Seminary for a Day – Saturday, January 28, 2023

Seminary for a Day – Saturday, January 28, 202312:30 p.m. – 5:35 p.m. Eastern Standard Time

TO:  UU Congregations, Fellowships and Churches

Your members and friends are cordially invited to join us virtually for Seminary for a Day on Saturday, January 28, at First Unitarian Portland. This year’s spiritual theme is Transcendentalism. 

Our keynote speaker is Rev. John Buehrens. Rev. Buehrens served as UUA President, 1993-2001. A prolific author, his most recent one about our heritage is CONFLAGRATION: How the Transcendentalists Sparked the American Struggle for Racial, Gender, and Social Justice (Beacon, 2020). 

Rev. Buehrens will offer a keynote on the first Unitarian Transcendentalist on the Pacific Coast, the Rev. Thomas Starr King. He exemplified key spiritual practices of the Transcendentalists that need renewal among us today: personal reflection (often in the form of keeping a journal), and deep interpersonal connections crossing conventional boundaries. 

In addition, Rev. Buehrens will offer a workshop entitled, “God Optional: Theologies Among Us Today.” John Buehrens and Rebecca Ann Parker surveyed the hope-filled thought patterns in progressive religion today in their book, A House for Hope: The Promise of Progressive Religion in the 21st Century (Beacon, 2010). While their framework borrows from a heritage of Judeo-Christian systematic theology, it also makes room for humanist, indigenous, and non-Western a/theologies. All such thinking, however, needs to meet some overriding and important tests to be effective. Tests which will be revealed in the workshop. 

Details:

 Registration is open until 4:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on Sunday, January 22nd. You will receive a link to join via email on January 23rd. There is a registration fee.

 Blessings,

Rev. Alison Miller | She/Her/Hers | Senior Minister

First Unitarian Portland

1034 S.W. 13th Ave. | Portland, OR 97205 | 503.228.6389 x272

www.firstunitarianportland.org