestion. Do we really believe the Bible to be God's inerrant Word or not? If the Bible is really the Word of our Creator God, then—by definition—it must be inerrant and authoritative on every subject with which it deals. This assumption leads clearly to the conviction that the creation took place in six literal days several thousand years ago. We believe this simply because God said so and said it quite plainly!”

- from the Institute for Creation ResearchTheology for a Secular Age © Galen Guengerich 2009

The Gospel According to The Gospel According to St. Matthew


The Printing Press, 1440The Printing Press, 1440

Johannes Gottfried von Gutenberg


The Fall of Constantinople, The Fall of Constantinople, 1453


The 95 Theses,1517The 95 Theses,1517

Martin Luther nails a list of complaints

i t th Ragainst the Roman Catholic Church on the door of aon the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germanyy


The Rise of Modern ScienceThe Rise of Modern Science


The Banyan Tree ExerciseThe Banyan Tree Exercise

Please stand, as you are able.Reach your arms straight overheadReach your arms straight overhead.Feel the wind.


The Ten CommandmentsThe Ten Commandments


2.WHAT IS THE NATURE OF EXISTENCE AND HOW DO WE FIT INTO THE PICTURE? INTO THE PICTURE?


“What There Is,” by W.V.QuineWhat There Is, by W.V.Quine

20th Century American analytic philosopher


Stephen Hawking’s UniverseStephen Hawking s Universe


Ancient and Modern ViewAncient and Modern View

Aristotle Daniel DennettTheology for a Secular Age © Galen Guengerich 2009

Ask YourselfAsk Yourself

d k hHow do I know who I am? How do I describe who I am? How do I describe who I am? What is most essential about me?


Alfred North WhiteheadAlfred North Whitehead


The Oracle of DelphiThe Oracle of Delphi


This Land is Your Land This Land is Your Land

1. This land is your land, this land is my land

3. This land is your land, this land is my landthis land is my land

From California, to the New York Island

From the redwood forest

this land is my landFrom California,

to the New York IslandFrom the redwood forest From the redwood forest,

to the gulf stream watersThis land was made for you and me

From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters

This land was made for you and me

2. As I was walking a ribbon of highway

I saw above me an endless skyway

4. I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps

To the sparkling sands of h di d d tI saw below me a golden valley

This land was made for you and me

her diamond desertsAnd all around me

a voice was soundingThis land was made for you and meThis land was made for you and me

Words and music by Woody GuthrieTheology for a Secular Age © Galen Guengerich 2009

“Song of Myself,” Walt Whitman Song of Myself, Walt Whitman

I celebrate myself and sing myself I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume… For every atom belonging to me as good For every atom belonging to me as good

belongs to you.

M f bl d My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air,

Born here of parents born here from parents the Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same, I, now thirty‐seven years old in perfect health begin,

ll d hHoping to cease not till death.


RelationshipsRelationships“These experiences, and countless others besides, ,make me who I am—not in the way a potter applies steady pressure to shape a steady pressure to shape a bowl, but in the way flour, butter, sugar and other ingredients go together to ingredients go together to make a cake. If you take away the relational ingredients that make up ingredients that make up my life, what remains has little value—certainly not as Galen Guengerich ” Galen Guengerich.


B f i k f Before we continue, take a few minutes to make a list of the minutes to make a list of the main experiences—relationships in action—that make you who you areyou are.


The Elegant Universe: Brian The Elegant Universe: Brian Greene on String Theory


There is only us, heirs of heirs of a past we cannot cannot change, creators of a future we cannot ca otdelay.


3. WHAT IN THE WORLD IS DIVINE – IF ANYTHING?


The Theological Periodic TableThe Theological Periodic Table

Th i di bl The periodic table of theological gelements is laid out in terms of out in terms of meaning,

purpose, and value.


Arm Chair PhilosophersArm Chair Philosophers…

f f llThis apparently

If a tree falls in the woods pp y

trivial question raises a deeply

the woods, and no one is

raises a deeply religious issue.

there to hear, did it make a gdid it make a sound?


What happens to experiences no What happens to experiences no one knows about or remembers?

Wh h th l l f i h d 1. Who hears the lonely cry of an anguished soul in the night’s darkest hour? Who s ffers ith a o ng bo ho is 2. Who suffers with a young boy who is abused by his father?

3 Who bears witness to the travesty of an 3. Who bears witness to the travesty of an infant girl abandoned on a hillside by her parents to die? her parents to die?

4. What if no one knows? What if no one cares?cares?


4. WHAT IS THE UNIQUELY QHUMAN CHALLENGE?


Sympathy for the Devil, Sympathy for the Devil, by The Rolling Stones


The Nature of Lucifer’s Game?The Nature of Lucifer s Game?

I h hi These questions are 1. Is human history a contest between God and Satan?

These questions are known as the purview of a God and Satan?

2. Do we as humans d i i th

pdiscipline known as THEOLOGICALANTHROPOLOGY need saving in the

first place?If f h t?

ANTHROPOLOGY.

It asks, “What is the 3. If so, from what?4. If not, why not?

,human condition such that we need to be saved?”be saved?”


Original SinOriginal Sin


The Scream, by Edvard MunchThe Scream, by Edvard Munch


“We are dependent on the universe for every detail of our experience.”

–Alfred North Whitehead

This principle applies to everything whatsoever. Nothing—not people, not rocks, not galaxies—is g p p , , gwhat it is strictly within itself. The first principle of the universe is not independence, but its opposite: utter dependence. Everything that exists is made up of constituent parts that are borrowed from, shared with and related to others outside it In everywith, and related to others outside it. In every respect, we are utterly dependent.


Restless Souls: The Making of Restless Souls: The Making of American Spirituality From Emerson to OprahEmerson to Oprah


A Nation of SeekersA Nation of Seekers


The TranscendentalistsThe Transcendentalists

R l h W ld ERalph Waldo Emerson

Henry David Thoreau

Walt Whitman


“Boulevard of Broken Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” by Green Day


5. WHAT ARE THE PURPOSE OF FAITH AND THE ROLE OF RELIGION?OF RELIGION?


I Still Haven’t Found What I Still Haven t Found What I’m Looking For, by U2


The Varieties of Religious The Varieties of Religious Experience, William James


The PragmatistsThe Pragmatists

L t th C t hil h h Late 19th Century philosophers who became known as the pragmatists include:Oliver Wendell Holmes Oliver Wendell Holmes John Dewey Willi JWilliam James


Colin McGinn: Faith is Colin McGinn: Faith is Contrary to Reason


Enlightened FaithEnlightened Faith

In the modern In the modern world, people of enlightened faith live on faith live on the boundary between things we know for certain… and things we and things we can never fully comprehend.


FaithFaith

“Faith is the “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of the evidence of things not seen.”

Rembrandt van RijnRembrandt van RijnThe Apostle Paul, c. 1657


Religion is the support that Religion is the support that sustains and renews our faith …

“It i th ll ti f t l f “It is the collection of external forms we use—songs, symbols, stories, rituals, obligations, sacred spaces—to carry our faith along from day to day and generation to generation. The meaning of the word “religion” is usually traced to the Latin verb meaning “to bind.” Early monastic Christians were called religious because they monastic Christians were called religious because they had taken sacred vows and were bound by solemn orders. This early form of the word religion suggests that religion is a a of life Faith is a commitment from religion is a way of life. Faith is a commitment from within that is sustained and renewed by the way of living we call religion. That’s why we call it the practice of religion.” –Galen Guengerich


The Mindful Brain, The Mindful Brain, by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D.


What causes our brains What causes our brains to thrive?It turns out that change and challenge are the main

t l t f l i l catalysts for neurological development. Ironically, our brains cannot be our brains cannot be changed merely by adding new information or k l d Wh i knowledge. What is required is new behavior: a different way of living. different way of living.


In a recent article in the New York Review of Books, Eamon Duffy, a professor of Church History at Cambridge University, points out that early Christianity was more than a new religion.

DiVinci’s Codex Leicester comprises 18 sheets of paper18 sheets of paper, each folded in half and written on both sides, forming the complete g p72-page document.


Our modern book known as a —known as a codex—evolved from the ancient equivalent of a stenographer’s pad.pad.

Codex Argenteus, the "Silver Bible,” ritten in 520 CE comprised 336written in 520 CE comprised 336

leaves.Theology for a Secular Age © Galen Guengerich 2009

A Faith of EnlightenmentA Faith of Enlightenment

A Di E k P f f C ti As Diana Eck, Professor of Comparative Religion at Harvard, put it…we are “the church of the new millennium.”church of the new millennium.

Ours is a unique faith, embracing as it does both the certainty of science and the mystery of the spirit.

In other words, ours is a faith for children of the Enlightenmentof the Enlightenment.


“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation.

It is the opium of the people The abolition of It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness.

The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions.”

- Karl Marx


Three Key Points on ReligionThree Key Points on Religion

1. Some religions are better than gothers.

2 Religion is something particular2. Religion is something particular.3. Religion is a way of life that occurs

within a community of faith.


Sisterhood of the Traveling Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants


6. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE PART OF A RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY?COMMUNITY?


WorshipWorship

hi lIn worship, we open ourselves to a truth that cannot be demanded. Worship is religious practice. It’s where we learn how to wait and listen, how to be truthful and faithful. It’s where we learn to be fully present It s where we learn to be fully present to ourselves and to each other.


The Christian Faith, by The Christian Faith, by Friedrich Schleiermacher


GratitudeGratitude

Th i li i The appropriate religious response to our experience of utter dependence, in my view, is gratitude is gratitude.

My conviction is that gratitude should be the My conviction is that gratitude should be the defining element of our faith. In the same way as Judaism is defined by obedience, y y ,Christianity by love, and Islam by submission, I believe that Unitarian Universalism should b d fi d b tit d be defined by gratitude. Theology for a Secular Age © Galen Guengerich 2009

Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in our Busy Lives, by Wayne Mullerby Wayne Muller


Ordo Virtuntum, by Hildegard Ordo Virtuntum, by Hildegard von Bingen


7. HOW SHALL WE LIVE IN ORDER TO TRANSFORM OURSELVES AND OUR WORLD?OURSELVES AND OUR WORLD?


Ethics and Morality Ethics and Morality

Ethics and moralit are both Ethics and morality are both concerned with proper conduct, but in

h t diff t somewhat different ways.

Ethics comes from a Greek word meaning Ethics comes from a Greek word meaning character, and morality comes from a Latin word meaning custom or habit Morality word meaning custom or habit. Morality usually refers to the values we hold and the moral rules we follow.f


Simon BlackburnSimon Blackburn


Immanuel KantImmanuel Kant


Ethical StandardEthical Standard

W d thi l t d d th t t ith ll We need an ethical standard that resonates with all of our being, as well as with the world we live in.


“Opinion,” by Baron WormserOpinion, by Baron Wormser


Elaine Scarry, Professor of Elaine Scarry, Professor of Aesthetics at Harvard


The Essence of BeautyThe Essence of Beauty

Thi k f t b t l t Think for a moment about several recent experiences of beauty in your own life.

What do those experiences have in common—not in terms of your emotional reaction, but in terms of whatever it was out there that caused you to respond in that way?

In other words, what is the essence of beauty itself?f y f


Beauty Transfixes & TransformsBeauty Transfixes & Transforms


The Social Contract, by Jean The Social Contract, by Jean Jacques Rousseau


Ethics and WomenEthics and Women

Luce Irigary Riane Eisler


Malcolm Potts & Thomas Malcolm Potts & Thomas Hayden


Ethics and FoodEthics and Food


Ethics and the PlanetEthics and the Planet


From Dawn to Decadence, by From Dawn to Decadence, by Jacques Barzun


The Constant GardenerThe Constant Gardener


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