Book Discussion Group
Sponsored by the First Unitarian Church of Sioux City
this group meetings every other month. Newcomers are always welcome!
Thurs. April 17, 2008 - 7:00 PM in the Kane Room of the Church House
Facilitated by Jan Kooiker
"Reason and Reverence: Religious Humanism for the 21st Century"
by William R. Murry.
Available used from Amazon for $12.
Book Description: Answering the critics who find humanism lacking the power to inspire, Murry brings a new vision of religious humanism, one that evokes compassion, spirituality and a language of reverence while grounded in reason, community, social responsibility, science and ethics. Along with an accessible account of humanism's historical development, theological challenges and future directions, on these pages readers will discover a more open and inclusive humanism, one that speaks to the heart as well as the mind.
About the Author: William R. Murry served as president and academic dean of Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago from 1997 to 2003, was minister of River Road Unitarian Church in Bethesda, Maryland from 1981 to 1997 and has been a college professor and a college chaplain. He holds a doctorate in theology and culture from Drew University and a master of divinity degree from Yale University. He is the author of A Faith for All Seasons: Liberal Religion and the Crises of Life (Rover Road Press). He and his wife, Barbara, have three children and four grandchildren.
May 29, 2008 - 7:00 PM in the Kane Room of the Church House
Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future
by Margaret J. Wheatley. 145 pages (very quick read).
Available at Amazon, used from $3.50.
Book Description: "I believe we can change the world if we start talking to one another again." With this simple declaration, Margaret Wheatley proposes that citizens band together with their colleagues and friends to create the solutions for social change, both locally and globally, that are so badly needed. Such change will not come from governments or corporations but from the ageless process of thinking together in conversation. Turning to One Another encourages this process. Part One explores the power of conversation and the conditions -- simplicity, personal courage, real listening, and diversity -- that support it. Part Two provides ten "conversation starters" -- questions that in Wheatley's experience have led people to share their deepest beliefs, fears, and hopes.
About the Author: Margaret Wheatley is president of The Berkana Institute and an internationally acclaimed speaker and writer. She has been an organizational consultant and researcher since 1973 and a dedicated global citizen since her youth. Her first work was as a public school teacher and urban education administrator in New York, and a Peace Corps volunteer in Korea. She also has been Associate Professor of Management at the Marriott School of Management, Brigham Young University, and Cambridge College, Massachusetts.
For the past decade, she has been working with an unusually broad variety of organizations on all continents. Her clients and audiences range from the head of the U.S. Army to twelve year old Girl Scouts, from CEOs to small town ministers. This diversity includes large corporations, government agencies, healthcare institutions, foundations, public schools, colleges, major church denominations, the armed forces, professional associations, and monasteries. All of these organizations are wrestling with a common dilemma—how to maintain their integrity and effectiveness as they cope with relentless pressures for speed and change in chaotic environments. But there is also another similarity: A common human desire to live together more harmoniously, more humanely. |
