Spiritual Preparation, Workshop 8: Forrest Church, in the What Moves Us Program
Read in this order the resources included with this workshop:
- Leader Resource 1, Recovering Transcendentalist Universalism — Forrest Church
- Handout 1, Introducing Forrest Church
- Story, Forrest Church's Redemption Experiences
- Handout 2, Forrest Church's Theology
Then read:
- "Universalism: A Theology for the 21st Century" in UU World, November/December 2001
Below are five sections of questions and exercises to help you use the readings to enhance your knowledge and understanding of the Universalist Theology for the Twenty-First Century created by Church. The questions highlight the personal experiences of life and death that helped prompt Church to define religion as "our human response to the dual reality of being alive and having to die." You are invited to respond to some or all of the following in your theology journal:
I. Experiences of Awe
- Do you recall a time when you felt awe (or a feeling akin to it) stirred by an experience in nature or an encounter with other people? Describe the experience.
- Is this feeling of awe related to your Unitarian Universalist faith? Explain.
II. Forrest Church on Death and Dying
- Have you had an experience with death that might parallel Church's experience, or one that seems akin to you?
- If you have had such an experience, how did it affect your understanding of life, and more particularly of your own life?
- How would you characterize your attitude toward death and the relationship of this attitude to your Unitarian Universalist faith? How do matters of death relate to your own personal faith?
III. Church, Born Again
- Do you find Church's notion of being "born again" useful?
- In Church's terms, would you call yourself "born again"?
IV. Church's Attempt to Fill His "God-Shaped Hole"
- Have you ever felt spiritually empty? If so, how have you dealt with such feelings?
- What do you think of Church's description of emptiness as a "God-shaped hole?"
V. Church's Theology
- Church identifies a major function of theology as to interpret the text of creation. The foundation of his faith is not an absolute, rationally created and posited truth claim, but is rooted in feelings of awe and humility which are then theologically posited as "the existence of a power beyond our comprehension." First come feelings (direct experience), then thoughts (theological reflections) about them. Do you agree with Church?
- What do you think of Church's use of the image "Light" to conceptualize what all Unitarian Universalists and members of other religious traditions might share in common? Can you suggest an alternate image or feeling (or set thereof) that you might use when considering whether there is indeed a common emotional, experiential ground of your Unitarian Universalist faith and that of other faith traditions?
Before leading this workshop, review Workshop 1, Leader Resource 1, Accessibility Guidelines for Workshop Presenters.
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Last updated on Friday, December 9, 2011.
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