Workshop 10: Thandeka

Beautiful orange sunset over a deep blue ocean. — Tapestry is Sunsetting

The UUA is no longer updating Tapestry of Faith programs.

Part of What Moves Us: Unitarian Universalist Theology

In This Section

Introduction
From What Moves Us

We love beyond belief. — Thandeka This workshop introduces the Rev. Dr. Thandeka, author of the What Moves Us program, and her Unitarian Universalist Theology of Personal Experience. In this workshop, Thandeka presents in her own words the key assumptions that guided her creation of this Tapestry…
Workshop-at-a-Glance
From What Moves Us

Activity Minutes Opening 5 Activity 1: Experiences of a Change of Heart 10 Activity 2: Introducing Thandeka 5 Activity 3: Stories and Reflections 30 Activity 4: Testing Thandeka’s Theology of Personal Experience 20 Activity 5: Personal Experience — Large Group Reflection 15 Closing 5…
Spiritual Preparation
From What Moves Us

Read three stories from Thandeka: “Thandeka’s Change of Heart,” “A Lonely Soul in Community,” and “Doctrinal Freedom” (including the author’s reflections). What stories of your own come to mind in response to these stories? You may want to record your reflections in your theology journal.
Opening
From What Moves Us

Activity time: 5 minutes Materials for Activity Small worship table and cloth Chalice, candle and lighter or LED battery-operated candle Newsprint, markers, and tape Optional: Microphone Preparation for Activity Set up the altar or centering table with the cloth, chalice, candle and matches or…
Activity 1: Experiences of a Change of Heart
From What Moves Us

Activity time: 10 minutes Materials for Activity Participant journals Variety of writing and drawing implements Preparation for Activity If participants may need journals, obtain notebooks with unlined pages. Gather a variety of writing and drawing implements….
Activity 2: Introducing Thandeka
From What Moves Us

Activity time: 5 minutes Materials for Activity Participant journals Variety of writing and drawing materials Handout 1, Introducing Thandeka Optional: Microphone Preparation for Activity Prepare a copy of the handout for each participant. Description of Activity Briefly introduce the Rev. Dr.
Activity 3: Stories and Reflections
From What Moves Us

Activity time: 30 minutes Materials for Activity Story, “Thandeka’s Change of Heart” Story, “A Lonely Soul in Community” Story, “Doctrinal Freedom” Preparation for Activity Review the stories so that you are able to effectively read them aloud. Optional: Arrange for volunteers to read stories aloud.
Activity 4: Testing Thandeka's Theology of Personal Experience
From What Moves Us

Activity time: 20 minutes Materials for Activity Newsprint, markers, and tape Participant journals Variety of writing and drawing implements Handout 2, Thandeka’s Theology of Personal Experience Timepiece (minutes) Optional: Bell or chime Preparation for Activity Write these questions for small…
Activity 5: Personal Experience - Large Group Reflection
From What Moves Us

Activity time: 15 minutes Materials for Activity Newsprint, markers, and tape Optional: Microphone Preparation for Activity Write questions on newsprint, and post: Have you ever participated in a small group ministry program in your congregation? What were the strengths and weaknesses of the…
Closing
From What Moves Us

Activity time: 5 minutes Materials for Activity Small worship table and cloth Chalice, candle and lighter or LED battery-operated candle A copy of Singing the Living Tradition, the Unitarian Universalist hymnbook Taking It Home handouts for all participants Preparation for Activity Review the Tak…
Leader Reflection and Planning
From What Moves Us

After the workshop, co-leaders should make a time to get together to evaluate this workshop. Use these questions to guide your shared reflection and planning: What have you learned about your own ability to explore personal experiences as part of your own strategy to construct a Unitarian…
Taking It Home: Thandeka
From What Moves Us

We love beyond belief. — Thandeka Think of something you can do to create more of an ethos of care and compassion within your own congregation or small group ministry program. Explore the possibilities and make a commitment to make it happen. Consider what you have learned in the What Moves Us…
A Lonely Soul in Community
From What Moves Us

Several years ago, I spent an evening discussing Covenant Groups with members of a New England church who were interested in starting a small group ministry program….
Doctrinal Freedom
From What Moves Us

There was an extraordinary range of personal beliefs among the participants in my 2003 small group workshop in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. They were the delegates, staff and visitors attending the annual meeting of the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists….
Thandeka's Change of Heart
From What Moves Us

In July 2003, I went on an eight-day spiritual retreat at a Benedictine monastery in Wisconsin. The night before I left Chicago to drive to the monastery, as preparation for the journey, I made a series of decisions about what kinds of clothes I would need while on this retreat. I was thorough. I…
Handout 1: Introducing Thandeka
From What Moves Us

The Reverend Dr. Thandeka is cited as one of our most influential contemporary Unitarian Universalist theologians. She is the author of The Embodied Self: Friedrich Schleiermacher’s Solution to Kant’s Problem of the Empirical Self and Learning To Be White: Money, Race, and God in America, and…
Handout 2: Thandeka's Theology of Personal Experience
From What Moves Us

Love beyond belief, according to Thandeka, means that personal experience has three basic elements for us as Unitarian Universalists: (1) a change of heart, (2) a congregational ethos of care and compassion, (3) doctrinal freedom to explore various sources to explain our religious feelings and…
Leader Resource 1: Thandeka Portrait
From What Moves Us

This photograph was taken by Merrel D. Booker, Jr. Used with permission.
Leader Resource 2: Healing Community

Thandeka

From What Moves Us

From “Healing Community: Small group ministry as a spiritual practice,” UU World, January/February 2005. Recall a time when you were filled with joy. Where were you? At home? At a concert? A party? Maybe you were in a religious service or on vacation….
Leader Resource 3: Covenant Groups - What They Are and How They Work
From What Moves Us

Excerpted from A Covenant Group Source Book, second edition, revised (The Center for Community Values, 2003). Covenant Groups A covenant group is a small relational group made up of six to twelve people who meet regularly to establish and nurture themselves in their own beloved community….
Leader Resource 4: Future Designs for American Liberal Theology

Thandeka

From What Moves Us

Originally published in the American Journal of Theology and Philosophy (January 2009). Friedrich Schleiermacher gave liberal theology a foundation no one could find. He accomplished this amazing feat by making a neurological fact of consciousness the foundational referent for his new theological…
Find Out More
From What Moves Us

Contemporary Liberal Theology American Journal of Theology and Philosophy, January 2009. Dorrien, Gary, The Making of American Liberal Theology: Crisis, Irony, and Postmodernity, 1950-2005 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006). Grodzins, Dean, ed., A Language of Reverence, (Chicago:…