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True Godliness doesn't turn men [and women] out of the world, but enables them to live better in it, and excites their endeavors to mend it.
William Penn
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SPIRITUAL RESOURCES FOR TRANSFORMING EMPIRE
What is going on as America becomes global?
How is empire not only outward but a phenomenon of inward spirit?
What are spiritual alternatives to empire? How would they transform our society?
Amidst the global crisis and our efforts to understand and respond, how can we take
joy in our present being?
Sixteen Sunday afternoon discussions 3-5 pm of various readings—spiritual, historical, political, economic, ecological, sociological.
Led by Mel & Beth Keiser, Dan Snyder, Tony Bing, and others.
PDF of Handout
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I. Jesus and Rome: The Witness of an Obscure Jewish Prophet–Nov 11, 18, 25
John Dominic Crossan, God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now (2007)
II. U.S. Global Imperialism–Dec 2, 9
David Griffin, et al. The American Empire and the Commonwealth of God: A Political, Economic, and Religious Statement (2006) selections; Jonathan Schell, The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People (2003) selections
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III. The Empire Internalized: Awakening the Inward Witness–Jan 20, 27
Walter Wink, Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination (1992) selections; Daniel O Snyder, Listening from Depth: Freeing America’s Starving Angel (book in process) selections
IV. The Arrogance of Power and the Inner Revolution–Feb 3, 10, 17, 24
William Shakespeare, King Lear
No fees, except for handouts; donations gratefully received.
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V. Living Into Goodness While Dismantling Empire–Mar 16, 30, Apr 6, 13
Possible readings: Michael Lerner, The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right (2006) selections; Jonathan Schell, The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People (2003) selections; Robert McGahey, “The Imperative of Ecological Faith in a Warming World”
Contemplative and Celebrative Conclusion May 3, Saturday, 9-3
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PASSIONATE ENTANGLEMENTS: WRESTLING WITH SAINTS AND ARTISTS
Four Sunday afternoon presentations 3:00-5:00 pm
Three Friday evening “After-words” twelve days later 5:30-8 pm
This series presents scholars reflecting upon the results of their passionate entanglement with an illustrious figure from the past. There is something contagious about being in relationship to people who are fully alive. Artists and saints manifest such contagious vitality as they wrestle with their angels and demons. Musing on the vividness of such figures is one aim of the series, but the primary focus is on how these historical presences have become embrangled in what matters most in the presenters’ own lives. The “After-words” sessions twelve days later provide an option to chew on readings selected by the speaker and discuss them in a supper symposium with presenter and others who want to deepen their own engagement with the “m/use-able” past.
PDF of Handout
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Sun Nov 4, Fri Nov 16 – Becky Gould Gibson on St. Hild of Whitby
Becky Gibson’s Need-Fire (2007) dramatizes the intensity of Anglo-Saxon women’s choices as Christianity takes hold in Britain, opening up new options for belief and lifework. In this prize-winning volume of poems, St. Hild, renowned abbess of a double monastery at Whitby, and her Anglo-Saxon contemporaries are given voice as indomitable wrestlers with God. Becky Gould Gibson teaches English at Guilford College, and has published her poetry in journals, in anthologies, and in five collections–most recently, Aphrodite’s Daughter (2007), winner of Texas Review Press’s 2006 X. J. Kennedy Prize.
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Sun Jan 6, Fri Jan 18 – Jerry Godard on William Blake
In Mental Forms Creating: Blake Anticipates Freud, Jung and Rank (1983) Jerry Godard moves from close analysis of depth psychology towards an open-ended “spiritual engagement,” where continuing creation reigns and “truth” is never more than penultimate. In Eros Plays: Parts and Pieces of a Left-handed Psychology (1990), Blake’s spirit haunts the ”margins, interstices, the gaps between the lines.” It also frames his recent awakening and long-standing commitment to “Wildness.” Jerry Godard is Dana Professor Emeritus, Guilford College.
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Sun Mar 2, Fri Mar 14 – Elizabeth D. Kirk on Julian of Norwich
Standing in Unknowing is the phrase Julian of Norwich used to describe her stance when confronted by conflicting claims as she reflects on the sources of truth in her life. Kirk takes it as the title of her own culminating work where she explores how Julian’s profound openness to spiritual ambiguity illumines Chaucer, Langland, and other late fourteenth-century religious writers. Elizabeth D. Kirk is Israel J. Kapstein Professor Emerita of English, Brown University, the author of The Dream Thought of Piers Plowman (1972) and many published essays.
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Sun Apr 20 – Elizabeth B. Keiser on the Gawain–poet’s Cleanness
In Courtly Desire and Medieval Homophobia: The Legitimation of Sexual Pleasure in Cleanness and Its Contexts (1997) Beth Keiser ponders the Gawain-poet’s unique religious affirmation of sexual love supporting his outrage against homosexual desire. She will reflect on the personal impact of this poet’s works and other medieval writings, including St.Thomas on temperance.
Beth Keiser is Dana Professor Emerita of English, Guilford College.
No fee, except to cover cost of Friday suppers and texts; donations gratefully welcomed.
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Hatha Yoga Class
Beginner/Advanced Beginner
Bambi and Dru Favali
Mondays 3-4:30pm
Begin September 17
$10 @ session
828-713-2736
PDF of Handout
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Intuitive Painting Workshop
Gaetana Friedman
October 12-13 Fri & Sat
9am-5pm
$130 (materials included)
828-296-8168
PDF of Handout
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Meditative Dance Class
Barbara Nerenz-Kelley
Monthly on Thursdays
September 27 6-8pm
October 25 11am-1pm
November 29 11am-1pm
December 20 6-8pm
January 31 11am-1pm
February 28 11am-1pm
March 20 6-8pm
$12 @ session
828-299-7553
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Spinning Peace Workshop
Eileen Hallman
October 20 Saturday 9-noon
$50 (materials included)
828-669-1870
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Centering Prayer Class
Mahan Siler
January 12 Saturday 9-noon
Wednesday, Jan. 16, 23, 30
& February 6 6:30-8 pm
No fee; donation welcome
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Deep Dance
Barbara Nerenz-Kelley
Series of Six Thursdays
11am-1pm
March 27-May 1
$12 @ session
828-299-7553
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Writing the Nature of
Our Lives
Writing Workshop
Catherine Reid
Mar. 7 Friday 5:30-8pm
Mar. 8 Saturday 9am-3:30pm
$50 supper included
PDF of Handout
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Scholarships
Available
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Seeing: Exploring
an Inner Treasure
Gaetana Friedman
May 10 Saturday 9am-4pm
$60 materials included
828-296-8168
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Weekend
cost includes meals and registration.
(Reasonable accomodations ten-minute walk: B&Bs, 1919 hotel, and motels.)
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Present
Moment Massage Therapy By appointment, 828-664-9574
$50 hour / Margaret Jones, RN, LMBT
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More programs for 2008 will be listed as imagined/arranged.
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