The Journey of Respondng to the Challenges of Climate Change from Within ContinuesIn this follow-up to last Spring's Seeing the Earth, Sensing the Sacred, we will continue to explore how we might respond to climate change as we look at additional spiritual guides and traditions, including the important voices of women in both the past and the present. We will also learn more about efforts currently underway to join spiritual principles with scientific knowledge as a path to greater ecological healing.

""Every creature is a glittering, glistening mirror of Divinity."                                                                                           Hildegard von Bingen

"The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe, the less taste we shall have for destruction. "                                                                                           Rachel Carson

"I thought the secret of life was obvious: be here now, love as if your whole life depended on it, and try to get hold of a giant panda."                                                                                              Anne Lamott

Please note: this will be a ZOOM  course only due to conflicts in our physical space.

You do not need to have participated in the initial course last Spring. We will begin with a quick summary of what we covered as a review for those who were there and an introduction for newcomers.

Paul Doherty is an armchair theologian with experience in music, broadcasting, and ministry. He has also been teaching for several years at two Maine senior colleges, including South Coast.

10-11:30   September 27, October 4, October 11.

Our species has a rare and perplexingcombination of moral tendencies: we can be the nastiest of species and also the nicest. How to understand this? Evolution science provides and understanding. So also do many religions, especially Roman Catholicism and Theravada Buddhism. We will explore each of these understandings. The BIG QUESTION: How might the balance be shifted...... away from nasty, in favor of nice? 

Suggested readings: 

Richard Wrangham    THE GOODNESS PARADOX. THE STRANGE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VIRTUE AND VIOLENCE IN HUMAN EVOLUTION. And brief handouts.

STEVE PIKER is an anthropologist with fieldwork in Thailand and the US. He has spent 44 years at Swarthmore College and has offerred many courses of four of Maine senior colleges. His career long interests are human evolution and religion. 

Fridays: 10-11:30  Oct 18  Oct 25  Nov 1, Nov 8, Nov 15, Nov 22

on ZOOM