About the Event
"Do I Stay Christian?” Book Study & Discussion
Date | March 5, 12, 19, 2023
Time | 11:15 am - 12:15 pm
Location | Shalom Hall
Speaker | Rev. Dr. Ben Boswell
We live in a time of great change in the Christian faith in all corners of the world. Something new is striving to be born, just as has happened every 500 years starting with Christ’s Crucifixion. Brian McLaren’s latest book is an attempt to identify one possible direction our faith may take in these early days of the third millennium.
First, he takes a clear-eyed look back at the history of the Christian faith and goes over the good, the bad and the ugly that has happened in the name of Christianity. Later he provides ten solid reasons for leaving the faith, and still later, ten solid reasons for not leaving the faith. In the final section of the book, he paints a picture of a new and more fully human kind of faith whose values and practices come from genuine Christian teachings.
We are very fortunate to have a senior minister who is so capable of analyzing scripture in ways that are truly at the leading edge and on a par with many of the insights of the finest religious thinkers and practitioners of the faith such as Brian McLaren, Diana Butler Bass and others.
Please join us for this outstanding series and invite friends and family from other places to join us as well. And if you haven’t yet purchased your copy of the book, please consider getting it from our independent bookstore at Park Road Books. We have enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with them for many years, and we want to continue to support them.
Up Next
"Blazing Speed, Blinding Technology"
Date | March 26, 2023
Time | 11:15 am - 12:15 pm
Location | Shalom Hall
Speaker | Doug Tyler
If you are 40 or over, you have witnessed the emergence of a wave of technology that has no precedence in human history, in terms of its accessibility and power to infiltrate human lives on a moment-to-moment basis.
Yes, there have been other eras of technological development that have had a major impact on the way we live our lives, especially since the turn of the 20th century. The widespread use of telephones, autos, airplanes, radio, television, automation in industry, computers, nuclear power and highly advanced weapons systems have all had an extraordinary impact on the way we communicate and live our lives as individuals and as nations.
But with the onset of the Internet and super-powerful computers in the form of devices that nearly everyone uses, we find ourselves with capabilities that those who lived a mere 25 years ago could scarcely have imagined. Many of these capabilities do make our lives easier and sometimes more interesting, but at what cost?
Carl Jung, a visionary and one of the primary founders of modern depth psychology, wrote this about the acceleration of technology: “The tempo of the development of consciousness through science and technology was too rapid and left the unconscious, which could no longer keep up with it, far behind, therefore forcing it into a defensive position which expresses itself in a universal will to destruction.” Jung presciently wrote this in 1934.
Another way of putting it is that our pervasive and invasive technology is coming at the cost of our spiritual and psychological health and growth. Many of those graduating from high school today have an impaired ability to connect with themselves, their peers and adults in ways that previous generations did not. At any age, when we routinely move at such a fast pace, we have little time to process our day-to-day living and to deepen the relationships in our lives. This also includes the relationship to our own inner life--and when our inner lives are neglected and diminished, so too our outer lives will follow. Must we always march to the numbing drumbeat of technology?
Join us as we welcome Knoxville Jungian Analyst Doug Tyler to our congregation for a special presentation to discuss these and other aspects of technology and how we can better manage our relationship to it. Bring your practical and symbolic questions and comments as we discuss ways to more effectively mitigate the harmful impacts of technology and put ourselves back in the driver’s seat of our lives.
About this Class
The Faith and Community class is the place where outstanding speakers address a wide range of topics that impact us. We draw heavily on the arts, literary, social and spiritual issues as viewed from a faith perspective. We are made up of people from diverse religious and spiritual backgrounds and welcome adults of all ages to join us.
Questions? Contact Bruce Elliott