*****
GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE
Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address:
waholst@telus.net
Colleagues List Web Site:
http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com
"Quicklinks" are included with many items
at the beginning of this issue. To get a more
complete picture, however, scroll down to
find your special selection in the body of
the blog.
Note that not all items here have links.
*****
Dear Colleagues -
This week I bring you a book notice
of "Thomas Berry - Selected Writings"
I have been waiting for a volume like
this to appear for some time.
For old Berry fans and those new to him,
I believe this title is worth considering.
http://tinyurl.com/ph6mg4u
http://tinyurl.com/ka9vh5u
http://tinyurl.com/k3hqmdl
Please scroll down to read my thoughts
--
Colleague Contributions - this week are
provided below with these titles:
Jim Taylor (Okanagan, BC)
"Distorted Statistics Foment Hatred"
http://tinyurl.com/nn9g586
Martin Marty (Chicago, IL)
"Southern White Evangelical Decline"
http://tinyurl.com/kqb74xm
Ron Rolheiser (San Antonio, TX)
"Three Kinds of Spiritualities"
http://tinyurl.com/p5rolkw
John G. Stackhouse, Jr. (Vancouver, BC)
"How North American Evangelicals Worship"
http://tinyurl.com/phjmcwr
--
Net Notes -
"Sistine Chapel Makeover" - this
heavily visited near-centre of Rome
has gotten a facelift (UCA News)
http://tinyurl.com/n2yc4xg
"Missing Church, Not Religion" -
The author does a survey of the three
best-sellers by Marilynne Robinson
(Duke U. Leadership, Anglican Journal)
http://tinyurl.com/psegkg3
"Mormon Underwear Revealed" - where
there is secrecy there is curiosity. Now
you can learn about it all from the LDS
church itself (The Atlantic Online)
http://tinyurl.com/op9ru43
"Truth, Then Justice in El Salvador" -
progress seems to be taking place
in a land of chronic unrest, thank God
(America Magazine, Catholic News Service)
http://tinyurl.com/nhassuz
http://tinyurl.com/pm6oaap
"90% of Iraqi Christians Displaced" -
a sad development; Christians have
lived here since the faith began two
thousand years ago (Christian Post)
http://tinyurl.com/pu7u3qy
"Crisis in US/Israeli Relations is Here" -
it appears that Obama has reached the
end of his patience with obstinate
Israeli leadership - is this a sign of change?
(The Atlantic Online)
http://tinyurl.com/q294hvy
"Ebola May Have Reached Turning Point" -
have we come to a tipping point in the
battle against the plague? (Guardian, UK)
http://tinyurl.com/kpcz5td
"Francis: "Evolution and Creation 'Both Right'" -
this week, the pope speaks about religion
and its relationship to science, but media
coverage on the whole seems amateurish
and uninformed (The Guardian UK,
Catholic News Agency, Time Magazine)
http://tinyurl.com/n4s9uhb
http://tinyurl.com/peelytz
http://tinyurl.com/l75mznq
Two Reviews: "America's Pastor" and
"Fail - Finding Hope" - a British assessment
of a book on American evangelist Billy Graham,
and a positive look at failure in ministry
(The Tablet, UK, Englewood Review of Books)
http://tinyurl.com/qfom7ry
http://tinyurl.com/nq4bfbw
"Role of Religion in the Growth of
German Democracy" - an in-depth look
at how the church in Germany has helped
to build democracy since re-unification
(Sightings) http://tinyurl.com/nfjf9zn
"What Mandela's Jail Cell Teaches Us
About Leadership" - Jim Wallis of
Sojourners reflects on his visit last
summer to Nelson Mandela's jail cell
(Sojourners) http://tinyurl.com/p3j3rzr
--
Wisdom of the Week -
Vigen Guroian, Henri Nouwen, Teresa of Avila,
Angela Y. Davis and Mother Teresa teach us.
Provided by Sojourners and Bruderhof online.
Please scroll down.
--
On This Day -
October 26th-November 2nd
From the archives of the New York Times:
"New York Stock Exchange Crashes"
http://tinyurl.com/6wjx7s6
"Indira Gandhi Assassinated by
Two of Her Sikh Bodyguards"
http://tinyurl.com/c82lhwh
--
Closing Thought - Martin Luther
Please scroll to the end.
(end)
Fall 2014 Adult Spiritual Development
ACTS Ministry Programs at St. David's
and at the University of Calgary
Scroll to the end of my blog if you are interested.
---
With November on the calendar, we are
moving definitively away from summer
and looking toward winter where we live.
Please continue to walk with me!
Wayne
**********
SPECIAL ITEM
Book Notice -
THOMAS BERRY
Selected Writings
on the Earth Community
With an Introduction by
Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim
Modern Spiritual Masters Series
Orbis/Maryknoll New York,
(to be released Nov. 10th, 2014)
200 pages. $16.62 CAD. Paper.
ISBN #978-1-62698-095-2.
Author's Bio:
Thomas Berry (1914-2009), was a priest,
a "geologian," and a historian of religions.
He was an early and significant voice
awakening religious sensibilities to the
environmental crisis. He is particularly
well-known for articulating a "universe
story" that explores the world-changing
implications of contemporary science.
Berry pointed the way to an ecological
spirituality attuned to our place in nature
and giving rise to an ethic of responsibility
and care for the Earth.
This work, timed to mark the centenary
of his birth, will offer the best guide to one
of the true prophets and spiritual masters
of our time.
See wiki bio: http://tinyurl.com/ph6mg4u
--
Publisher's Promo:
"The essential collection of Thomas Berry.
Introduced with an elegant biography written
by his extraordinary students, there is no better
way into this genre-defying figure."
- Willis Jenkins, The University of Virginia
"Thomas Berry offers big picture thinking,
big-hearted love, and big screen imagination,
both scientific and religious about how the
cosmos can thrive. New readers and longtime
students of Berry alike will find this volume a
portable summary of his best work."
- Mary E. Hunt, Women's Alliance for Theology,
Ethics & Ritual
"This important selection of Berry's writings
Invites us to consider our contributions to a
functional cosmology that is capable of nurturing,
revising, and sustaining our spiritual intuitions
and our beloved earth community."
- Barbara A. Holmes, author, Race and the Cosmos
--
Editors' Bio:
Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim are co-directors
of the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale. They
were students of Thomas Berry and have devoted
themselves to his legacy by editing his books and
producing the Emmy-award winning film, Journey
of the Universe, with Brian Swimme. They are
editors of Berry's The Christian Future and the
Fate of the Earth. Tucker also edited Berry's
The Great Work, Evening Thoughts, and
The Sacred Universe.
--
Editors' Words:
Thomas Berry - Living a New Story
Thomas Berry was an original and prophetic voice
for the Earth community. As a gifted speaker, an
original thinker, and an inspiring teacher, he
reshaped our thinking about human-Earth relations.
Drawing on his broad knowledge of world religions
and his deep thinking for the journey of the universe,
he identified "story" as a means of guiding humans
into the future.
Berry was an outspoken advocate for the environment.
Early on, he called for the restitution of habitat for
biodiversity, not simply as a conservation measure,
but in recognition of the intrinsic value of nature.
In fact, some of his most insightful writing and
publications occurred after he was sixty-five and
had retired from teaching.
His last books include "Dream of the Earth"(1988)
"The Great Work" (1999) and "Evening Thoughts"
(2006). "The Christian Future and the Fate of the
Earth" along with "The Sacred Universe" were
published in 2009 the year he died, aged ninety five.
He was a scholar, teacher and mentor who called us
to an awakening and exodus from our sleep. He
was deeply influenced by Thomas Aquinas and
Teilhard de Chardin. He introduced the concept
of various earth eras and invented the "Ecozoic
Era' as the emerging period in which humans
could recover their creative orientation to Earth.
The layers of Berry's thinking are multiple
and have organic continuity with one another.
(Many of this insights are only now starting
to make sense to many of us today)
- from the Introduction
--
Author's Words:
When we look back over our lives we realize
that whatever of significance we have achieved
has been the fulfillment of earlier thoughts and
dreams that sustained us when we encountered
difficulties through the years...
Beyond the dreams of our personal future, there
are the shared dreams that give shape and form
to each of our cultural traditions. Because the
other world cannot be explained by any technical
or scientific language, we present this other
world by analogy and myth and story. Even beyond
childhood, this is a world of the human mind...
What we look for is no longer the Pax Romana,
the peace of imperial Rome, nor is it simply
the Pax Humana, the peace among humans,
but the Pax Gaia, the peace of Earth and every
living being on Earth. This is the original and
final peace, the peace granted by whatever
power it is that brings our world into being.
Within the universe, the planet Earth with all
its wonder is the place for the meeting
"of the divine and the human."
- from "Evening Thoughts"
-
My Thoughts:
A little more than twenty years ago, when
Thomas Berry was in his late seventies, I
was invited to attend one of his week-long
"Fate of the Earth" retreats, sponsored by a
partner Toronto Catholic order and locally
handled by the indefatigable Ann Lonergan,
a sister to the famous Canadian theologian.
The event was held on the north shore of
Lake Erie at a church centre near Port Dover
and - even then we were beginning to experience
something of the ecological reclamation that was
taking place on that famous lake that serves as a
border between Pennsylvania and Ontario.
I look upon that experience with much gratitude
because it not only spoke to me first about the
healing of the earth, but also to some healing
in my own life after some years of turmoil.
(The Canadian religious were even willing to
cover my costs, but I succeeded in paying them
back after some months! This helped me learn to
risk venturing into some new worlds of thinking
and to follow advice from my old colleague
Herb O'Driscoll who had suggested that if I
would be willing to launch into the deep, God
would be there, ahead of me.)
Berry, like many great seers was not always
that easy to understand, even though he
made great efforts at clarity. It was just
that he seemed so far ahead of us at the
time that his ideas were - well, 'new age'
to say the least - and especially to those
of us whose formation had largely been
from the era of 'Christian classical.'
For example, we did a Sunday liturgy of
dancing around a huge oak tree on the
grounds, and I wondered at the time
about what all that silliness meant.
During his week with the group, I asked
if I could have a personal chat with him;
and he obliged! He invited me to his
unkempt bedroom at the retreat and
gave me almost an hour of his time.
I look upon that experience as a paradigm-
changing opportunity in my life. That was
not so much because of what he said, but
because of my experience with this man of
such presence and depth. His story-telling
ability was even more meaningful during
that one-on-one than his public discourse
had been.
--
I have been waiting for this new book -
a "summa" of Berry's theology as a
"geologian" - for some time.
I am grateful to the editors and to my
friends at Orbis like Robert Ellsberg for
initiating the spirituality series in which
this book now appears.
Now, at least, I have between the covers
of one book something to remind me of
what I had strained eagerly to understand
from him then. Here is some logic I can
follow where previously I had seemingly
been running on intuition alone.
Here we find words informed by Christian
hope even though his frame of reference
calls for continuing paradigm adjustment.
Because they knew him so well, Tucker and
Grim are able to sift through his large
oeuvre and come up with some real gems.
And they keep following one after another!
They share this in a gradual, developing way
so that even those new to Berry can explore
their way through his evolving thought over
many decades.
It is also nice to know that a book of such
shelf value is now available for such a
modest price.
Here indeed is a keeper!
I believe that Berry will continue to make
more sense to all of us as time goes on.
-
Buy the Book -
From the Publisher:
http://tinyurl.com/ka9vh5u
From Amazon.ca:
http://tinyurl.com/k3hqmdl
*****
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
JIM TAYLOR
Okanagan, BC
Web Log
Oct. 26th, 2014
"Distorted Statistics Foment Hatred"
http://tinyurl.com/nn9g586
--
MARTIN MARTY
Chicago, IL
Sightings
October 27th, 2014
"Southern White Evangelical Decline"
http://tinyurl.com/kqb74xm
--
RON ROLHEISER
San Antonio TX
Personal Web Site
October 26th, 2014
"Three Kinds of Spiritualities"
http://tinyurl.com/p5rolkw
--
JOHN G. STACKHOUSE, JR.
Vancouver, BC
Web Site
October 31st, 2014
"How American Evangelicals Worship"
http://tinyurl.com/phjmcwr
*****
NET NOTES
SISTINE CHAPEL MAKEOVER
Exquisite Lighting Improvement
UCA News
Oct. 30th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/n2yc4xg
--
MISSING CHURCH, NOT RELIGION
Why I Read Marilynne Robinson
Duke Divinity Leadership/
Anglican Journal Online
October 7th/19th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/psegkg3
--
MORMON UNDERWEAR REVEALED
LDS Church Provides Demonstration
The Atlantic Online
Octobert 22nd, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/op9ru43
--
TRUTH, THEN JUSTICE IN EL SALVADOR
Memory as Well as Healing
America Magazine
November 10th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/nhassuz
"Music Strikes a Chord in Fighting
El Salvador Street Crime"
Catholic News Service
October 30, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/pm6oaap
--
90% OF IRAQ'S CHRISTIANS DISPLACED
Only 30 of 600 Families Remain in Bagdad
The Christian Post
October 28th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/pu7u3qy
--
CRISIS IN US/ISRAELI RELATIONS IS HERE
Obama is Very Angry Over Current Politics
The Atlantic
October 28th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/q294hvy
--
EBOLA "MAY HAVE REACHED TURNING POINT"
International Cooperation is Credited
The Guardian, UK
October 29th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/kpcz5td
--
FRANCIS: "EVOLUTION AND
CREATION 'BOTH RIGHT'"
Faith and Science Compatible
The Guardian, UK
October 29th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/n4s9uhb
"Vatican Astronomer Says
Pope's Words No Game-Changer"
Catholic News Agency
October 30th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/peelytz
"Media Coverage of Pope
Often a Lot of Papal Bull"
Time Magazine,
October 31st, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/l75mznq
--
Two Reviews -
AMERICA'S PASTOR:
BILLY GRHAM AND
THE SHAPING OF A NATION
A British Review Perspective
The Tablet, UK
October 30th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/qfom7ry
"Fail: Finding Hope and Grace
Amid Ministry Failure"
Book Describes
Value in Lack of Success
Englewood Review of Books
October 24th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/nq4bfbw
--
THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN THE
GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY IN GERMANY
Sightings
October 30th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/nfjf9zn
--
WHAT CAN MANDELA'S JAIL CELL
TEACH US ABOUT LEADERSHIP?
Jim Wallis, Sojourners
October 30th, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/p3j3rzr
*****
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
I think gardening is nearer to godliness
than theology. True gardeners are both
iconographers and theologians insofar as
these activities are the fruit of prayer
‘without ceasing.’ Likewise, true gardeners
never cease to garden,not even in their
sleep, because gardening is not just
something they do. It is how they live.
- Vigen Guroian
--
| Gratitude is not a simple emotion or an obvious attitude. It is a difficult discipline to constantly reclaim my whole past as the concrete way in which God has led me to this moment and is sending me into the future. It is hard precisely because it challenges me to face the painful moments – experiences of rejection and abandonment, feelings of loss and failure – and gradually to discover in them the pruning hands of God purifying my heart for deeper love, stronger hope, and broader faith. - Henri Nouwen -- Oh God, I don’t love you, I don’t even want to love you, but I want to want to love you! - Teresa of Avila -- No march, movement, or agenda that defines manhood in the narrowest terms and seeks to make women lesser partners in this quest for equality can be considered a positive step. - Angela Y. Davis --
|
*****
ON THIS DAY
October 26th-November 2nd
From the archives of the New York Times
"New York Stock Exchange Crashes"
http://tinyurl.com/6wjx7s6
"Indira Gandhi Assassinated by
Two of Her Sikh Bodyguards"
http://tinyurl.com/c82lhwh
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT - MARTIN LUTHER
Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would
go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.
(end)
*****
Fall 2014 Adult Spiritual Development
ACTS Ministry Programs at St. David's
and at the University of Calgary:
MONDAY NIGHT STUDY (Ten Weeks)
September 15th - November 24th
7-00-9:00PM TM Room
(Thanksgiving Day exempted)
"A Fair Country" by John Ralston Saul
http://tinyurl.com/pvs5e3w
"Medicine Walk" by Richard Wagamese
http://tinyurl.com/o95nho4
Led by Jock McTavish and Wayne Holst
Link to study:
http://tinyurl.com/kkca8rp
--
MONDAY NIGHT 'BOOKEND EVENT'
December 1st
7:00-9:15PM TM Room
Sponsored by the Bible Study Group
"From Jesus to Christ" -
How Jesus Became God
by Bart Ehrmann
A PBS Video Series - Part Two
(total of two hours in length)
http://tinyurl.com/iedt
Hospitality and discussion
Led by Jock McTavish and Wayne Holst
All welcome. Hospitality donation only
--
THURSDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY
(Twelve Weeks)
September 18th - December 4th
10:00-11:00AM TM Room
"From Jesus to Christ IV -
A Study of the Book of Acts"
Led by Wayne Holst
No charge.
Study resource -
The DK Complete Bible Handbook
http://tinyurl.com/odxlv7q
--
UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY
FAITH AND SPIRITUALITY CENTRE
Interfaith Chaplains' Book Studies
For faculty, students, staff, campus guests -
Fall 2014
Native Centre Board Room
McEwan Student Centre
Fridays, 12:00 - 1:00 PM
Oct 17, 24, 31, Nov 7, 14, 21
(six sessions)
"Everything Belongs:
The Gift of Contemplative Prayer"
by Richard Rohr.
http://tinyurl.com/luljvww
http://tinyurl.com/ntxcp2v
Participants are encouraged to attend
all six sessions. However, you may attend
one or more sessions on a drop-in basis.
Book cost $15.00
*****
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