Personal Theology Archives
Past Seminars
- Personal Theology: "What is Enduring in UU Identity?" Rev. Jay Atkinson
- 11-17-2024
UUCB member, historian and emeritus minister, Rev. Jay Atkinson, will talk with us about “What is Enduring in our Unitarian Universalist Identity.”
With the results of the election now known, there will be much discussion with Rev. Jay about our UU identity and values.
This presentation will be quite engaging. - Personal Theology: "Keeping the Heart Open in Uncertain Times," James Baraz, co-founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center
- 11-03-2024
UUCB Personal Theology is delighted to have James Baraz, co-founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center as our speaker on Nov 3, 2024. He is actively working on the upcoming election and understands that the closer we get to election day, the more stress we are feeling. His talk, “Keeping the Heart Open in Uncertain Times,” is designed to help us keep an open heart and develop balance in tough times. Also, he has a fondness for UUCB as he and his wife, Jane, were married here approximately 42 years ago!
These are James’ words:
In these times with so much uncertainty and divisiveness, most of us want what we think is the best for our society and for those we love. Because we care so much, we can easily get caught in worry, fear, anger and despair. That is when our spiritual practice is needed most. How can we use it to not get caught in “othering”, to deepen compassion for those who are motivated by hate, to develop a balance of mind in unpredictable circumstances and to have love be the source of our engagement? We will explore these topics in our time together.
Picture of James Baraz, co-founder of Spirit Rock Meditation center 
- Personal Theology: Report from Transylvania, Anne Greenwood and Stephanie Ann Blythe
- 10-27-2024
If you’re new to UUCB, you may not know that UUCB has a partner church in Transylvania. Yes! UUCB is one of many UU congregations with a long-established relationship with a Transylvanian church. We make pilgrimages to our partner church village every few years, and help support their students. Our mission is to join with our partners in faith in Homoródújfalu to exchange the stories of our lives, to deepen our faith, to share our learnings and resources in order to support each other’s dreams.
UUCB members Anne Greenwood and Stephanie Ann Blythe will provide a report on their recent travels to our sister church in Transylvania with fascinating pictures and stories. For a deep dive into the backstory of our social justice commitment to our partner church in Homoródújfalu, click HERE.
UUCB Members, Anne Greenwood and Stephanie Ann Blythe report on Transylvania Trip - Personal Theology: Love at the Center: Rev. Sheri Prud'homme
- 10-06-2024
Love at the Center: Theological Reflections on the UUA’s newly revised Article II
Rev. Dr. Sheri Prud’homme (she/her) is on the core faculty of Starr King School for the Ministry and an ordained minister of religious education. Her doctoral dissertation focused on Rev. Thomas Starr King’s use of Yosemite as sacred text and his theology of nature. She has published articles related to UU history and theology. Her first book, Gather the Spirit: History of the First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 1869-2000, received the UU History and Heritage Congregational History Prize. She lives in Berkeley and enjoys hiking in the East Bay Hills.
Rev. Dr. Sheri Prudhomme Personal Theology speaker - Personal Theology: Dr. Win Williams, ‘The Pandemic as a Rite of Initiation and Our Missing Third Step’
- 09-29-2024
UUCB Member, Win Williams has a doctorate in physics from UC Berkeley. As well as participating in choirs over the years, he has been a student of Michael Meade. Win will draw on what he has learned from Michael Meade to discuss what we experience when we face Life’s challenges, and how we as a community reintegrate members who have been through these challenges with healing and honoring what those members have experienced i.e. the ‘missing third step.’
Below is Dr. Williams description of his presentation:
“The pandemic as a rite of initiation, and our missing third step.”
My premise is that there’s a structure to the archetype of initiation, namely: separation, ordeal, and return to community. We’re missing that third step in a variety of initiatory experiences that occur in our culture. Whenever someone deals with a loss or medical challenge, an addiction or other significant life-interrupting challenges, there is a separation and an ordeal. Rarely though do we understand how to welcome people back into community in a way that is healing and “wholing” and honors what they have been through, the humility and wisdom they have gained, and granting them new authority with new responsibility which they are now capable of handling in a way which supports our highest outcome for all concerned. I can include a little about how I’ve grown in the challenges faced with Cindi which accelerated (both growth and challenges) in the months before and during the pandemic, and which shaped the landscape of my pandemic ordeal, even as all of us were in the pandemic together but grappling with our own individual challenges.
LINK TO SLIDES FROM PRESENTATION
- Personal Theology: Dr. Rosemary McNatt, President of Starr King School for the Ministry
- 09-15-2024
Rev. Dr. Rosemary McNatt, President of Starr King School for the Ministry, is our first speaker for the Personal Theology program for 2024-25. Rev. Dr. McNatt was a writer and former editor of the New York Times Book Review before being ordained as a UU minister. She served as Senior Minister of The Fourth Universalist Society of New York. She has served as the President of Starr King for the Ministry for over 10 years. See full bio below her picture.
The Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt became President of Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, CA on July 1, 2014. For 13 years, she was Senior Minister of The Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York, a 175-year old Unitarian Universalist congregation on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, she is a graduate of Yale University and Drew Theological Seminary.
The Rev. McNatt was an editor and widely anthologized writer for more than 20 years before answering the call to ordained ministry. She is a former editor at the New York Times Book Review; the author of three books, including her memoir, “Unafraid of the Dark;” a former contributing columnist for Beliefnet.com; a former commentator on MSNBC; a contributing editor to UU World, the magazine of the Unitarian Universalist Association; and a cultural critic whose work appears regularly in The Huffington Post, The New York Times Book Review, Essence and other print and online publications. Her current projects include serving as a co-editor for a planned anthology of Unitarian Universalist historical writings, as well as continuing research into the multiracial liberal religious coalitions of early 20th century Chicago.
- Summer Forum: "Making Room for the Stories We Don't See," Presenter, Charlie Clason, UUCB Intern
- 08-18-2024
- Second semester Junior at Smith College majoring in American Studies and minoring in Government
- Involved with Leaders for Equity-Centered and Action-Based Design (LEAD) scholars at Smith. Accepted into the 2023 student cohort and returning to be a Teacher’s Assistant for the incoming 2024 cohort this fall.
- 2021 Berkeley High School graduate – Communication Arts and Sciences department.
- Six years of peer health education background: Sexual Health Information from Teens (SHIFT) at Berkeley High, former Community Health Organizer (CHO) at Smith.
Please give yourself a gift on August 18 by attending Summer Forum’s presentation by UUCB Intern, Charlie Clason at 9:30 a.m. in-person in the Fireside Room or on Zoom. Link is above.
Charlie has spent this 2024 summer at UUCB sitting in on various program meetings, helping with different projects such as social justice tabling and talking with congregants about how their justice efforts relate to their spirituality, bringing to these activities her perspective and wisdom. While Charlie’s internship is non-ministerial, she specifically chose UUCB to complete her Smith College funded work experience. She has fallen in love with UUCB and we with her.
Charlie’s Summer Forum “Making Room for the Stories We Don’t See” will explore her observations during this time and engage participants in a collaborative discussion on what it means to embody Beloved Community.
A little background on Charlie:
- Personal Theology Presenter, UUCB Member, Dr. David Belden, "So then, how do we change the world?"
- 05-19-2024
We are delighted to have new UUCB member, Dr. Dave Belden, presenting to Personal Theology. This 2024 final presentation for Personal Theology is so informative. Dave’s wealth of real world experience in restorative justice will be riveting.
The title of his talk is, “So then, how do we change the world? My journey from the Oxford Group via the Left and the UUs to Restorative Justice.”
BIO:
David Belden acquired a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford in order to understand the cultic religious movement he was raised in: the Oxford Group (from which Alcoholics Anonymous emerged in the 1930s).By the time Dave was born in 1949, it had renamed itself Moral Rearmament (MRA). He was raised in its communal HQ in London. At 18 he worked with it in India for six months and grew passionate about ending global poverty.
MRA promised that it was the only effective way to change the world. After giving it his utmost for five years Dave gave up on it and joined the opposite team: the secular Left, which made a similar promise. He and his group launched Campaign Coffee, the first fair trade commodity in Britain, to highlight the exploitation of the global coffee trade.
At age 32, burnt out on movements and organizations of any kind, right or left, religious or secular, in some serious despair, he fortuitously met and married an American, Debi Clifford, and emigrated to the US to marry her.
He went solo as a writer of feminist science fiction, carpenter, adjunct professor, and business writer. The first community to draw him out of his loner existence was the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills. That led to the Network of Spiritual Progressives and a job as managing editor of Tikkun magazine in Berkeley (Tikkun Olam means to heal and repair the world in Hebrew). Since leaving Tikkun in 2011 he has dedicated himself to restorative justice.
- Personal Theology - Dr. Victoria Lee, "The Poetry of Rumi"
- 05-05-2024
On Sunday, May 5, 2024 at 9:30 a.m. for Personal Theology, we will be gifted to have Dr. Victoria Lee share with us her most beloved Rumi poems. Victoria will be ON ZOOM and not in-person. The Zoom presentation will be streamed to the Fireside Room audience and shown on the large TV Monitor. Many of you already know that Rumi’s poetry offers profound psychological and emotional benefits. His verses often delve into themes of love, unity, and spiritual growth.
Treat yourself and attend this nourishing experience of deep peace and connection with Dr. Victoria, our resident Rumi scholar!
Dr. Victoria shared resources to her favorite RUMI books and YouTube Videos. Click HERE to view the PDF.
Dr. Victoria Lee Rumi Expert - Personal Theology - Heaven Walker, Dir of Religious Education, "Aphrodite the Alchemical Goddess..."
- 04-28-2024
The full title of Heaven Walker’s talk is “Aphrodite the Alchemical Goddess, Archetypal Psychology, and
Healing.” We are so delighted to have Heaven present to us on the magical power of power and transformation.
And she will connect us to our inner Greek Goddess (no matter your current gender) and how we can be more creative, loving and healing to ourselves and the world.This will be Heaven’s last presentation to UUCB as she will be departing UUCB to start ministerial studies in the next step in her spiritual ministry. We’re grateful for this time she is giving to prepare and deliver this wonderful Personal Theology talk.
- Personal Theology - Tess Snook O'Riva, Executive Director, "How UUCB budgets its monies"
- 04-14-2024
Our wonderful Executive Director, Tess Snook O’Riva, has asked for this Personal Theology time to share with our congregation the ins and outs of the UUCB budgeting process. Tess jokes that formulating the annual budget for UUCB could be compared to the process of making sausage. But she takes very seriously how the church spends our pledge monies, our rental income and income from special events.
So, if you think that budget talks are boring, it means that you’ve never had Tess talk to you about how we spend our monies. You’re in for a treat, Seriously!! Okay maybe not a treat but certainly an enlightening and transparent hour on how our UUCB budget is formulated and WHY.
You’ll definitely come away with a comprehensive understanding from Tess about our budgeting process; and, of course, Tess will answer any profound questions that you may come up with to stump her!
- Personal Theology: Josh Kornbluth, "Some Thoughts on Empathy"
- 03-17-2024
Performing artist, Josh Kornbluth, will be presenting “Some Thoughts on Empathy” to UUCB’s Personal Theology program. Josh has been performing autobiographical monologues, on stages across the country and around the world, for over 30 years. He has written and starred in two feature films, Haiku Tunnel and Love & Taxes, both directed by his brother Jacob Kornbluth. His book Red Diaper Baby collects three of his solo shows; he has also recorded two audiobooks, Red Diaper Baby: Three Comic Monologues and Ben Franklin: Unplugged … and Other Comic Monologues. For two years he hosted an interview program on KQED-TV, cleverly titled The Josh Kornbluth Show. He was a visiting artist, and later a volunteer, at the Zen Hospice Project. He was a fellow at the Global Brain Health Institute, based at UCSF — an experience that led to his latest solo show, Citizen Brain, and a series of videos connecting brain science and social justice, also titled “Citizen Brain” (citizenbrain.org). You can find him at joshkornbluth.com.
Performance Artist, John Kornbluth - Personal Theology: A Brief History of a Small Life: a story of physical and spiritual growth, Harold James Dean, presenter
- 02-25-2024
Harold James Dean, a long time friend of UUCB and a recent member, has performed at UUCB as an actor in Driving Miss Daisy, directed by Harold and Donna Davis. Harold was born and raised in Alameda, California. He was brought up as a Jehovah’s Witness but left that faith in his early twenties. He will share with us his story of physical and spiritual growth.
Harold was born and raised in Alameda, California. He was brought up as a Jehovah’s Witness but left that faith in his early twenties. Since then, he got a degree from San Francisco State University in Theatre, moved to New York City where he became a construction site supervisor by day and an actor, playwright and director for theatre at night. After thirty-five years in New York, he has moved back to Alameda but travels back to New York and also San Miguel de Allende in Mexico to engage in his favorite bad habit, theatre. Harold will bring 6 short comedic plays to UUCB’s stage on June 2, 2024 after worship services. Mark your calendar.
- Personal Theology: Rescuing the Revolutionary Black Patriots from the Shadows of History, Joanna Winston-Foley
- 02-11-2024
Click HERE for REPLAY
‘Rescuing the Revolutionary Black Patriots from the Shadows of History: An Accountability Project’, Presenter: Joanna Foley.
Joanna Winston-Foley, MA, MSW, calls herself a “Commemorationist” because she combines the skills of her previous professions of journalism and social work. Her goal is to help make public art more representative of the Black Patriots who fought in the American Revolution. Joanna’s ancestor, Major Joseph Winston–the namesake of Winston-Salem, North Carolina– served as a militia leader in the American Revolution. A statue of him stands on federal land at the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in Greensboro, North Carolina. Joanna visited that statue ten years ago when she was moving from New York City to Berkeley. Ten years later in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, she came to have very different feelings about it and all other representations of enslavers in public places. She writes Op Ed pieces, consults on webinars and speaks on podcasts–all with the goal of bringing about the commemoration of the Black Patriots who fought in the same historic battle as her ancestor. Inspired by her Unitarian Universalist values, Joanna is finding allies for her project among the Greensboro UUs and local members of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists
- Personal Theology: Rev. Aija Simpson-Newbury, Topic: ‘Reflections on a Lifelong Theology’
- 01-28-2024
Replay is coming….
The Rev. Aija Simpson-Newbury is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist who was raised right here at First Unitarian Church of Berkeley; our name was later changed to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley. Rev. Aija was ordained to the ministry (by us!) in 2013 and served the congregation in Boiling Springs, PA for eight years. Last year she was driving around the country with her wife and toddler, seeing the people they love and collecting stories for future sermons. She is currently settled(ish) in Berkeley, CA and wondering where her itchy feet will take her next.
- Personal Theology: Rev. Marcus Liefert, “Love at the Center: Reflecting on the History and Future of Our Principles"
- 01-14-2024
Begin the New Year of Personal Theology with a message from settled minister, Rev. Marcus Liefert. His topic will be “Love at the Center: Reflecting on the History and Future of Our Principles.” This discussion went deeply into “Article II” which will be voted on by UU delegates at the General Assembly (GA) meeting June 2024. This is a not to be missed discussion.
- Personal Theology: Fire Rituals: Theory and Practice presented by Jim Gasperini
- 12-17-2023
Video Replay HERE
Fire Rituals: Theory and Practice presented by UUUCB member, Jim Gasperini. From solstice bonfires to the UU chalice to candles on a birthday cake, we have long used fire to signal how we take actions with serious intent. As we enter a season of ubiquitous ceremonial flames, what is it about fire that makes it so central to ritual practice? Jim Gasperini is currently completing a cultural history of fire, Fire in the Mind—from the Burning Bush to Burning Man, How We Imagine Fire. A seven-year project, the book began as a topic for a summertime sermon at UUCB.
- Personal Theology: Spiritual Reflections about the Climate Crisis, Murshid Kiran Rana
- 12-10-2023
Click HERE for replay (coming)
Murshid Kiran Rana became dissatisfied with conventional religious ideas at an early age. Eventually he discovered Sufism and has been a student and teacher of the Sufi Way for many years. Prior to retirement, Kiran was a publisher of self-help books on health and personal growth. He conducts monthly meetings to discuss Sufi topics and questions. Go to www.baydervish.com for more information. Currently he is also a member of the choir of the First Unitarian Church of Oakland.
- Personal Theology: "Tripping in Transylvania" - Anne Greenwood and Rev. Jay Atkinson, Members of UUCB
- 11-12-2023
IN-PERSON IN FIRESIDE ROOM AND STREAMED TO ZOOM
Click HERE for link.
“Tripping in Transylvania: enlarging our Global Unitarian/Universalist Perspective.”
Join us as Anne Greenwood and Rev. Jay Atkinson recount their recent visit to historic Unitarian homelands in the Transylvanian region of Romania. The International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF) held its 36th Congress in the ancient capital city of Kolozsvar, also known as Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Attendees came from India, Japan, Germany, the UK, United States, the Netherlands and more. The Pre-congress tour afforded 3 days of immersion in early Unitarian history as we toured important sites, museums, churches, and villages. Learn about IARF initiatives, see slides and videos and an update on Anne’s visit to UUCB’s Partner Church village of Homoródúfalu.
- Personal Theology - Kanyon Sayers-Roods "Coyote Woman"
- 11-05-2023
ZOOM ONLY
Click HERE for the link
Kanyon Sayers-Roods is Costanoan Ohlone-Mutsun and Chumash; she also goes by her given Native name, “Coyote Woman”. She is proud of her heritage and her native name (though it comes with its own back story), and is very active in the Native Community. She is an Artist, Poet, Published Author, Activist, Student and Teacher. The daughter of Ann-Marie Sayers, she was raised in Indian Canyon, trust land of her family, which currently is one of the few spaces in Central California available for the Indigenous community for ceremony. Kanyon’s art has been featured at the De Young Museum, The Somarts Gallery, Gathering Tribes, Snag Magazine, and numerous Powwows and Indigenous Gatherings. She is a recent graduate of the Art Institute of California, Sunnyvale, obtaining her Associate and Bachelor of Science degrees in Web Design and Interactive Media. She is motivated to learn, teach, start conversations around decolonization and re-indigenization, permaculture and to continue doing what she loves, Art.
- Personal Theology - Kevin Fisher-Paulson, SF Chronicle columnist
- 10-29-2023
Click HERE for the link.
IN-PERSON and streaming to ZOOM. Kevin Fisher-Paulson, SF Chronicle columnist, has made so many of us laugh, cry and be inspired by his tender and hilariously honest tales of gay-parenting. But when cancer was discovered, Kevin made a decision to go through the medical experience with curiosity, humor and a commitment to look for joy. It is a joy to be with Kevin as he shares his spiritual journey with cancer.
- No Personal Theology
- 10-15-2023
- Personal Theology - Rev. Zae Asa Illo, Youth Spirit Artworks, "My Personal Journey."
- 10-08-2023
Click HERE for the link
IN-PERSON!!! Zoom will be streamed from the Fireside room. Rev. Zae Asa Illo, Operations Manager Youth Spirit Artworks (our Good Neighbor who is providing Tiny Houses for unhoused youth–is a recently ordained minister and will share his personal journey.
Living a life of radical hospitality and a commitment to love and serve others is how we know when we are encountering great souls. Come hear Rev. Zae talk about what it takes to keep focused on what is true and real–which we must love and care for each other in whatever ways we can.
Zae received an M.Div. from a Quaker seminary – Earlham School of Religion – with an emphasis in entrepreneurial ministry. His spiritual call is to live out a ministry of collective redemption and mutual aid. Among Friends, he co-founded the weekly Friday Food Sharing ministry (2014) and foodREV (2014). Presently, he leads the weekly Bible study and a weekly street prayer ministry at Glide Memorial church in the Tenderloin of San Francisco. Zae is working on a laundry delivery service that supports free washes to persons in need.
- Personal Theology - Rev. Carolyn West, "What the Heck is Jesus Doing at UUCB?"
- 10-01-2023
Click HERE for the link
Rev. Carolyn has graced the Personal Theology program many times before and we are so happy that she has agreed to return to talk about ‘What the Heck is Jesus Doing at UUCB?’
Carolyn West is a poet, storyteller, and playful speaker who has been grateful for the UUCB community for more than 20 years.
She served as Minister for Worship at the Northbrae Community for three years.
Currently, she is at work on a history/memoir about growing up in a midwestern family business, full of love and ironing.
She lives in Berkeley with her husband and two silly cats, and is grateful whenever her college aged son visits.Carolyn says, “Believe me when I tell you that finding Jesus at UUCB was an utter surprise! To be honest (TBH), it’s hard to talk about.
So, let’s get to it and unpack our assumptions about belief and about Jesus and about other aspects of belief systems.” - Personal Theology - Timothy Travis - "Humanism"
- 09-24-2023
Click HERE for Link.
IN-PERSON and streaming to ZOOM. Timothy Travis is a long-time member of the UUCB Humanist Connection group that meets weekly to discuss and share viewpoints on morality, ethics, human development, the nature of the universe and so much more. For Timothy, HUMANISM is the focus of his life and his talk will have you nodding your head as he passionately reminds us “We are all in this life together.” He will be presenting in-person. Masking is required in the Fireside Room.
Note From Timothy
I first learned of UU in the 60’s, while in the Air Force and Electronics Officer’s School in Biloxi, Mississippi. A classmate and his wife invited me to a Sunday service. That was the first time I had heard of UU.
The service was in a modest building that was built as a house up on high pilings back in a bayou –super atmospheric! The guest speaker that morning was a young man who had recently graduated from Rabbinical school. We sat in a circle, he told us of his schooling and what it was like being a young Rabbi and we all talked. Having grown up Methodist, this was a revelation, a new way to “do Church”! I was hooked and have been UU active ever since.
I formed a group in the early 2000’s called the UU Infidels when I lived in Fredericksburg, VA. We had a booth and did a workshop at the 2004 UU General Assembly in Long Beach, CA. Loads of stories from that activity, one involving an in-person encounter with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia that was picked up by the press.
My first attending UUCB was while living in Berkeley in the early 70’s. - Personal Theology - Dr. Karen Voorhees - "A Report From Tomorrow, or Why I Am Still (Cautiously) Optimistic About the Future"
- 09-17-2023
Click HERE for the link.
We’re grateful to Dr. Karen Voorhees for opening the Personal Theology year with a talk entitled, “A Report From Tomorrow, or Why I Am Still (Cautiously) Optimistic About the Future.” Dr. Voorhees, a member of UUCB, is a brilliant thinker, historian and humanitarian. This not-to-be-missed talk will build on her two previous Personal Theology presentations, and be largely based on her long-term experience with the work of Ken Wilber, especially his recent massive tome “The Religion of Tomorrow.”
As Karen Voorhees was finishing her Ph.D. in Medieval Studies at Cal in 1981, she discovered her spiritual path. She left academia to pursue her meditations, while making her living as a homemaker and caregiver. She also became active in the not-for-profit world, including incorporating and managing her guru’s organization. From 2003 on, much of her time has been dedicated to late-life and hospice care for elderly friends and relatives. Her passion for big history, the humanities, and spirituality have remained with her throughout, and are now driving her current career as visionary essayist and novelist.
- Personal Theology: Mindfulness, Hebrew Priestesses, and Jewitches Oh My! - Judaism and the New Age
- 05-28-2023
Click HERE for the Zoom Link
Hi, it’s your UUCB Religious Education/Exploration Director, Heaven Walker (yes, that’s my real name). I’m giving a talk on Zoom on May 28th at 9:30 a.m. You know, when people think of Judaism, they often think of the Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform Traditions. In my talk, I’ll be sharing how Judaism also contains many New Thought, or some may even say “New Age” Communities that embrace ideas of the Divine Feminine such as the “Kohenet Hebrew Priestesses”, Mindfulness and Meditation like the “Institute for Jewish Spirituality,” Earth Based Judaism like “Wilderness Torah” and “Urban Adamah” as well as Ne-Paganism and Social Justice Activism such as the “Jewitch Collective.”
Come and learn about these organizations and the new thought traditions that are not your Grandmother’s Judaism, but are a thriving part of the Bay Area Jewish community and beyond.
- Personal Theology - Rev. Michelle Collins ‘Intentional Conclusions’
- 04-23-2023
Click HERE for Link.
Rev. Michelle Collins, our energetic and amazing interim minister, is nearing the end of her 3 year service with UUCB.
Her final talk for Personal Theology will be: ‘Intentional Conclusions-how to think about end of life planning. With a resource workbook that Rev. Michelle has published. - Personal Theology - ‘Thriving in Adversity’ with Hana Matt
- 03-26-2023
Click HERE for Zoom Link.
One of our beloved speakers and wisdom-giver, Dr. Hana Matt, is back to give us a summary of the 3 recent, large groundbreaking studies that just came out. They examined doctors, nurses, social workers and chaplains in hospitals during the 3 years of the Covid pandemic. Which people succumbed to burnout, or depression, anxiety, or addictive behavior, and which ones did well? What were they doing to enable them to have resilience and thrive during these highly stressful years?
These studies are forming the basis for new training programs added in hospitals to help their staff have tools to incorporate into their lives to inoculate them during adversity. One of the tools was how important it was for them to be connected to a church, synagogue or spiritual community, and have social and spiritual support. We also can learn so much from these many tools to enhance and strengthen our own lives.
- Personal Theology: "Overland Journey in a VW van from Europe to Asia: Focus on Religion and Cultures" - Tricia Sullivan Presenter
- 03-12-2023
Click HERE for Replay
UUCB members, Tricia and her husband, Mick, have lived in Berkeley since 2007. Prior to that, she taught for 20 years at UC Santa Cruz, but also combined teaching with working abroad. She lived and taught in China (1981-82), Vietnam (1993 and 94), and Turkey (1997-99). After retiring from UCSC, she was hired by the US State Department to work with teachers of English, and was based in Kyiv, Ukraine (2001-2005).
Tricia’s wonderful Personal Theology presentation takes you on a journey from her 2022 memoir “Overland Before the Hippie Trail: Kathmandu and Beyond with a Van A Man and No Plan” which chronicles Tricia and husband, Mick, as a young, freshly married couple, intent on teaching and learning their way around the world! And then Tricia has BONUS adventures from more recent years to mystical and marvelous places.
- Personal Theology - Kayleen Asbo ‘Dante and The Art of Love’
- 02-12-2023
Click HERE for link
Please join the Personal Theology program in welcoming back to UUCB Zoom, Kayleen Asbo who will presenting “Dante and the Art of Love.”
In this wonderful multi-media lecture drenched with art from across the ages, Kayleen will chart the evolution of love so perfectly illustrated in Dante’s Divine Comedy, from infatuation to enmeshed attachment to liberating compassion and communal connection to the “Love that moves the Sun and all stars”.
Kayleen Asbo is a passionate scholar, a cultural historian, musician, writer, and teacher who weaves myth, music, psychology, history and art with experiential learning. She has been described as a “True Renaissance Woman” and “A modern HIldegard of Bingen.” Last year, her presentation at UUCB’s Personal Theology garnered an attendance of 90 with participants from other states and countries as well as UUCB members among them.
- Personal Theology, "Travels as a Spiritual Practice: Thailand," Tess Snook O'Riva, Executive Director of UUCB
- 01-22-2023
Click REPLAY
UUCB’s wonderful Executive Director, Tess Snook O’Riva, will talk about her recent trip to Thailand and the special spiritual locations she visited and experiences she had. This will be a fascinating and engaging talk with Tess’s perspective, insight and humor keeping us riveted.
Sanctuary of Truth-Personal Theology Presentation of Tess Snook O’Riva Jan 22 2023 UUCB - Personal Theology, "Poetry As Anchor," Claire Baker, UUCB Poet Laureate
- 01-08-2023
Click HERE for the replay of Claire’s wonderful poetry reading on January 8, 2023.
Our own Poet Laureate of UUCB, Claire Baker, will be presenting her exquisite poetry on Zoom with the facilitation of Linda Laskowski.
This will be a Zoom ONLY presentation. There will not be in-person viewing in the Fireside room because of internet issues with the storm that occurred this past week.Claire J. Baker, longtime UUCB member, from young adult poet, onward to seasoned at 95, extols her anchor as an escape from family abuse, a challenge to look inward and objectively in her renewed world in California, poetry serving as an adaptable anchor.
UUCB Personal Theology Speaker - Personal Theology: ‘On Grief’ Presenter, Rev. Michelle Collins
- 12-04-2022
Click HERE for the link.
The Personal Theology program is delighted to have Reverend Michelle Collins talk to us on the topic of Grief.
Rev. Dr. Michelle Collins is in her third year as Interim Minister at UUCB. She is a graduate of Starr King School for the Ministry, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and Wesley Theological Seminary. She will talk about the grief that the stressful holiday season can stir in many of us.
- Personal Theology: Adult Sexuality: Our Whole Lives (OWL), Alice Lemieux, In-person/Zoom streaming
- 11-20-2022
Click HERE for Zoom link
Note from Alice Lemieux:
Did you know there was OWL–“Our Whole Lives for adults1“, too?! Not only does the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) offer curriculum for this, but I’ve been trained on all levels of it (that’s right, there are multiple levels!) and our director of Family Ministry, Heaven Walker has, too!
Come explore what “Our Whole Lives” has to offer you at your stage of life, right now, on November 20th at 9:30 in the Fireside room. Anne Wardell is graciously allowing me to be a Personal Theology presenter to show how perfectly OWL fits into UU theology.
Wherever you are on your journey of self discovery, whether it be your age, your relationships, your gender, your sexuality, your physical abilities, or social constructs, you are welcome to explore it more deeply in a warm safe environment with OWL.
Come discover with me – November 20th 9:30 am Fireside Room (at the top of this page is a hybrid Zoom link for those who cannot attend in person, though in person is recommended).
Alice is a life-long UU who was in the first group of kids to do the Coming of Age program at her home church in Pasadena, CA, Neighborhood Church. She has a Bachelor’s in marine science and a Master’s in environmental education which she has used to teach all ages about the natural world around them both in New England and here, in the Bay Area. She currently volunteers for both the Girl Scouts and UUCB. At UUCB she is in Family Ministry as the OWL Program Coordinator, on the Executive Advisory Team, on the Program Council, and on the newly formed Conflict Transformation Team. She spends her free time crafting everything from needle work to woodwork. She is a member at UUCB with her husband, Gregory, and her daughter, Adeline.
1Our Whole Lives, or OWL, is a series of comprehensive sexuality curricula for children, teenagers, young adults and adults published by the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries.
- Personal Theology: ‘Sweat Lodge – Culture/History’ Geno Mendoza - Speaker in-person/Zoom streaming
- 11-13-2022
Click HERE for Zoom Link.
Intense spiritual experiences are often experienced while participating in a Sweat Lodge ceremony. We are grateful to our Personal Theology speaker, Cuauhtémoc Mendoza (Geno), for sharing about the purification rites and health benefits of the Sweat Lodge. Geno will take us through the history, culture, and spirituality of Sweat Lodges. This is a not to be missed presentation. This talk is best experienced in person at UUCB’s Fireside room as our speaker, Geno Mendoza, will be in-person. And it will also be live streamed on Zoom.
Cuauhtémoc Mendoza (also known as Geno) is a Mexica-Uto-Nahuatl. He has lived with his family in Lake County, Northern California since 1990 and stewards over 600 acres of private land in the Mendocino forest wilderness. Geno is the founder of Tloque Nauaque Teocalli, an Indigenous cultural educational non-profit organization. Their mission is to establish and maintain a place for cultural revitalization and healing ceremonies that restore our families and communities. Geno is a husband-father-grandfather.
- Personal Theology: Beyond Categorial Thinking Q&A - Keith Kron, UUA Transition Office
- 11-06-2022
Please join on Zoom OR in-person in the Fireside Room, the Ministerial Search Committee and UUA Transition Office Trainer, Keith Kron, for a follow up to Saturday’s workshop on “Beyond Categorial Thinking.” All your lingering questions will be answered about this wonderful “mind-clarifying” process.
Click HERE for Zoom Link.
- Personal Theology: 'Bernard Loomer and Process Theology' Rev. Dr. David Sammons, presenter
- 10-23-2022
ZOOM LINK. CLICK HERE
Rev. Dr. David G. Sammons will tell us about ‘Bernard Loomer and Process Theology’. Rev. Sammons, minister emeritus of the Mt. Diablo UU church in Walnut Creek and former faculty member at Starr King School for the Ministry, will discuss Rev. Bernard Loomer and his work. Rev. Loomer began the Personal Theology program at UUCB over 40 years ago. This presentation will be an opportunity to learn more about Rev. Loomer and process theology.
- Personal Theology: Swami Vivekananda and C.G. Jung--Yoga in the West, Steven Herrmann, Presenter
- 10-09-2022
ZOOM LINK. CLICK HERE
One of our favorite speakers, Steven Herrmann, a Jungian analyst and yoga practitioner, returns to discuss his new book, Swami Vivekananda and C.G. Jung, Yoga in the West. He will discuss the influence of Swami Vivekananda on William James as well as C.G. Jung. This is not just a historical account. Using different language, James, Jung and Vivekananda articulated a vision of the superconscious or Higher Self that inculcates virtues and truths that guides individuals and, in our current circumstance, can help the human race to avoid destruction.
In this profound discussion, Steven shares his deeply intuitive vision and wears his learning lightly, interweaving dreams, synchronicities and insights arising from his longtime emersion in depth psychology and yoga. He brings invaluable study of Eastern and Western approaches to higher levels of consciousness and spiritual democracy that reaches across disciplines and traditions.
- Personal Theology: Small Group Ministry Chalice Circles, Words from Chalice Circle Leaders
- 09-25-2022
ZOOM LINK. CLICK HERE
Small Group Ministry Chalice Circles, Words from our Chalice Circle Leaders, Lenore Ralston, Dick Sherman, and Sylvia Parisotto
“Come hear about my experience and decide if it might be right for you to try”. These are the words of Dick Sherman, one of the chalice circle leaders you’ll hear from at this wonderful discussion on Chalice Circles.Lenore Ralston grew up 8 blocks from the church, studied at Bryn Mawr, receiving a PhD in anthropology, and was a policy analyst for the Chancellor’s office at the University of Berkeley.
Dick Sherman has spent decades studying philosophy and practicing law. He has found being in a chalice circle a very profound, and quite different, way of interacting.
Sylvia Parisotto has a degree in art from UCSB and has had several jobs in the art field. She is an advocate of the Chalice Circle program as it encourages community, active listening, and deep connection with others and oneself. - Personal Theology: What Do You Believe & How Do You Practice It? Rev. John Young
- 09-18-2022
Zoom Link. Click HERE
Exactly what DO you believe? Do you have divine spiritual beliefs? Or positive humanistic beliefs? Or negative despairing beliefs? What you believe determines how you will act–we all know that from today’s political scene. Our biological evolution tells us to look out for anything that might affect our survival. So we are actually biologically programmed to look for what might go wrong. What might be a danger. Can we go against our own DNA and practice beliefs that help us to feel whole and hopeful? Rev. John Young thinks so and in this wonderful PT talk, will give us strategies for practicing beliefs that benefit us.
Rev. John Young Rev. Young has a Ph.D. in political science and in Ministry and was a Harvard Fellow. He has served multiple UU churches as minister and has held senior UU offices. At the U. of North Florida, he taught courses on the religions of India, combining community activism with spiritual practices, nonviolence, and, with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, on the truth and reconciliation process. Throughout his life, he has been an active advocate for disarmament, civil rights, and an end to racism, poverty, and homelessness.
- Personal Theology - UUCB Member, Dwight Merrill, "Capitalism or Socialism? A Hybrid System is Better."
- 05-22-2022
UUCB Member, Dwight Merrill, who has been a stalwart supporter of Personal Theology for many years will give us a reflection on “Capitalism or Socialism? A Hybrid System is Better.”
This thoughtful conversation will be had on the inherent worth and dignity of human beings in these two political and financial systems and how they impact us as human beings.
- Personal Theology-Dr. Susan T. Mashiyama celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
- 05-01-2022
UUCB is gifted with the presence and music of Dr. Susan T. Mashiyama as we celebrate with Susan, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Celtic harp player and singer/songwriter Susan T. Mashiyama shares her music and tells us about her multicultural experiences and heritage from Southern California, Hawaii, the Bay Area, and Japan.
Dr. Susan Mashiyama Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (as of 2009, officially changed from Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month) is a period for the duration of the month of May for recognizing the contributions and influence of Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_American_and_Pacific_Islander_Heritage_Month
Susan T. Mashiyama, PhD, was born in Michigan and grew up in southern California. Her family has been in the United States by way of Hawaii for more than four generations. Her grandmother, parents, aunts, uncles, and many of her cousins were born and raised in Hawaii where her grandfather was the Bishop of the Shingon Buddhist Church. Susan was brought up as a Buddhist and she first learned about UU when she moved to the Bay Area and was intrigued by the welcoming and intellectual nature of this spiritual community. A lifelong student of music who is classically trained in piano and violin, she is a singer/songwriter who plays a number of other musical instruments including the Celtic harp and ukulele, and enjoys contributing to the spirituality of a meeting by creating music. Her music is inspired by nature, as well as the music and folk and fairy tales from many countries. With a BA in English literature from Yale University and a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from UC Berkeley, she believes in both science and spirituality and thinks that the two can co-exist peacefully
- Personal Theology - "Seeing The Light" - Rev. Dr. Rosemary Bray McNatt, President of Star King School for the Ministry
- 04-24-2022
UUCB is delighted to have as our speaker the Rev. Dr. Rosemary Bray McNatt, President of Star King School for the Ministry.
She will speak on “Seeing the Light”–how we keep ourselves lifted in the aftermath of Covid, the war in Ukraine, and the politics of separation in America.
Rev. Dr. Rosemary Bray McNatt, President Starr King Ministry
The Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt became President of Starr King School for the Ministry in Oakland, CA on July 1, 2014. For 13 years, she was Senior Minister of The Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York, a 175-year old Unitarian Universalist congregation on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, she is a graduate of Yale University and Drew Theological Seminary.
The Rev. Ms. McNatt was an editor and widely anthologized writer for more than 20 years before answering the call to ordained ministry. She is a former editor at the New York Times Book Review; the author of three books, including her memoir, “Unafraid of the Dark;” a former contributing columnist for Beliefnet.com; a former commentator on MSNBC; a contributing editor to UU World, the magazine of the Unitarian Universalist Association; and a cultural critic whose work appears regularly in The Huffington Post, The New York Times Book Review, Essence and other print and online publications. Her current projects include serving as a co-editor for a planned anthology of Unitarian Universalist historical writings, as well as continuing research into the multiracial liberal religious coalitions of early 20th century Chicago.
Her years of service to the UUA have included work as a member of the Committee on Urban Concerns and Ministry; Member the Task Force for Strategic Options for Beacon Press; Chair of the Board of Trustees of Starr King School for the Ministry; Member of the UUA Panel on Theological Education, and Member the UUA Board of Trustees. She has taught Unitarian Universalist history and polity since 2005 at Union Theological Seminary in New York City and Yale Divinity School in New Haven, CT. She also served as a faculty member of the 2008 International Council of Unitarian Universalists Leadership Training Conference in Nairobi, Kenya—the first ever such gathering on the African Continent.
Her social justice work most recently included service as the convener of OccupyFaithNYC, a multifaith economic justice organization founded in the spirit of Occupy Wall Street, and a co-convener of Moral Monday NYC, a multifaith social justice group inspired by the Rev. Dr. William Barber. In 2002, she helped to found the Unitarian Universalist Trauma Response Ministry, created to provide culturally sensitive liberal religious responses to mass disaster and other significant trauma; and is the Chair of Disaster Chaplaincy Services of New York, the multifaith disaster spiritual care service for the metropolitan New York area.
Since 1984, she has been married to Robert McNatt, a second-generation Unitarian Universalist who introduced her to the faith while they were both in college. They are the happy parents of two UU young adults: Allen, a writer and guitarist studying in Asheville, NC; and Daniel, a budding filmmaker studying in Syracuse, NY.
- Personal Theology - "Awakening" - Presenter, Dr. Kayleen Asbo, scholar, artist, spiritual leader
- 04-03-2022
UUCB is delighted to have Dr. Kayleen Asbo talk with and invite us to consider how we are called to new thresholds of discovery and personal transformation through our responses to beauty, wonder, dreams and longing.
Kayleen Asbo, Ph.D. has led a life of many facets: professor of mythology, literature and psychology, musician, cultural historian, pilgrimage and retreat leader, spiritual director, poet and composer. Educated at Smith College, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Pacifica Graduate Institute, Dr. Asbo’s first career focused on life as an academic teaching psychology and performing and lecturing on classical music. Through a series of dreams, her own spiritual awakening led her in a new direction as a retreat leader, spiritual director, and pilgrimage guide. Sharing stunning images of the journeys to Chartres, Taize, and Provence that changed the course of her own life,
You can read more about her work and the company she has founded, Mythica, at www.kayleenasbo.com.
REPLAY OF DR. ASBO’S POWERFUL REFLECTION ON “AWAKENING”
- Personal Theology - Spiritual Journey of UUCB Worship Associates - Deborah with Andrea Interview
- 03-27-2022
Personal Theology is delighted to have Part 2 of UUCB’s Worship Associates sharing their journeys at UUCB. Their topics will explore the varied faith traditions in their personal histories and spiritual journeys.
Andrea Brown is the lead debate coach at St. Mary’s College in Moraga. Her debate teams have won many accolades while participating in various debate tournaments including at the national level. Andrea will be interviewing Deborah with profound questions about Deborah’s spiritual journey.
Deborah Schmidt has been a UUCB member since 2004. She has been active in various capacities at UUCB including choir, music events, and church governance and operations. She is now focusing on her poetry and is celebrating the release of her first traditionally published chapbook, ‘Stumbling Into Grace’, from Orchard Street Press.
Please note that Karen Elliott will present her thoughts on ‘Renewing Our Faith’ at a later date.
REPLAY OF DEBORAH’S PRESENTATION
- Personal Theology - Renewing of Faith, Jacob King, Soldier and Seminarian
- 03-13-2022
In 2020, UUCB was gifted with a Personal Theology sharing by former soldier and then seminarian, Jacob King. His talk deeply affected the audience as he shared his traumatic military experiences at the US southern border where his assignment was to handle immigrants at the border. He found his way to a UU church who helped him process these experiences. He is now finished as a Starr King seminary student and ready for a ministerial internship. His wonderful talk will be about “Renewing of Faith.”
REPLAY OF PRESENTATION BY JACOB KING (so wonderful)
- Personal Theology - Spiritual Journey of UUCB Worship Associates - Don, Jason and Sarah
- 03-06-2022
Personal Theology is delighted to have UUCB’s Worship Associates: Sarah Ward, Don Klose and Jason Russell present on March 6, 2022. They will explore the interplay of science and faith in their lives and spiritual journeys.
- Personal Theology - From Physics to Metaphysics: A Seeker’s Journey, Rev. Dr. Jay Atkinson
- 02-27-2022
Using his own journey from physics to UU ministry as a springboard, Rev. Jay will share some (always tentative) reflections on the “big questions” of human understanding—those perennial existential, theological, and moral conundrums that perplex us. Along the way he will touch on ideas about God, evil, love, interconnection, and the fundamental nature of reality. This is a not to be missed Personal Theology.
FOR REPLAY CLICK HERE:
Books recommended by Rev. Jay Atkinson:
The God We Never Knew: Beyond Dogmatic Religion To A More Authentic Contemporary Faith by Marcus Borg
God Revised: How Religion Must Evolve in a Scientific Age, by Galen Guengerich
God Can’t: How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, and Other Evils, by Thomas Jay Oord - Personal Theology - CANCELLED--for Feb 6 2022, will be rescheduled to another date
- 02-06-2022
PERSONAL THEOLOGY CANCELLED FOR FEBRUARY 6, 2022. A new Date will be posted.
As many of you know, the Widening the Circle of Concern task force has been working for many months on this topic of widening the circle of concern for UUCB. Their dedication, thoughtfulness, and hard work has resulted in an astounding report that is available on our website for congregants to read. Rev. Michelle will expand on this topic of Widening the Circle of Concern, which is also the theme for the month of February.
- Personal Theology - "Care First, Jail Last," Rabbi Harry Manhoff
- 01-23-2022
REPLAY OF RABBI MANHOFF’S ENLIGHTENING PRESENTATION
This year Rabbi Manhoff will speak to us about “Care First, Jail Last,” an Alameda interfaith coalition to take some money from the Sheriff’s jail budget and redirect it to community mental health programs and facilities. Rabbi Manhoff will present the Jewish spiritual view of mental health services versus incarceration.
Rabbi Harry Manhoff earned his AB from Yale in Philosophy of Religion, was ordained at the Hebrew Union College, continued post-doctoral studies at Columbia University in Ancient Semitics and received his PHD from the University of California, Santa Barbara, studying the New Testament and Christian Origins.
Rabbi Manhoff is Rabbi Emeritus at Temple Beth Sholom, San Leandro, and teaches part time at St. Mary’s College. He is an avid New York sports fan, for any team that does not rhyme with “bets,” because betting is immoral. For twenty-five years he collected comic books with his son, who finally took the 25,000 comics books and opened a store in Oakland. They continue reading comics together.
Rabbi Manhoff has been married for 46 years to Barbara, and they shep great nachas from their daughter, two sons, a daughter-in-law, and three granddaughters, (plus a dog, four grand-dogs and two grand-cats).
Last year Rabbi Manhoff advocated and helped build twenty-five tiny houses for homeless youth. The youth empowerment village is opening this month south of the Oakland Coliseum. The Rabbi continues to be politically and socially active and many other ways.
Currently Rabbi Manhoff participates in several study groups at Congregation Beth El, Berkeley, covering Torah, Talmud, and Zohar. Beginning in January 2020 he has joined tens of thousands of people around the world studying the Daf Yomi, one page of Talmud every day. It will take seven and a half years to complete reading every page of the Babylonian Talmud.
- Personal Theology - Yoga as a Spiritual Practice, Presenter, Kenneth Marino, Ministerial Intern
- 12-19-2021
Kenneth Marino, former Ministerial Intern at UUCB will present on the topic of “Yoga as a Spiritual Practice.”
Click this LINK to join the Zoom session at 9:20 a.m. to participate in this wonderful talk at 9:30 a.m.
Yoga has become a fascination over the last two decades. It is an ancient philosophy that includes more than just exercises or postures. Ken has been studying yoga for forty years and will offer his insights and experience into this most ancient of traditions. He has studied with Rodney Yee, one of America’s foremost Yoga instructors and Jai Sugrim. And he possess a 200 hour certification in yoga teacher training from the Kripalu Center and is currently working towards a certification in yoga therapy.
Ken is from New York and completed his Master of Divinity degree at Drew University. He previously lived in the Bay Area in the 1990s while working for Bank of America. He is an author, musician, yoga teacher, and a Reiki Master. He also has a Master of Arts degree in Music and has taught writing as well as music.
Please take this opportunity to get to know more about the power of Yoga for our mental, physical and emotional health.
- Personal Theology - ‘Joy in Difficult Times,’ Presenter, James Baraz, Founding Teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center
- 12-05-2021
ZOOM LINK for Personal Theology James Baraz Spirit Rock Meditation Founding Teacher
James Baraz is a founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has taught mindfulness meditation since 1978.
Since 2003, he has taught the internationally recognized course ‘Awakening Joy.’ This course has profoundly changed people’s lives all over the world.
James’ upcoming 2022 course ‘Awakening Joy:10 Steps to Happiness’ will start in January 2022. This course will help you answer the difficult and current question, “Can I really focus on Joy?”At Spirit Rock, James has started the Community Dharma Leader program, the Kalyana Mitta Network, helped create the Heavenly Messengers Training Program, and is a teacher-advisor to the Spirit Rock Family program. In recent years, he has been focusing on Dharma and Climate Change.
He is the author of two books: Awakening Joy, which he co-authored with Shoshana Alexander; and Awakening Joy for Kids.
Please mark your calendar for December 5 for this rare opportunity to hear James Baraz speak on a topic of current importance.
James Baraz Personal Theology Presenter – Spirit Rock Founding Teacher - Personal Theology - "We Have It In Us to Heal: Ancestral Memory, Tribalism and Finding Our Way Forward in the Half-light and Dark" - Wyndy Knox Carr
- 11-21-2021
REPLAY BELOW
UUCB member, Wyndy Knox Carr will give her Personal Theology, “We Have It In Us to Heal: Ancestral Memory, Tribalism and Finding ThOur Way Forward in the Half-light and Dark.” Wyndy will reconnect us to our deepest bio-cultural roots as UUs, in the U.S. and on Mother Earth.
Her discovery of her Anishinabe Great-Great-Grandmother during a healing crisis in 1986 in Grand Marais, Minnesota, revealed her strengths, resiliency and the gifts of intuition.
Wyndy will connect the police riots in 1968 (violence), jury duty in Minneapolis in 1994 (racism), and Oprah’s #TIMESUP speech at the 2018 Golden Globes (misogyny); and how they relate to all of thour painful American exposures to self-knowledge over the past two years.
“We’re not crazy after all,” and we might just be able to evolve our way out of this IF we return to our roots, intuitions and caring for one another as ‘humane’ beings.”
Wyndy Knox Carr is a wonderful writer and reviewer, dream curator, and deeply insightful member of UUCB. Please join us for this wonderful conversation.
- Personal Theology-"Trying Once Again to Say Who We Are." Presenter, Rev. Jay Atkinson
- 11-07-2021
The UUA Principles are once again up for revision with a commission charged to propose an update to Article II of the UUA bylaws. Why “principles”? Why not values, or covenants, or commitments? And where do our present UUA principles come from? Rev’d Jay will offer a brilliant and historical look at all this and raise some questions about what’s transient and what’s permanent in the identity of our UU tradition.
REPLAY BELOW and DOCUMENTS REFERENCED IN THE REPLAY
Trudeau – Genealogy of the Seven UU Principles
Article II Revisions proposed and considered in 2009 and rejected in 2010
Charge to the current Article II Study Commission (2019-2020)
Warren Ross – 1985 revisions (additional article to review)
- Personal Theology: "The Rudderless Boat--Images that Guide Us." Presenter, Sue Ellen Parkinson
- 10-31-2021
CLICK HERE FOR SLIDE SHOW THAT ACCOMPANIES THE REPLAY TO SUE ELLEN PARKINSON – RUDDERLESS BOAT — UUCB Personal Theology Talk (Slide show beings at 14:05 on the replay — but listen to Sue Ellen’s introduction. It’s wonderful).
Sue Ellen Parkinson is a visionary artist who explores the Sacred Feminine through her paintings. Coming from outside the Christian tradition, her work has led her on an unexpected journey that has profoundly changed her life. Her dream-like paintings, are interesting from both a spiritual and cultural perspective. Within them, she weaves elements of her own life into the inspiring stories about the Christian mystics. She believes that creativity can be an essential component in transformation. Read more on her website: www.sueellenparkinson.com
This talk and slide show will be about the artist, Sue Ellen Parkinson’s experience as she’s followed the legends surrounding some of the most profound mystics. Through painting these iconic figures, and using the Benedictine practice of viseo divina, she has gone on both inner, and outer pilgrimages. She’ll focus primarily on Mary Magdalene, but will also include Eve, Saint Hildegard Von Bingen, Saint Clare and Saint Francis of Assisi, The Black Madonna and more!
She says that each image she’s painted has been like a stepping stone towards her own liberation. Join her on this creative journey!
- Personal Theology-Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a time of Pandemic and Beyond, Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox
- 10-10-2021
REPLAY BELOW OF THIS POWERFUL PRESENTATION
Rev. Matthew Fox, PhD, author, theologian, and activist priest, has been calling people of spirit and conscience into the Creation Spirituality lineage for over 50 years. His 38 books, lectures, retreats, and innovative education models have ignited an international movement to awaken people to be mystics and prophets, contemplative activists, who honor and defend the earth and work for justice. Seeking to establish a new pedagogy for learning spirituality that was grounded in an effort to reawaken the West to its own mystical traditions in such figures as Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart and the mysticism of Thomas Aquinas, as well as interacting with contemporary scientists who are also mystics, Fox founded the University of Creation Spirituality. His recent projects include Order of the Sacred Earth and Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox as well as The Cosmic Mass. His most recent books are: Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in at Time of Pandemic—and Beyond; and The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times. Other books include Original Blessing; The Coming of the Cosmic Christ; A Spirituality Named Compassion; The Reinvention of Work; and Christian Mystics. www.matthewfox.org. www.dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.org The ISBN for the Julian of Norwich book is: 978-1-6632-0868-2
- William James & Carl G. Jung--The Religious Function in the UU, Presenter, Dr. Steven Herrmann
- 09-19-2021
REPLAY below to this wonderful talk:
Click this link for Dr. Steven Herrmann’s Slide Deck that accompanies his presentation:
Steven sends this description of the discussion:
“A talk given to the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Berkeley on February 6, 2011 was published in Chapter 7 of my 2014 book Spiritual Democracy: The Wisdom of Early American Visionaries for the Journey Forward. This book also contained an important section on William James’s views on the religious function of the psyche, which he called the “most important” human function.
The religious function is a Universal principle of Equality that gave birth to all religions. In my new book, William James and C. G. Jung: Doorways to the Self, I’ve shown that the religious function is also a cosmic function, a function of the Universal Self. It is a function of harmonization between all religions of the globe operating in a unitary way towards the unification of the World Self, and ultimate Peace.
James and Jung called it a religious function, or God-function. Today, we might call it Cosmic. The religious function of the American psyche was shaped by the spirit of the mind and earth. It is the still living function of equality that we must heed today or face the possibility of self-annihilation as a species.”
William James and C.G. Jung Doorways to the Self by Dr. Steven Herrmann Book Cover - Personal Theology - “God and Atheism” - Ray Westergard, Presenter
- 05-23-2021
We are delighted to have our UUCB member, Ray Westergard, provide us with his great perspective on one of the most important topics: “Is there God?” Please join for what will be a VERY lively discussion. The format will be somewhat different with Ray speaking for thirty minutes and allowing a full 45 minutes for discussion and questions. Each speaker will get 3 minutes for their response.
REPLAY BELOW:
- Personal Theology - "Sogorea Te’ Land Trust Talk with Corrina Gould (Lisjan Ohlone)"
- 05-02-2021
Sogorea Te’ Land Trust is an urban Indigenous women-led land trust based in the SF Bay Area that returns indigenous land to Indigenous people. Through the practices of rematriation, cultural revitalization, and land restoration, STLT calls on native and non-native peoples to heal and transform legacies of colonization, genocide, and patriarchy and to do the work our ancestors and future generations are calling us to do.
REPLAY LINK BELOW:
Note that the PDF of slides begin at 5:53 on the replay. Follow along from there but listen to the first five minutes for Mrs. Gould’s powerful opening statements.
Corrina-Gould-Sogorea-Te-Land-Trust-Chair-person Corrina Gould (Lisjan Ohlone) is the chair and spokesperson for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan — she was born and raised in Oakland, CA, the village of Huichin. A mother of three and grandmother of four, Corrina is the Co-Founder and Lead Organizer for Indian People Organizing for Change, a small Native run organization that works on Indigenous people issues and sponsored annual Shellmound Peace Walks from 2005 to 2009. These walks brought about education and awareness of the desecration of sacred sites in the greater Bay Area. As a tribal leader, she has continued to fight for the protection of the Shellmounds, uphold her nation’s inherent right to sovereignty, and stand in solidarity with her Indigenous relatives to protect our sacred waters, mountains, and lands all over the world. Her life’s work has led to the creation of Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, a women-led organization within the urban setting of her ancestral territory of the Bay Area. Sogorea Te’ Land Trust works to return Indigenous land to Indigenous people. Based on an understanding that Oakland is
home to many peoples that have been oppressed and marginalized, Sogorea Te works to create a thriving community that lives in relation to the land. Through the practices of rematriation, cultural revitalization, and land restoration, the Land Trust calls on native and non-native peoples to heal and transform legacies of colonization, genocide, and to do the work our ancestors and future generations are calling us to do. - Personal Theology - Hana Matt - “How to thrive during these times of the Pandemic: physically, psychologically, mentally, and spiritually”
- 04-11-2021
This is a presentation of the spiritual practices, techniques, and activities to enable people to thrive during this difficult time rather than really suffer. For over 25 years, Hana Matt has been teaching World Religions and Spirituality at many graduate schools including Graduate Theological Union, Interfaith Chaplaincy Institute and Holy Names College. She has lectured on various spiritual traditions throughout CA, Washington DC, Connecticut and the Bahamas. Ms. Matt is also an Interfaith Spiritual Director and Counselor working privately with clients of all religions.
REPLAY BELOW
ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENT REFERRED TO IN THE TALK (click link below for PDF)
How to Thrive During These Times of Covid Limitations – During a Pandemic
- Personal Theology - Rev. Phil Lawson and Mrs. Jo Ann Lawson - "Commitment"
- 03-21-2021
Personal Theology is honored to have Rev. Phil Lawson, former minister of Easter Hill Methodist church and his wife, Jo Ann Lawson, share their personal journeys with the UUCB community. Their Topic is “COMMITMENT.” Rev. Phil and JoAnn Lawson are well known to those in the spiritual community of Richmond, CA. Rev. Lawson is now Minister Emeritus of Easter Hill United Methodist church in Richmond and has served other churches in the East Bay as well as Kansas City. He has taught at Staff King School for the Ministry and received an honorary doctorate from Starr King School as well. He has worked on such issues as civil rights, the Vietnam war, homelessness and immigration, to name a few. Rev. Lawson and Mrs. JoAnn Lawson will each present their personal theological journeys followed by a joint discussion of their journey together.
REPLAY BELOW
- Personal Theology - "Returning Home." Presenter, Rev. Dr. Dorsey O. Blake
- 03-07-2021
On March 7, 2021, UUCB is so delighted to have the Rev. Dr. Dorsey O. Blake, speak to us about “Returning Home.” This will be powerful. Rev. Blake is the pastor of the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco, founded by the renowned Howard Thurman. Rev. Blake will explore how the concept of being “led home” has influenced his personal, spiritual journey.
When interviewed by Lerone Bennett for an article in Ebony Magazine about Dr. Howard Thurman, Mrs. Sue Bailey Thurman stated: “He leads you home!” Dr. Blake will explore how this statement has impacted his personal theology and journey within the American Empire.
Rev. Blake is the pastor of the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco, founded by the renowned Howard Thurman. Rev. Blake also serves as Faculty Associate, Leadership and Social Transformation at Pacific School of Religion. He has extensive field ministry experience with interfaith groups addressing justice and peace issues, including the California People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, The Interfaith Alliance for Prison Reform, Genesis and The San Francisco Interfaith Council. He served as a member of the steering committee of Religious Witness with Homeless People and has been in the forefront of peace and justice activities, speaking to small audiences and rallies that have drawn over 200,000 people. In May – June, 2000, he traveled to Morocco with an interfaith delegation of Muslims, Jews, and Christians in a quest to promote interfaith respect and cooperation. In October 2010 he met His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and served on an interfaith panel responding to his teachings. Currently, he serves as Board Chair for IDA, a social networking platform that seeks to empower women and communities of color most affected by today’s economic crisis.
REPLAY BELOW
- Personal Theology–"Beloved Community: Fostering communities of love and acceptance." Presenters, Helen Tinsley-Jones and Julia Rogers
- 02-21-2021
Personal Theology will host the chairs of two vital groups at UUCB: the People of Color Caucus (POCC) and the Whites Opposed to White Supremacy (WOWS).
Helen Tinsley-Jones, chair of POCC, and Julia Rogers, chair of WOWS, will share their personal stories of religious/spiritual herstory plus how they came to UUCB.
They will enlighten us as to how they work together and with others to foster a community of love, acceptance, and self-reflection.Helen and Julia are talented, thoughtful, and gentle in teaching others how to overcome fear and to be kind to and recognize all beings as worthy of love and respect. You will truly enjoy and take away valuable nuggets from this heartfelt, timely and personal conversation with Helen and Julia on “Beloved Community.”
Helen Tinsley-Jones is a member of the UUCB Board of Trustees, Social Justice Council, co-facilitator of the Widening the Circle of Concern Task Force of the Board, co-facilitator of the People of Color Caucus and facilitator of the Honoring Indigenous Peoples Group. She is a retired clinical psychologist, worked in private practice and @ Kaiser Dept. of Psychiatry in Vallejo. Julia Rogers also is a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist at Kaiser Richmond. She is a founding member of the Social Justice Council, leader of WOWS (Whites Opposing White Supremacy), and a practitioner of NVC (non-violent communication). Julia has lived in several countries and shares her lovely soprano voice with our church as evidenced at Vespers on 2/3.
- Personal Theology - "Compassion: the Key to Accountability." Presenter, Rev. Cathleen Cox
- 02-07-2021
Personal Theology will host Rev. Cathleen Cox, retired Community Minister at UUCB and a life long supporter of UUCB congregants in conflict resolution, leadership training, and spiritual direction. She is among our most beloved community ministers and will be talking on the topic, “Compassion: the Key to Accountability.” Replay below.
- Personal Theology - Photography as a Spiritual Practice/Finding the Light
- 01-24-2021
Personal Theology presents: Photography as a Spiritual Practice/Finding the Light. Our presenter will be Carol Carlisle. Carol is a UUCB member and volunteer, astrologer, and member of the UUCB Moon Circle. Carol will share some of her photos and discuss her spiritual practice as a photographer. Replay is below and PDF of the images referenced during the presentation.
Note that the PDF of images begin at 4:20 on the replay. Follow along from there.
PDF OF PERSONAL THEOLOGY TALK_CAROL CARLISLE_JAN 24 2021–Accompany audio replay
- Dr. James L. Taylor - Last Sermon of Martin Luther King: And How We Are Living It
- 01-17-2021
Personal Theology and the Literature, Film and Drama Contingent of the Social Justice Council jointly sponsored a presentation by Dr. James L. Taylor on January 17, 2021 on Zoom.
Dr. Taylor is Professor of Political Science in the Graduate Urban and Public Affairs Program and the Department of Politics at the University of San Francisco. His current research is on a full-length study of the Peoples Temple Movement and African American political history in California. He is past director of the African American Studies Program and has taught regularly in the African American and African Diaspora Studies Department at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of Black Nationalism in the United States: From Malcolm X to Barack Obama; co-editor and author of Something’s in the Air: Race and the Legalization of Marijuana, as well as the article “King the Sell Out or Sellin’ Out King?: Hip Hop’s Martin Luther King, Jr.,” in Dream and Legacy: Dr. Martin Luther King in the Post-Civil Rights Era.
Professor Taylor is former President of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists, an organization of African American, African and Afro Caribbean political scientists in the United States. He is the immediate past Chair of the Department of Politics at USF.
- Personal Theology - Imagination, Creativity and Spirituality
- 01-10-2021
Personal Theology will host a trio of talented women to discuss how imagination, creativity, and spirituality have been entwined-or not-throughout their lives.
Dr. Lynn Hammond grew up loving literature, sometimes reading surreptitiously under her blanket when she was supposed to be sleeping. Since earning her Ph.D. from USC in English in 1974, she’s devised creative techniques to help others find joy in writing and literature. This led to her co-creating the Bard Writing and Thinking Institute, which trains English teachers around the country to make their classes more creative, more effective, and, well, fun.
Deborah Schmidt– A UUCB member since 2004, award-winning poet Deborah Bachels Schmidt has a chapbook, Stumbling into Grace, forthcoming from Orchard Street Press. Other publication credits include Blue Unicorn, California Quarterly, The Ekphrastic Review, The Lyric, and The Poeming Pigeon. Deborah is also a member of the choir at UUCB, plays the flute, and is a past President of the Board of Trustees.
Evelie Delfino Posch Sales is a sacred singer/writer; recording artist; drummer, dancer; Pranic and Certified Sound Healer and Therapist; choral director; storyteller; actress; and music educator. Many of us have had the pleasure of hearing Evelie’s beautiful voice as she has sung at several services at UUCB, including at the Winter Solstice service in December 2020.
- Personal Theology: "Studying the Talmud One Page at a Time." Presenter: Rabbi Harry Manhoff
- 12-20-2020
We are delighted to once again have Rabbi Harry Manhoff speak at UUCB’s Personal Theology Seminar. Rabbi Manhoff’s wisdom, wit and well of compassion will be a gift to all that attend this wonderful presentation.
Rabbi Harry A Manhoff, PHD
Rabbi Harry Manhoff earned his AB from Yale in Philosophy of Religion, was ordained at the Hebrew Union College, continued post-doctoral studies at Columbia University in Ancient Semitics and received his PHD from the University of California, Santa Barbara, studying the New Testament and Christian Origins.
Rabbi Manhoff is Rabbi Emeritus at Temple Beth Sholom, San Leandro, and teaches part time at St. Mary’s College. He is an avid New York sports fan, for any team that does not rhyme with “bets,” because betting is immoral. For twenty-five years he collected comic books with his son, who finally took the 25,000 comics books and opened a store in Oakland. They continue reading comics together.
Rabbi Manhoff has been married for 46 years to Barbara, and they shep great nachas from their daughter, two sons, a daughter-in-law, and three granddaughters, (plus a dog, four grand-dogs and two grand-cats).
Last year Rabbi Manhoff advocated and helped build twenty-five tiny houses for homeless youth. The youth empowerment village is opening this month south of the Oakland Coliseum. The Rabbi continues to be politically and socially active and many other ways.Currently Rabbi Manhoff participates in several study groups at Congregation Beth El, Berkeley, covering Torah, Talmud, and Zohar. Beginning in January 2020 he has joined tens of thousands of people around the world studying the Daf Yomi, one page of Talmud every day. It will take seven and a half years to complete reading every page of the Babylonian Talmud.
- Personal Theology: "H O O D! Honoring Our Own Divinity." Presenter: Destiny Muhammad
- 12-13-2020
An Unapologetic Acknowledgement and Honoring of the Divinity of Culture, Creativity, & Resilience Manifest as The Black Aesthetic, Experience, Art & Worship.
Destiny Muhammad is a recording/performing artist/band leader/composer and producer. Among her many awards are: ASCAP Songwriter Awardee and California Entertainers Music Awards Female Jazz Artist of the Year. She uses her harp and storytelling to round out the sonic experience that she creates. She has a CD entitled, ‘Inner Oasis-Guided Meditation for Healing and Renewal’. Visit her website: Destiny Muhammad Website
Destiny Muhammed is a Composer, Producer, Content Creator & Curator. She is author of “H O O D!” (Honoring Our Own Divinity). She will be talking about her personal path to the divine through music.
- Personal Theology: “The Seven UU Principles: A Soldier's Perspective.” Presenter: Jacob King
- 11-15-2020
Mr. Jacob King is a Starr King seminarian. We are delighted to have his perspective as a seminarian and a soldier on the seven Unitarian Universalists Principles that we hold as the guiding principles for our UU faith.
Bio: Jacob King is a current first year seminary student at Starr King School for the Ministry (at the date of this presentation). He is also a veteran, currently pursuing military chaplaincy with the Oregon National Guard. He is married, and has three cats and a dog.
Click HERE for the PDF of the Seven UU Principles referenced during Jacob King’s talk.
- Personal Theology: "Resilience and Healing" Presenter: Rev. Dr. Michelle Collins
- 11-08-2020
The Reverend Dr. Michelle Collins is Interim Minister at UUCB and will offer participants a profound and interactive discussion on “Resilience and Healing” for this post-election period. Not to be missed.
Rev. Michelle has extensive ministerial experience in pastoral care, social justice, worship and congregational life, membership development, small group ministry, adult religious education, hospital chaplaincy, and communications and publications.
Rev. Michelle is a graduate of Starr King School for the Ministry, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and recently received her Doctor of Ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. She has served in Unitarian Universalist churches in Maryland, Delaware, and California, as well as at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. She is also a researcher for the Soul Matters monthly theme program.
Click this LINK to download the PDF of slides that Rev. Michelle references in her talk.
- Personal Theology: What would Jesus make of the positions so many Christians take in these turbulent times? Presenter: Rev. Craig Scott
- 10-18-2020
Christians who claim to follow Jesus have acquiesced in, and supported, racism and misogyny. In this talk, we consider what Jesus would have to say and do about some of the major issues of our time, such as trampling on the immigrant, cutting healthcare for millions, continuing systemic racism, and objectifying women.
Craig Scott and his wife Karen have been members of UUCB since 1998. Craig is a retired UU minister, having served the congregation in Sonora, CA from 2005 through 2014. Before going into ministry, he was an attorney, practicing with several Legal Aid offices and then with the University of California.
In 2014 Rev. Craig re-energized UUCBs previous social justice activities and along with other members designed the new Social Justice Council and its foremost program, “Confronting Racism and Oppression.” He is proud to see that the Council continues to flourish. Craig and Karen now live on the Monterey Peninsula; they miss the UUCB community very much.
YouTube Video link to song “Song by Woody Guthrie performed by U2” by Woody Guthrie, performed by U2 used by Rev. Scott in his presentation.
Historical and traditional images of Images of Jesus Christ shown by Rev. Scott during his presentation.
- Personal Theology: "Failure: A Spiritual Journey" Presenter: David Roberts
- 10-11-2020
David Roberts reflects on a lifetime of failures, consequences and what he has learned from these experiences. He asks the question, “Do failures, large and small, inconsequential and monumental inform the spiritual journey? Or are they just evidence of poor planning, lack of direction, moral failure, weak character and worse?
David Roberts is a long-time UUCB member, current Trustee, former RE teacher, Worship Associate and active in church finances. He is the co-founder of two INC 500 companies, currently an investment banker, occasional actor and curious about everything.
64 Years Old And Escorted From the Office - Personal Theology: "A Snake in the Grass – Renewing the History" Presenter, Dr. Beverly Allen
- 09-27-2020
Personal Theology Presenter: Dr. Beverly Allen, author, screenwriter, speaker and teacher in the humanities and spiritual traditions.
See Dr. Allen’s website for her long list of accomplishments: Dr. Beverly Allen websiteThe replay of Dr. Allen’s wonderful talk is below and the PDF of the images referenced during the presentation.
Note that the PDF of images begin at 6:35 on the replay. Follow along from there.
PDF OF PERSONAL THEOLOGY TALK_Dr. Beverly Allen_SEPT 27 2020-Accompany audio replay
- Personal Theology-9:30 a.m. "My Reasons For Hope in a Dark Time" by Dr. Karen Voorhees
- 09-13-2020
My Reasons For Hope in a Dark Time: Why I am still optimistic about the future in spite of our cataclysmic current events. Presenter: Dr. Karen Voorhees, UUCB member and writer. Hosts: Anne Wardell and Lonnie Moseley. The audio of Dr. Karen Voorhees’ presentation and the link to the “Chart of Ages” that Karen referenced in her talk are below.
Presentation:
Chart of Ages:
- Personal Theology: Dorothy Herzberg
- 03-08-2020
Dorothy Herzberg, Jefferson Award Winner, Peace Corp Volunteer, lifelong community volunteer, Educator, Author, longtime UUCB member, Chair and/or member of many UUCB Committees such as the Summer Forum for a Better World, Book Table, GRIP, Social Justice. TBA
- Personal Theology: Jim Gasperini
- 03-01-2020
Jim Gasperini is an author, multimedia designer and longtime member of UUCB, Jim has been working for three years on a cultural history of fire, with the working title Fire in the Mind: From the Burning Bush to Burning Man, How We Imagine Fire. He will base his talk on an early chapter, Fire at the Creation and the Fires of Heaven.
- Personal Theology: Nori Hudson
- 02-23-2020
Nori Hudson, BA, MBA, is a Nutrition Consultant, owner of Radiant Vitality, a Community Volunteer, and an Educator; she taught at Bauman College in Berkeley, John F Kennedy University, Albany Adult School, and San Quentin Prison. She will discuss “Holistic Nutrition as a Spiritual Practice.”
- Personal Theology: Rev Dr Matthew Fox
- 02-16-2020
Rev Dr Matthew Fox, is a world-renowned theologian, the founder of the University of Creation Spirituality in California, a writer of about forty books, a visiting scholar at the Academy for the Love of Learning and the recipient of numerous awards, among which are the Abbey Courage of Conscience Peace Award (other recipients being the Dali Lama, Mother Teresa, Ernesto Cardenal and Rosa Parks), and the Ghandi King Ikeda Award. He will discuss The Tao of Thomas Aquinas.
- Personal Theology: Catherine Boyle
- 02-09-2020
Catherine Boyle, UUCB Acting Director of Family Ministry, soon to be ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister, will speak on Ancient Practices, Modern Illumination, discussing how ancient Pagan and Christian practices influence her modern spiritual practice and highlighting the early February celebration of Imbolc and Candlemas.
- Personal Theology: Rev Kristin Grassel Schmidt
- 02-02-2020
Rev Kristin Grassel Schmidt, UUCB Senior Co-Minister, will give a seminar on Feb 2 about Eyes Wide Open: Courage in the Face of the Climate Crisis.” She says: “As natural catastrophes grow in intensity and frequency here in California and around the world it is all too easy to look away, allowing tragedy to become part of the white noise of world suffering. Rev. Kristin will talk about a faith-based approach to the climate crisis, and how our religious values will be crucial to protecting and growing human equality amid disappearing resources.”
- Personal Theology: Alex Pappas
- 01-26-2020
Alex Pappas, retired College of Alameda instructor of world religions and psychology (40+ years), past president of the Theosophical Society in Oakland, writer, a student of comparative religion especially nondual paths such as Vedanta, Theosophy, Alice A. Bailey and esoteric Buddhism. He has lectured at various locations including Germany, Turkey, India and US. His book ‘Heaven and Nirvana’ is a comprehensive text of dual and nondual religious traditions. “The Perennial Philosophy of Aldous Huxley & Western Thought.”
- Personal Theology: Dr. James Lance Taylor
- 01-19-2020
Dr. James Lance Taylor, Professor, and director of the African American Studies program at the University of San Francisco, author of ‘Black Nationalism in the United States: From Malcolm X to Barack Obama’ and former President of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists. TBA
- Personal Theology: Hana Matt
- 01-12-2020
Hana Matt, see bio above. This week Ms. Matt will talk about “Hildegarde of Bingen” who wrote music, poetry, play and nine books, who continually preached, healed, painted organized and founded organizations and monasteries, and who gave us a new concept called “Veriditas,” or “Greening Power.” Ms. Matt will explore the 4 ways that Hildegarde gave to contact with this greening power of the Divine.
- Personal Theology: Hana Matt
- 01-05-2020
Hana Matt, teacher of world religions at GTU and Interfaith Chaplaincy; author, spiritual director, and counselor. For two weeks, she will talk about two influential women activists. One of them is “St. Teresa of Avila” of 16th century Avila, Spain, a nun who founded and ran many reformed monasteries and convents of Carmelites all over Spain, traveling to each one, writing numerous books, teaching, and trying to reform the Catholic Church.
- Personal Theology
- 12-29-2019
No session. Happy New Year!!
- Personal Theology
- 12-22-2019
No session. Happy Holidays!!
- Personal Theology: Dr. Karen Vorhees
- 12-15-2019
The great wisdom traditions of the world all seem to agree — there is some aspect of us that doesn’t die. What could that possibly mean for us today? Our bodies most definitely die. Is there really something of us that doesn’t? Dr. Karen Voorhees, a UUCB member, will bring her scholar’s knowledge of cultural history, insights from 38 years of meditating, and personal experience with attending the dying to today’s presentation and exploration. “Death Doesn’t Exist.”
- Personal Theology: Lenore Ralston
- 12-08-2019
Lenore Ralston, has a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Bryn Mawr College and an M.P.H. from UC Berkeley. UUCB Member. “Two Faces of God: Elohim and Adonai: A faith-journey of a secular Jew.”
- Personal Theology: Kit Hewitt
- 12-01-2019
Kit Hewitt, UUCB member, Facilitator for UUCB Write For Your Life Writing Group, and Personal Theology publicist. “Joy: Galapagos Islands.”
- Personal Theology: Cordell Sloan
- 11-24-2019
Cordell Sloan, UUCB Board of Trustee, Technology guru; dream expert; jazz musician and son of Rev. Cordell Sloan, Sr. Cordell says “There have been a number of times in my life (And I’m sure yours too.) when necessity, that fecund mother of invention, required a personal reinvention. I’ve had a number of occasions requiring a makeover of myself as well as studying others pursuing a growth driven journey and from each of these experiences I find that there are many factors that consistently come into play when we succeed in renewal.” “My Toolkit For Self Invention.”
- Personal Theology: Kiran & Jeanne Rana
- 11-17-2019
Murshid Kiran Rana is a senior teacher in the Sufi Way, a mystical community that has its origin in the teachings of universal Sufism introduced in the West in 1910 by the Indian mystic Inayat Khan. Kiran lives happily in Alameda with his wife, Jeanne Rana, a poet and fellow-Sufi who is also a member of the First Unitarian Church of Oakland. At their Sufi center, Bay Dervish, they hold gatherings for meditation, invocation and music, offer personal guidance, and facilitate intimate conversations about the inner life, creativity and awakening. Kiran also teaches an online webinar called A Taste of Sufism; currently he and Jeanne are offering a ten-month-long program in Berkeley called Sufism & the Art of Loving. “Two Stories: How Kiran and Jeanne Found Sufism Found Them.”
Murshid Kiran & Jeanne Rana, (see bio above). “I follow the religion of love: whatever way love’s camels take, that is my religion and my faith.” — Ibn ’Arabi
- Personal Theology: Kiran Rana & Jeanne Rana
- 11-10-2019
Murshid Kiran Rana is a senior teacher in the Sufi Way, a mystical community that has its origin in the teachings of universal Sufism introduced in the West in 1910 by the Indian mystic Inayat Khan. Kiran lives happily in Alameda with his wife, Jeanne Rana, a poet and fellow-Sufi who is also a member of the First Unitarian Church of Oakland. At their Sufi center, Bay Dervish, they hold gatherings for meditation, invocation and music, offer personal guidance, and facilitate intimate conversations about the inner life, creativity and awakening. Kiran also teaches an online webinar called A Taste of Sufism; currently he and Jeanne are offering a ten-month-long program in Berkeley called Sufism & the Art of Loving. “Two Stories: How Kiran and Jeanne Found Sufism Found Them.”
- Personal Theology: Dr. Bill Garrett
- 11-03-2019
Bill Garrett, retired Professor of Philosophy and Religion, taught at JFK University, San Francisco State, Fromm institute, CIIS and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. The Enemy of the People.
- Personal Theology: Dr. Markate Daly
- 10-27-2019
Dr. Markate Daly has a PhD in Ethics from the University of Wisconsin. She’s a long-time active member of UUCB. Recent debates on the abortion issue pit the pro-choice view, framed in the language of personal rights and interests, against the pro-life groups, framed in moral terms. This framing distorts the real balance of moral versus self-interested motives about the legality of abortion services. My objective here is to show the moral case for continuing to support abortion rights while showing the Faustian bargain fundamentalist Christians have made with the corporate elite and the Republican Party. “A Moral Defense of Abortion Rights.”
- Personal Theology: Ifasina
- 10-20-2019
Ifasina TaMeicka L. Clear is a queer, hood, Southern Bell who resides in Oakland. Ifasina is a spiritual artist that is passionate about creating meaningful spaces to engage the body, heart, and mind in the plight of personal liberation and deepened community connection. “All Bodies Centered.”
- Personal Theology: Terry Patten
- 10-13-2019
Terry Patten has a long history both as a social and environmental activist, and as a teacher, scholar and facilitator of leading edge spiritual practice. An author of four books, including A New Republic of the Heart: An Ethos for Revolutionaries, he has worked for forty years to integrate ancient and modern practices for raising consciousness. Today Terry will offer his deeply researched insights into how we can elevate our very way of being, conversing, and working together to address our collective predicament. This can only be done effectively if we come together in new ways. Our collective future requires it. What’s Really Happening in Our Crazy World, and How Can We Be the Change We Want to See?
- Personal Theology: Dr. Steven Herrmann
- 10-06-2019
Dr. Steven Herrmann, Jungian psychotherapist; author, poet, teacher and scholar. Steven is a certified Jungian analyst and analyst member of the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco, and member of the International Association for Analytical Psychology (IAAP). Steven will give an overview of Jung’s spiritual vision as it developed over time, and encompassed many fields of religion and a variety of myths across the world. “Carl Jung’s Spirituality: Living the Symbolic Life.”
- Personal Theology: Rev. Dr. Jay Atkinson
- 09-29-2019
Rev. Dr. Jay Atkinson, Minister Emeritus, UU Church of Studio City; writer and teacher; research scholar at Starr King; UUCB member. Rev. Atkinson will discuss “Living Agnostically.”
- Personal Theology: James O'Hara
- 09-22-2019
James O’Hara is a former math instructor, massage instructor, dream worker, and a Brother in a Catholic religious order for 30 years. He is the author of a book about his experiences living in India and Nepal for 7 years, where he came to question his vows and beliefs and left the Brotherhood and the Church. Jim is currently writing a second book and will talk about the topic of his book. “Accidental Soul Work.”
- Personal Theology: Rev. Christian Schmidt
- 09-15-2019
Rev. Christian Schmidt, co-minister of the UU Church of Berkeley since 2016. Come and join us as Rev. Schmidt explores the intersection of religion, the public sphere, and government in “Church/State/Politics”. As campaigns begin (already!) to ramp for the 2020 elections, many of us are concerned about politics. Long-standing law has required religious organizations to be careful about how they interact with the elections process, but it’s never been more important for us to engage it. We’ll talk about how we can engage politics and why we must!
- Personal Theology: No session
- 09-08-2019
UUCB members are encouraged to participate in UUCB’s booth at the Solano Stroll.
- Personal Theology: Dr. Bill Garrett
- 09-01-2019
Bill Garrett, became ill at the last minute. David Millgrom , from the audience, led a discussion on the freedom of speech and especially the press. Sorry, no recording.
- Summer Forum
- 06-16-2019
Contact: Dorothy Herzberg
(510) 524-0649, dorothyherzberg@gmail.com - Summer Forum
- 06-09-2019
Contact: Dorothy Herzberg
(510) 524-0649, dorothyherzberg@gmail.com - Personal Theology: Planning and Evaluation
- 05-26-2019
Please join us to help evaluate past speakers as well as offer suggestions for future topics and/or speakers. Your input and ideas are important to keeping the Personal Theology program current and meaningful.
- Personal Theology: Dr. Victoria Lee
- 05-19-2019
Dr. Victoria Lee is a UUCB member, holds a doctoral degree, two master’s degrees and a B.A. degree from Georgetown University, Western Graduate School, and George Washington University. Victoria is a licensed clinical psychologist, a couples’ counselor and a certified sex therapist. She is a past-President of Santa Clara Valley Marriage and Family Therapists, and is a past Director of the Masters in Counseling Program at College of Notre Dame. “Sacred Relationships and Sacred Sexuality.”
- Personal Theology: Dr. Bernard Schlager
- 05-12-2019
Dr. Bernard Schlager is Associate Professor of Historical & Cultural Studies and Executive Director, Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies, in Religion (CLGS) at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley. His research interests include queer studies, the history of Christianity, LGBT pastoral care, and medieval social and religious history. He has published articles on ancient church history, medieval hagiography, the history of sexuality, and the history of education, and has recently co-authored with David Kundtz the second edition of their book: Ministry Among God’s Queer Folk: LGBT Pastoral Care (2018). Dr. Schlager will explore the connections between Christianity and the LGBTQ liberation movement in US History. “Queer and Christian.”
- Personal Theology: Rev. Lehel Molnár
- 05-05-2019
Rev. Lehel Molnár is the 2018-2019 Balazs Scholar at Starr King School for the Ministry. After his graduating from the Unitarian Faculty of the Protestant Theological Institute in Kolozsvár, he was then appointed as the archivist. He is presently a PHD student at the University of Szeged (Hungary) where his dissertation is on the Cultural and Church History of Transylvania between 1690-1725. “The Hungarian Unitarian Church Celebrates 450 Years; Preserving its Archival Heritage.”
- Personal Theology: Lois Snipes Atkinson
- 04-28-2019
Lois Snipes Atkinson is a retired social service worker and teacher, student of eclecticism, and UUCB member. “Religious, Not Spiritual.”
- Personal Theology: No session
- 04-21-2019
No session.
- Personal Theology: Stephen Miller
- 04-14-2019
Stephen Miller, LCSW, is a Therapist in Psychiatry Dept at Kaiser for 24 years, currently teaching Anxiety, Anger and Sleep classes at Kaiser In Solano county. “Serenity Now.”
- Personal Theology: Dr. W. Frederick Shaw
- 04-07-2019
Dr. W. Frederick Shaw is a UUCB member and the CEO and founder of Developing Indigenous Resources, which empowers people living in slums of developing countries to provide their own health and human services. TBA
- Personal Theology: Rev. Dr. Chris Schriner
- 03-31-2019
Rev. Dr. Chris Schriner is Minister Emeritus of Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Fremont and a retired psychotherapist. He is the author of six books, including including Bridging the God Gap: Finding Common Ground Among Believers, Atheists and Agnostics. “The Mystery of Consciousness.”
- Personal Theology: Phil Cousineau
- 03-24-2019
Phil Cousineau is a long-time collaborator with the late Dr. Huston Smith. Phil is a freelance writer, documentary filmmaker, and author of over 35 books, including The Hero’s Journey: the Life and Work of Joseph Campbell. He has over 20 documentary film credits and since 2009 has been host of Global Spirit on PBS and Link TV and a guest host on New Dimensions Radio. In 1999, he and his film partner, Gary Rhine organized a group of ten Native American leaders to accompany Dr. Huston Smith to the Parliament of World Religions in South Africa. His presentation will discuss the impassioned conversations and profound dialogues from the parliament, and will include film clips from their award-winning documentary, as well as other insights gathered from his decades of work with Huston Smith, including Huston’s distinctions between religion and spirituality, personal and collective theology, and his ultimately triumphant philosophy of living our lives in a spirit of rejoicing. “A Seat at the Table: Struggling for American Indian Religious Freedom.”
- Personal Theology: Dr. Judith Berling
- 03-17-2019
Dr. Judith Berling, an Episcopalian-Confucian-Daoist, dean and professor emerita of Chinese and comparative religions at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. “Learning to ‘Unsettle’ Myself: A Spiritual Journey.’”
- Personal Theology: Rev Kristin Schmidt
- 03-10-2019
Rev Kristin Schmidt, one of our Senior Co-Ministers, will share her reflections on the place where theology and real life meet. “What Really Matters.”
- Personal Theology: Dr. Beverly Allen
- 03-03-2019
Dr. Beverly Allen, Prof. Emerita at Syracuse University, visiting professor at Stanford. “Marija Gimbutas’ Archaeology of the Sacred Feminine.”
- Personal Theology: Lonnie Moseley & Cordell Sloan
- 02-24-2019
Lonnie Moseley, (UUCB Membership Co-Chair, Member of UUCB Program Council, Nominating Committee, and Social Justice Committee) and Cordell Sloan (UUCB Board of Trustee, technology guru; dream expert; jazz musician, and son of Rev. Cordell Sloan, Sr). “Hidden Messages within Negro Spirituals.”
- Personal Theology: Alex Pappas
- 02-17-2019
Alex Pappas, retired College of Alameda instructor of world religions and psychology (40+ years), past president of the Theosophical Society in Oakland, writer, a student of comparative religion especially nondual paths such as Vedanta, Theosophy, Alice A. Bailey and esoteric Buddhism. He has lectured at various locations including Germany, Turkey, India and US. His book Heaven and Nirvana is a comprehensive text of dual and nondual religious traditions. “The Great Mystery; An Approach to Reality; East Meets West.”
- Personal Theology: Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox
- 02-10-2019
Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox is a spiritual theologian, an Episcopal priest and an activist for gender justice and eco-justice. As a spiritual theologian he has written 37 books that have been translated into over 60 languages. Fox holds a doctorate in the history and theology of spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris and is the founder of the University of Creation Spirituality in California. Rev Fox is a recipient of many distinguished awards. His topic is “Naming the Unnameable: 89 Wonderful and Useful Names for God.”
- Personal Theology: Oren Jay Sofer
- 02-03-2019
Oren Jay Sofer, teacher of meditation and communication nationally. A member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council, he holds a degree in Comparative Religion from Columbia University and is author of Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication. “Living our Values: Speaking and Listening with Awareness.”
- Personal Theology: Hana Matt
- 01-27-2019
Hana Matt (see bio above). “Ways to Transform Stress and Cultivate Resilience: From The World’s Religions and Modern Scientific Studies.”
- Personal Theology: Hana Matt
- 01-20-2019
Hana Matt, teacher of world religions at GTU and Interfaith Chaplaincy; author, spiritual director, and counselor. “Ways to Cultivate Vibrancy and Flourishing: From The World’s Religions and Modern Scientific Studies.”
- Personal Theology: Rev. Dr. Sue Magidson
- 01-13-2019
Rev. Dr. Sue Magidson, lifelong UU; UUCB member for over 20 years; UUCB Community Minister. Ordained a UU minister, Sue serves as a hospital chaplain at San Leandro Hospital. She considers herself a professional listener. “Radical Listening as Spiritual Practice: The Transformative Power of Giving Someone Our Undivided Attention.”
- Personal Theology: Rev. Dr. Jane Ramsey
- 01-06-2019
Rev. Dr. Jane Ramsey, UUCB Community Minister and a Spiritual Care Provider (chaplain) for Napa Valley Hospice and Adult Day Center. Rev. Ramsey facilitates grief support groups, aging groups and leads workshops in death related issues.
- Personal Theology: No Session
- 12-30-2018
No Session. Happy New Year!
- Personal Theology: No session.
- 12-23-2018
No Session. Happy Holidays!
- Personal Theology: Jeanne Foster
- 12-16-2018
Jeanne Foster, professor emeritus at Saint Mary’s College, poet, memoir writer, and translator, former minister, UUCB Worship Associate and choir member, and author of five books; the latest is The Living Theatre, a translation of selected poems by the Italian poet Bianca Tarozzi. It was nominated for the Northern California Book Critics Award for 2017. “Lessons from a Tuscan Grasshopper.”
- Personal Theology: James O’Hara, PhD
- 12-09-2018
James O’Hara, PhD, educator, experienced dream worker and author of In the Land of Shiva, A Memoir. He studied with Jeremy Taylor in 1986, and subsequently co-facilitated many dream groups with Jeremy. Jim embraces the core of Jeremy’s philosophy: the wisdom of our dreams is available to each one of us, not just to professionals in the field. “A Tribute to Jeremy Taylor by Jim O’Hara: The Multiple Meanings in Dreams.”
- Personal Theology: Rev. Dr. Jay Atkinson
- 12-02-2018
Rev. Dr. Jay Atkinson, Minister Emeritus, UU Church of Studio City; writer and teacher; research scholar at Starr King; UUCB member. Forty years after Martin Luther opened the floodgates of Protestantism in 1517, our UU ancestors on the radical fringe of the Reformation were forming churches by 1558 in Poland and ten years later in Transylvania. Where do we stand 500 years later? Are we still on the radical edge? And what’s left to do? “500 Years of Protestant Reformation: What’s Left for UUs to Do?”
- Personal Theology: Wyndy J. Knox Carr
- 11-25-2018
Wyndy J. Knox Carr, see bio above.”Transition and the Only Way out is Through.”
- Personal Theology: Wyndy J. Knox Carr
- 11-18-2018
Wyndy J. Knox Carr, writer, mother of four, librarian-archivist, book reviewer, discoverer of roots from the Women Poets of the Twin Cities to Jeremy Taylor’s dream work groups, and new UUCB member. “Here I Am, Lord: Rediscovering Practices of Self-Worth and Community for Now and Our Future. Part 1.”
- Personal Theology: Dr. Bill Garrett
- 11-11-2018
Dr. Bill Garrett, former Professor of Religion and Philosophy at JFK University, UC Berkeley and now teaches at OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute). “The Living Universe: Astrobiology and the Deep Story of the Origins of Life.”
- Personal Theology: D. Patrick Miller
- 11-04-2018
D. Patrick Miller, author, investigative journalist, publisher, editor, literary agent, and Fearless Books and Literary Services operator. He has intensively studied “A Course in Miracles,” the Enneagram system of personality, Jungian depth psychology, shamanism, and related fields of contemporary spirituality. “How to Be Spiritual Without Being Religious.”
- Personal Theology: Deborah Schmidt
- 10-28-2018
Deborah Schmidt, UUCB member since 2005, former UUCB Board of Trustees President, Coordinating Team convener, and a volunteer coordinator. She teaches music and writes memoir, family history and poetry. “This Singing World:” a poetry reading celebrating nature, human connection, love, and music.
- Personal Theology: Rev. Christian Schmidt
- 10-21-2018
Rev. Christian Schmidt, UUCB’s Senior Co-Minister, mystical humanist. “Living in Anxious Times.”
- Personal Theology: Rabbi Harry Manhoff, PhD
- 10-14-2018
Rabbi Harry Manhoff, PhD, a superfan and collector of comic books, a Congregational Rabbi at Temple Beth Sholom in San Leandro, a lecturer at St. Mary’s College, and an author. “Politics and Prayer: The History of the Siddur (Jewish Prayer).”
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- Personal Theology: James Baraz
- 10-07-2018
James Baraz, founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center, co-author of Awakening Joy: Ten Steps to Happiness, and guiding teacher of Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley. “Equanimity: Finding Balance in Difficult Times.”
- Personal Theology: Ron Campbell
- 09-30-2018
Ron Campbell, multiple award-winning theater artist, poet and Cirque du Soleil clown. “Clown Knows: What the Lessons of a Lifetime of Performing Can Teach Us About the Pitfalls (and Pratfalls) of Becoming a Better Human.”
- Personal Theology: Carolyn West
- 09-23-2018
Carolyn West, Associate Minister for Worship and Director of Religious Education and a teacher of “World Religions for Curious People” at Northbrae Community Church. She is a published poet, essayist, and storyteller, with an MFA from Warren Wilson College. “Wisdom Traditions Respond to the Soul’s Human Cry.”
- Personal Theology: Cordell Sloan and Karen Voorhees
- 09-16-2018
Two UUCB visionaries, Cordell Sloan and Karen Voorhees, discuss their take on what the future is likely to hold for us. Karen brings her knowledge of Big History (PhD, cultural history) and spirituality (36 years as a meditator). Cordell brings his knowledge of UU history, his background in tech and his own deeply grounded spirituality. “We Have Seen This Movie Before: Reasons for Optimism About the Future in Spite of Today’s Headlines.”
- Personal Theology: Rev. Dr. John Buehrens
- 09-09-2018
Rev. Dr. John Buehrens (see bio above.) Part 2: “The Forgotten Female Transcendentalists.”
Why we should know more about such women as Elizabeth Peabody, Margaret Fuller, Lydia Maria Child, Caroline Healey Dall, and Julia Ward Howe, among others. Brief stories of each will help to expand our understanding of the Transcendentalists’ role in helping to launch the American movement for women’s rights.
- Personal Theology: Rev. Dr. John Buehrens
- 09-02-2018
Rev. Dr. John Buehrens, Harvard College and Harvard Divinity School graduate, former UUA President, retired Senior Minister of the First UU Society of San Francisco. He is also the author of six books, the latest of which is Transcendentalist Disciples: Spiritual Friendships Among Boston Leaders for Anti-Slavery, Women’s Rights, and Social Reform, 1830-1885. Rev. Buehrens will discuss “The Transcendentalists: Roots and Wings. Part 1: What You Don’t Know You Don’t Know About the Transcendentalists.”
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- Personal Theology: Planning and Evaluation
- 05-27-2018
May 27: Planning and Evaluation. Please join us to help evaluate past speakers as well as offer suggestions for future topics and/or speakers. Your input and ideas are important to keeping the Personal Theology program current and meaningful.
- Personal Theology: Rev. Emese Bodor
- 05-20-2018
May 20: Rev. Emese Bodor, Balazs Scholar at Starr King School for the Ministry, ordained Unitarian minister in Romania, and religious teacher and school chaplain at the János Zsigmond Unitarian High School. “The Importance of Education in Transylvanian Unitarian Communities.”
- Personal Theology: Lonnie Moseley & Cordell Sloan
- 05-13-2018
May 13: Lonnie Moseley (UUCB Membership Co-Chair) and Cordell Sloan (UUCB Board member and Stewardship Chair). “A Black Catholic/Christian Couple Wakes up One Morning as Unitarian Universalists.”
- Personal Theology: Imam Wali Muhammed
- 05-06-2018
May 6: Imam Wali Muhammed, spiritual leader of the Muslim Mission Center in Richmond, CA. “Al-Islam.”
- Personal Theology: Alex Pappas
- 04-29-2018
Apr. 29: Alex Pappas, former teacher of World Religions at College of Alameda and avid student of the ancient traditions. “The Metaphors of Reality: The Ageless Wisdom; Occult, Hermetic and Theosophic Teachings and Their Relevance in Today’s World of Maya.”
- Personal Theology: Dr. Steven Herrmann
- 04-22-2018
Apr 22: Dr. Steven Herrmann, Jungian psychotherapist; author, poet, teacher and scholar; candidate in analytical training at C.G. Jung Institute, San Francisco. “Emily Dickinson: A Medicine Woman for Our Times.” Among the 19th century poets, Emily Dickinson is by far the most scientifically minded. Science is the voice that summoned Dickinson at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary and gave her unique distinction as a poetess of botanical and entomological and astronomical classifications. Like no other 19th century poet she forms an integration between science and spirituality. She studied at Holyoke at the exact historical moment of the first Women’s Rights Convention in 1848. This talk speaks up for the Divine Feminine. When Steven Herrmann refers to Emily Dickinson as a Medicine Woman, he is speaking of an archetype of healing within all humans. Her poems are enduring imprints of the Medicine Woman archetype. It is by access to the Medicine Woman archetype that she’s able to espouse a democracy of equality that the world needs right now. She advises women to cherish “Power” and take heed from the Serpent. We need a Medicine Woman to balance things out. In a democratic sense, she’s a fierce and uncompromising spokeswoman for Liberty. She is a dispenser of a new American myth for our times.
- Personal Theology: Rev. Cat Cox
- 04-15-2018
Apr 15: Rev. Cat Cox, UUCB Community Minister, spiritual director, teacher, certified dream worker and workshop facilitator. “I’m a Weird Woman and I’m Getting Weirder!” Rev. Cat says: ”I first heard (and immediately loved) this great line from a woman in her 90s. Now I’m claiming it! The original meaning of “weird” is “in touch with the ‘other side’” – the non-physical dimension of existence. Let’s explore what it has meant for great spiritual teachers through the ages to be “weird” in this sense — and why you might like to get weirder, too!”
- Personal Theology: Dr. Bill Garrett
- 04-08-2018
Dr. Bill Garrett, Professor of Philosophy and Religion, has taught at JFK University, San Francisco State, Fromm Institute, California Institute of Integral Studies, and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. “Playing with Fire: The Dangerous Infatuation with Hate in 21st Century American Politics.”
- Personal Theology: Dr. Shahara Godfrey
- 03-25-2018
Dr. Shahara Godfrey, Buddhist teacher and mindfulness coach, humanitarian and mixed-media artist, is a graduate of the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leadership Program and the Path of Engagement programs. She received her Ph.D. in Humanities with a focus on Transformative Learning and Change from the California Institute of Integral Studies. In addition, she is a core teacher at the East Bay Medita
tion Center in Oakland. A self-taught mixed-media artist, she has exhibited in the Bay Area, Oregon, Washington, Atlanta and Los Angeles. “A Celebration of Life through Accepting Grief.”
- Personal Theology: Br. Bede Healey, OSB Cam, PhD
- 03-18-2018
Mar 18. Br. Bede Healey OSB Cam, PhD, Camaldolese Benedictine monk at Incarnation Monastery in Berkeley, clinical psychologist. He has served in various capacities, including Professor, Hermit, Director of Religion and Psychiatry, Consultant, workshop provider, Treasurer. He has a deep interest in the intersection between psychology and Christian spirituality. “The Psychological Roots of Believing.”
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- Personal Theology: Rev. Dr. Chris Schriner
- 03-11-2018
Mar 11: Rev. Dr. Chris Schriner, Minister Emeritus of Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation. He graduated from the University of Redlands, majoring in religion, philosophy, and psychology. He received a Doctorate in Religion from Claremont School of Theology and an MS in Marriage, Family and Child Counseling from the University of LaVerne. “Bridging the God Gap: Finding Common Ground Among Believers, Atheists and Agnostics.”
- Personal Theology: Charlie Wright
- 03-04-2018
Mar 4: Charlie Wright is one of Personal Theology’s audio Technicians and helper, and the spouse of Kit Hewitt (UUCB member and Leader of Write for Your Life Group). He is a regular participant of Personal Theology and has kindly agreed to step in to give a seminar when Rev Dr. Sue Magidson, UUCB Community minister, came down with the flu. Come and hear Charlie’s seminar on “How I Got to UUCB.”
- Personal Theology: Dr. Kendra Smith
- 02-25-2018
Feb 25: Dr. Kendra Smith, psychotherapist, trainer and coach; teacher of metta and vipassana meditation; and longtime UUCB member. “Consciousness After Death? Investigation and Personal Experience.” For many persons, this topic is unsettling and controversial, but there has been some serious investigation and for centuries there have been reports of communication with persons “on the other side.” Saint Augustine was one of these reporters. The belief that when the brain flatlines it ends consciousness is a culture-bound belief. Kendra will speak of investigations and of her own experience. She will also touch on the relationship between some forms of meditation and out-of-the-ordinary experiences.
- Personal Theology: Dr. Matthew Fox, Jennifer Listug & Skylar Wilson
- 02-18-2018
Feb 18: Dr. Matthew Fox (internationally acclaimed spiritual theologian, Episcopal priest, activist, author and professor; founder of University of Creation Spirituality), Jennifer Listug (writer, spiritual leader, and publicist), and Skylar Wilson (wilderness guide, leader of inter-cultural ceremonies). The authors will discuss “Order of the Sacred Earth,” an intergenerational community of sacred activists who have vowed to be the best lovers and defenders of the Earth that we can be.”
- Personal Theology: Dr. Irene Sardinis
- 02-11-2018
Feb 11: Dr. Irene Sardanis, retired psychologist turned writer. She’s been published in The Sun magazine and many anthologies, most recently The Magic of Memoir and Women in the Americas. She will publish her memoir in 2019, Beating the Bronx, Tales from a Greek Immigrant Daughter. “Writing as a Spiritual Practice.”
- Personal Theology: Dr. Karen Voorhees
- 02-04-2018
Dr. Karen Voorhees, UUCB member, writer. In 1981, while working on her Ph.D. in cultural history, Karen Voorhees began meditating and discovered levels of truth and beauty beyond the intellectual. Since then she has meditated two to three hours daily while pursuing her intellectual interests, including the work of Ken Wilber, outside academia
. “The Future of Religion; A Report on Ken Wilber’s What Now Conference.”
- Personal Theology: Hana Matt (2)
- 01-28-2018
Hana Matt, (see bio above). “Overcoming Anxiety and Coming to Inner Peace and Effectiveness.”
- Personal Theology: Hana Matt (1)
- 01-21-2018
Hana Matt, teacher of world religions at GTU and Interfaith Chaplaincy; author, spiritual director, and counselor. “Transforming Worry.”
- Personal Theology: Merrin Clough
- 01-14-2018
Merrin Clough, lifelong UU, Director of Family Ministry at UUCB; trained as an educator; hiker, seamstress and poet. “Searching Truth, Finding Purpose.”
- Personal Theology: Rev. Craig Scott
- 01-07-2018
Rev. Craig Scott, (new) retired lawyer and UU Minster, UUCB member, social advocate, and Schweitzer Award winner. “Hate Cannot Drive out Hate: Yellow Tee Shirts in a Troubled Time.”
- Personal Theology: No session
- 12-31-2017
Happy New Year!
- Personal Theology: No session
- 12-24-2017
Happy Holidays!!
- Personal Theology: Dr. Jeremy Taylor (2)
- 12-17-2017
Dr. Jeremy Taylor, (see bio above). “Since There Is ALWAYS More Going on Than Meets the Eye, Curiosity Is the Most Important Spiritual Energy We Have At Our Disposal.”
- Personal Theology: Dr. Jeremy Taylor (1)
- 12-10-2017
Dr. Jeremy Taylor, pioneer in dream work, author of several books on dream symbolism, methodology and archetypal energy, teacher, UU minister. “The Power of (Archetypal) Symbols – Awake and Asleep.”
- Personal Theology: Dr. David Presti
- 12-03-2017
Dr. David Presti, UC Berkeley professor of neurobiology, author of Foundational Concepts in Neuroscience: A Brain-Mind Odyssey. “The Boundary between Biophysical Science and Concepts of Spirit and Soul.”
- Personal Theology: Dr. Richard Stromer
- 11-26-2017
Dr. Richard Stromer, a longtime student of mythology as a pathway for both psychological and spiritual development. He has a doctorate in Mythological Studies from Pacifica Graduate Institute, home of the Joseph Campbell Library and Archives. “Joseph Campbell and the Religious Function of Myth”
- Personal Theology: Rev. Kristin Grassel Schmidt
- 11-19-2017
Rev. Kristin Grassel Schmidt, UUCB’s Senior Co-Minister, long-time UU member, singer, and Star Trek enthusiast. A mother of two, Rev Kristin will share some of her thoughts and experiences in “Holy Chaos: Spirituality in Parenting.”
- Personal Theology: Jeanne Foster
- 11-12-2017
Jeanne Foster, UU minister, UUCB Worship Associate and Choir member. She is also Professor Emerita of English Literature and Creative Writing at Saint Mary’s College, co-editor of Appetite: Food as Metaphor, an anthology of poems by women (BOA), a poet and author of several books, the latest of which are Goodbye, Silver Sister and The Living Theater: Selected Poems of Bianca Tarozzi. Jeanne will share some thoughts on how what you love can be a pilgrimage in “Doing What You Love as a Pilgrimage.”
- Personal Theology: Rabbi Harry Manhoff
- 11-05-2017
Rabbi Harry Manhoff, a superfan and collector of comic books, is a Congregational Rabbi at Temple Beth Sholom in San Leandro, a lecturer at St.Mary’s College, and an author. He has a doctorate on the New Testament and Christian Origins. “Why I love Sukkot.”
- Personal Theology: Dr. Bill Garrett
- 10-29-2017
Dr. Bill Garrett, former Professor of religion and philosophy at JFK University and UC Berkeley and now teaches at OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute). He will give a seminar on “Help not Needed: The Disappearance of Employment– A Coming Spiritual Crisis.”
- Personal Theology: Rev. Heng Sure
- 10-22-2017
Rev. Heng Sure, Buddhist monk, director of the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, scholar, GTU alumnus, teacher at Pacific School of Religion (PSR), musician, singer-songwriter, storyteller, and youth leader. “Guarding the Candle in a High Wind: Sources of Hope.”
- Personal Theology: Susan Moon
- 10-15-2017
Susan Moon, writer, teacher, former editor of Turning Wheel, the journal of socially engaged Buddhism, author of many books, such as This Is Getting Old: Zen Thoughts on Aging with Dignity and Humor. “From Small Self to Big Self: Accepting myself as I am, and realizing my connection with all beings.”
- Personal Theology: Linda Heiderer
- 10-08-2017
Linda Heiderer, part time resident of Findhorn, has taken to pilgrimages as a spiritual pathway and has among other things walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain. “Findhorn: A Spiritual Community in Northern Scotland.”
- Personal Theology: Claudia Miller
- 10-01-2017
Claudia Miller, MA from Naropa University, Oakland, practitioner of non-violent communication and mediator who facilitates dialogues to find common ground and mutual respect. “Deep Listening as a Spiritual practice.”
- Personal Theology: Dr. Beverly Allen
- 09-24-2017
Dr. Beverly Allen, Prof. Emerita at Syracuse University, visiting professor at Stanford. “Courtly Love and the Great Heresy: Medieval Ciphers and the Turning of The Church.”
- Personal Theology: Dr. Steven Herrmann
- 09-17-2017
Dr. Steven Herrmann, Jungian psychotherapist; poet, author, teacher and scholar; candidate in analytical training at C.G. Jung Institute, SF. “The Future of Transpersonal Psychology.”
- Personal Theology: Rev. Christian Schmidt
- 09-10-2017
Rev. Christian Schmidt, UUCB’s Senior Co-Minister, mystical Humanist, father. “The Problem of Hell: Universalism, Evil, and Our World.”
- Personal Theology: John Maes
- 09-03-2017
John Maes, UUCB member since 1998, former conscientious objector during the U.S. war in Southeast Asia, life long spiritual seeker and a perennial attendee of personal theology presentations. “Evidence Based Spirituality.”
- Personal Theology: Planning and evaluation
- 05-28-2017
Planning and Evaluation
- Personal Theology: Alex Pappas
- 05-21-2017
Alex Pappas (see bio above). “Comparison of Swami Vivekananda’s Raja Yoga with the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (8 Step Yoga Path).”
- Personal Theology: Alex Pappas
- 05-14-2017
Alex Pappas is a retired community college teacher of World Religions and author of the book Heaven and Nirvana: Duality and Nonduality in the World Religions. He has traveled extensively to the sources of the religious traditions and spiritual paths that he teaches especially to India where, during thirteen visits, he lived and visited various Ashrams and spiritual centers.He will talk about “Religions as Theories of the Absolute Reality from a Dualistic and Non-Dualistic Point of View”
- Personal Theology: Rev. Theresa (Tet) Gallardo
- 05-07-2017
Join us to hear Rev. Theresa Gallardo talk about the “Origins of Unitarian Universalism in the Philippines and Current Practice.” Rev. Gallardo is the first Balazs Scholar from the Philippines. She is a Unitarian Universalist lesbian minister from the Bicutan Congregation in Manila. She has served as a political organizer, consultant, resource speaker, and disaster relief volunteer in Nepal.
- Personal Theology: Ann-Marie Sayers
- 04-30-2017
Indian Canyon Tribal Woman Ann-Marie Sayers to speak on “The Importance of Sacred Spaces in These Turbulent Times.” Ann-Marie Sayers is a Matsun Ohlone Native American, the director of the Costanoan Indian Research Center and the traditional caretaker of Indian Canyon. Indian Canyon is the only sovereign Indian lands of central Coast California. She will discuss the “The Importance of Sacred Spaces in These Turbulent Times,” enlightening the audience about some Native American cultural and spiritual practices. “Come,” she says: “The Earth is alive. You can feel the energy. And it’s a reason for living.”
- Personal Theology: Rev. Craig Scott
- 04-23-2017
Join us to hear Rev Craig Scott talk about the “Prophets of Resistance.” Rev. Scott is a retired lawyer, UU minister and a UUCB member. A social activist and community organizer, Rev Scott is involved in many of CCISCO (the Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organizing) activities and supports the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program (GRIP).
- Personal Theology
- 04-16-2017
No session! Happy holiday!
- Personal Theology: Cat Zavis
- 04-09-2017
Come and hear Cat Zavis discuss “The Role of Spirituality in a Time of Political Crisis.” Ms. Zavis is an attorney, a mediator, a child advocate, author and a trainer in emphatic communications. She is the Executive Director of The Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP), which seeks to transform our materialist and corporate-dominated society into a caring society through consciousness raising, advocacy, and public awareness campaigns.
- Personal Theology: Kit Hewitt
- 04-02-2017
Kit Hewitt, former member of the Personal Theology Committee, a UUCB member, and the present facilitator of the Write for Your Life group, succeeding Beth Riemer. When our scheduled speaker failed to show up, Kit volunteered to step forward to talk extemporaneously. Thank you Kit! The title of her talk is “My Personal Theology.”
She writes: “Born in Hawaii to a military family. Lived in Hawaii, Delaware, Mississippi, Redwood City, Mississippi, Sacramento, and Maine before the end of Second Grade. The first story I wrote was to the tune of “Afternoon of a faun” when I was 10. At 13 I was reading Dostoevsky and Lewis Carroll with equal interest. Rod McKuen gave me the idea that it was possible to write poetry about my life. Joseph Heller gave me similar ideas about writing books. Received BA from SF State on my 30th birthday and MA in 1991. I started to figure out how to be a writer when I started having an audience of people who were interested in what I had to say. Beth Glick-Rieman was a huge influence in that she taught me to listen to my own voice and actually hear what I was saying. I have lived in Berkeley for 21 years with my husband, Charlie.”
- Personal Theology: Dr. Bill Garrett
- 03-26-2017
Dr. Bill Garrett, past professor of religion and philosophy at JFK University and UC Berkeley; now teaches through the Osher Lifelong Learning Program. “Thinking through the Anthropocene.”
- Personal Theology: Dr. Bill Garrett
- 03-19-2017
Bill Garrett, Ph.D., past professor of religion and philosophy at JFK University and UC Berkeley; now teaches through the Osher Lifelong Learning Program. “The Re-emergence of Paganism in the 21st Century: It’s Not What You May Think.”
- Personal Theology: Rev. Christian Schmidt
- 03-12-2017
Rev. Christian Schmidt, new Senior UUCB Co-Minister, “Detoxifying Masculinity.” Rev. Schmidt has a Masters of Divinity from Andover Newton Divinity School; he is a Unitarian Universalsit, a father, and a Humanist. He blogs: How can we as a church support the healthy growth and development of boys and men? In a world that pushes a view of masculinity that constricts the way men are “allowed” to be and act, and simultaneously hurts both those men and all other people, presenting a positive view of what masculinity can and should look like should be an important part of what we do at UUCB. In “Detoxifying Masculinity,” the Rev. Schmidt will talk about his own experiences of growing up as a male, and how the church can support the development of healthy men and boys.
- Personal Theology: Rev. Cathleen Cox
- 03-05-2017
Rev. Cathleen Cox, UUCB community minister, spiritual director, teacher, certified dream worker and workshop facilitator; 2002 recipient of the Margaret Fuller Award of UU Women’s Federation. “Jesus: Radical Teacher of Love in Action.”
Email Mac@Lingos.US if you would like a download version of this talk.
- Personal Theology: Charles Tart
- 02-26-2017
Charles Tart, Ph.D., author of numerous books, including two widely used textbooks; researcher on consciousness and parapsychology. “In search of Enlightenment and Knowledge: Highlights from the Life Journey of a Transpersonal Para(Neuro)Psychologist. (Part 2) Scientific and Spiritual Smorgasbord.”
- Personal Theology: Father Arthur Poulin
- 02-19-2017
Father Arthur Poulin, local Camaldolese Benedictine priest & monk; internationally renowned painter. He views painting as a sacred journey, working from darkness to lightness, from the unknown to the known, and from chaos to unity. “The Spirituality of Creativity.”
- Personal Theology: Ron Campbell
- 02-12-2017
Ron Campbell, International theatre artist, writer, painter, martial artist, sailor and Cirque du Soleil clown, “In Search of the Mask of Satori. A performer’s journey on the path to selfhood.”
- Personal Theology: Matthew Fox
- 02-05-2017
Matthew Fox, Ph.D., internationally acclaimed spiritual theologian, Episcopal priest, activist, author and professor; founder of University of Creation Spirituality. “The Contemplative and Sacred Activism of Thomas Merton.”
- Personal Theology: Hana Matt (2)
- 01-29-2017
Hana Matt (see bio above) “Increase Your Happiness: Methods from Scientific Studies and the World’s Religions.” (Part 2)
- Personal Theology: Hana Matt (1)
- 01-22-2017
Hana Matt, teacher of world religions at GTU and Interfaith Chaplaincy; author; spiritual director and counselor. “Increase Your Happiness; Methods from Scientific Studies and the World’s Religions.” (Part 1)
- Personal Theology: Cordell Sloan
- 01-15-2017
Cordell Sloan, UUCB member, a technology guru, a dream expert, and a jazz musician. In the early 1960s, young Cordell and his brother Clifford were enrolled by their father, the Rev. Cordell Sloan Sr., in a white school. When denied admission, Rev. Sloan sued and won, resulting in the desegregation of public schools in Wilson County, Tennessee. “The History and Theology of Martin Luther King, Jr.”
- Personal Theology: Rev. Kristin Grassel Schmidt
- 01-08-2017
The Rev. Kristin Grassel Schmidt, UUCB’s new Senior Co-Minister, long-time UU member, mother, singer, and Star Trek enthusiast, will share some of her personal theological grounding and explore her conviction that growing deeper liberal faith is the most important work we as a community can do for our hurting world today. “Guide My Feet.”
- Personal Theology: Jeremy Taylor
- 12-18-2016
Jeremy Taylor, “An Oak Tree is NOT an Unsuccessful Evergreen: Finding our Own Unique Paths through the Forest of Conventional Possibilities.” Dr. Taylor is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, He is a Professor of Dreamwork and Archetypal Studies; he has worked with dreams for over forty years. He blends the values of spirituality with an active social conscience and a Jungian perspective. He is the founding member and past president of the International Association for the Study of Dreams. He has written four books integrating dream symbolism, mythology, and archetypal energy.
- Personal Theology: Jeremy Taylor
- 12-11-2016
“Looking Below the Surface of Appearance: Ethical and Historical Necessity of Acknowledging the Unconscious.” Dr. Taylor is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, He is a Professor of Dreamwork and Archetypal Studies; he has worked with dreams for over forty years. He blends the values of spirituality with an active social conscience and a Jungian perspective. He is the founding member and past president of the International Association for the Study of Dreams. He has written four books integrating dream symbolism, mythology, and archetypal energy.
- Personal Theology: Edwin Rutsch
- 12-04-2016
“How Might We Build a More Empathic Culture?” Edwin Rutsch is the founding director of the Center for Building a Culture of Empathy and the founder of the International Empathy Trainers Association. The center’s website, CultureOfEmpathy.com, is the internet’s most comprehensive portal for empathy-related material, including interviews with over 300 experts on the topic. He is a world traveler, a “seeker,” a documentary filmmaker and has worked in the computer technology field. In his travels, he has interacted with a wide variety of cultures and peoples from all walks of life and learned to see and feel the common humanity of all people on the planet. - Personal Theology: Cordell Sloan
- 11-27-2016
UUCB member Cordell Sloan will speak on “Putting Recent Brain Science to Good Use: Practical Tactics for Better Living and Smarter Aging.” In the early 1960s, Rev. Cordell Sloan Sr. enrolled his sons, young Cordell and his brother, in a white school, sued when denied admission and won, resulting in the desegregation of public schools in Wilson County, Tennessee. Cordell is now a technology guru, a dream expert, and a jazz musician. - Personal Theology: Ray Nelson
- 11-20-2016
Ray Nelson will discuss “What is Inspiration?” He is a local science fiction writer, cartoonist and propeller beanie inventor and a long-time UUCBer. Ray studied theology at University of Chicago and spent four years studying in Paris among the Beat Generation and existentialists like Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. - Personal Theology: Bryan Baker
- 11-13-2016
Come hear Dr. Bryan Baker’s seminar on “Finding a Shared Vision through Collaboration.” Dr. Baker is the Director of Music at UUCB and the Luminescence Choir. He conducts for Masterworks Chorale and the San Francisco Choral Society. He has served on the faculties of College of San Mateo, San Francisco State University, Foothill College, and Arizona State University. Dr. Baker has played solo concerts, chamber music, and accompanied vocal recitals across the United States and in Europe and South America. - Personal Theology: Carolyn West
- 11-06-2016
Join us to hear Carolyn West give a talk on “More than a Hero.” Ms. West, the Director of Religious Education and storyteller at Northbrae Community Church in Berkeley, teaches classes on mythology and stories. She is also an essayist and a poet; and she has been sharing world stories with the kids—and adults—most Sunday mornings since 2004.
- Personal Theology: Shahara Godfrey
- 10-30-2016
Shahara Godfrey, Ph.D., will speak on “Social Responsibility and Spirituality: A Buddhist Perspective.” Dr. Godfrey, Buddhist teacher and mindfulness coach, humanitarian and mixed-media artist, is a graduate of the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leadership Program and the Path of Engagement programs. She received her Ph.D. in Humanities with a focus on Transformative Learning and Change from the California Institute of Integral Studies. In addition, she is a core teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland. A self-taught mixed-media artist, she has exhibited in the Bay Area, Oregon, Washington, Atlanta and Los Angeles. - Personal Theology: Charles Tart
- 10-23-2016
Hear world-renowned psychologist Charles T. Tart, Ph.D., give a seminar on “In Search of Enlightenment and Knowledge: Highlights from the Life Journey of a Transpersonal Para(Neuro)Psychologist.” Dr. Tart is internationally known for his psychological work on the nature of consciousness (particularly, altered states of consciousness), as one of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology, and for his research in parapsychology. He is a part-time executive faculty member at Sofia University and Professor Emeritus of Psychology at UC Davis.(Part 2, Scientific and Spiritual Smorgasbord will be presented on Feb 26, 2017)
- Personal Theology: Elizabeth Fisher
- 10-16-2016
Come and hear Elizabeth Fisher give a talk on “Gifts Goddesses Offer.” She is the author of the UU Women’s Federation course Rise Up and Call Her Name: A Woman-honoring Journey into Global Earth-based Spiritualities and a variety of other publications. She received the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans’ Margaret Fuller–Henry David Thoreau Award for furthering understanding of earth-centered philosophy and is included on a list of the Thirteen Most Influential People in Women’s Spirituality.
- Personal Theology: Ronald Nakasone
- 10-09-2016
Ronald Nakasone, Ph.D., will speak on “Spiritual Genealogy.” Dr. Nakasone is Senior Lecturer in Buddhist Art and Culture and member of the Core Doctoral Faculty at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley. He is also on the faculty of the Stanford University Geriatric Education Center. He has published more than 100 academic books and articles on aging and spirituality; Buddhist doctrine, ethics, and aesthetics; and Okinawan studies. He is also an expert in the art of sho (Japanese calligraphy).
- Personal Theology: Beverly Allen and Frank Ferrante
- 10-02-2016
Beverly Allen and Frank Ferrante will discuss “Forgiveness.” Frank Ferrante is the award-winning author of May I Be Frank? How I Changed My Ways, Lost 100 Pounds, and Found Love Again. Beverly Allen, Ph.D., is an author, former journalist, screenwriter, lecturer and teacher in the humanities and spiritual traditions, currently focusing on the sacred feminine. She has taught at UC Santa Cruz, Stanford, OLLI, Cornell, the University of Zagreb, and Syracuse University where she is a Professor Emerita.
- Personal Theology: Steven Herrmann
- 09-25-2016
Come hear Jungian psychotherapist Steven Herrmann, Ph.D., MFT, who specializes in dream work and vocational development. He will present “Vocational Dreams,” in which he will discuss dreams, their meanings, and vocational significance. He is the author of William Everson: The Shaman’s Call; Walt Whitman: Shamanism, Spiritual Democracy, and the World Soul; and Spiritual Democracy: The Wisdom of Early American Visionaries for the Journey Forward.
- Personal Theology: The Dream that Almost Got Away - Dr. Jeanne Foster
- 09-18-2016
Dr. Jeanne Foster, author and prize-winning poet; professor of English at St. Mary’s College. “The Dream that Almost Got Away.”
- Personal Theology: Joel Ben Izzy
- 09-11-2016
Come hear renowned storyteller and recording artist Joel Ben Izzy. He will share stories about Rwanda and charm us with stories particularly suited to the arrival of fall, helping us think about how to reap and hold the tales from our own lives. He’ll also be sharing stories exploring just how it is that curses become blessings—as befits a gathering on this date.
- Personal Theology: Rabbi Tsvi Bar-David
- 09-04-2016
We begin the semester with Rabbi Tsvi Bar-David, founder and director of Beit Simchah…the House of Joy, whose mission is to provide workshops in Jewish Mysticism and Sacred Song. He has been teaching Jewish text and practice for many years, is a hospital chaplain, a methadone counselor and a spiritual counselor. He’s done counseling work in the prison system. Rabbi Tsvi will speak on “Dveikut in Jewish Mysticism: The Direct Experience of the Beloved”.
- Personal Theology: Called to Compassion and Mercy - Sister Carmel (Marguerite Crimmins)
- 05-29-2016
Sister Carmel is member of the Religious Sisters of Mercy; she’s worked in education and prison ministry and has done restorative justice work in San Quentin.
- Personal Theology: In Search of the Enlightened Feminine: My Journey through Paganism to Tibetan Buddhism and other Important Spiritual Adventures - Sara Lefkowitz
- 05-22-2016
Sara Lefkowitz is an RN, BSN, MPA, Nurse Educator; facilitator in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction; she’s active in the SF Bay Area Tara Mandala Sangha.
- Personal Theology: Sufism: Historical development, dual and nondual aspects, great teachers, modern sects - Alex Pappas
- 05-15-2016
Alex Pappas is an author and retired teacher of World Religions at College of Alameda; he’s an avid student of the ancient traditions and Theosophy.
- Personal Theology: Turkish Politics & Islam: Ataturk, Sharia, Sects (Sunni, Alevi and Sufi), Shia Iran and Alawite Syria - Alex Pappas
- 05-08-2016
Alex Pappas is an author and retired teacher of World Religions at College of Alameda; he’s an avid student of the ancient traditions and Theosophy.
- Personal Theology: Getting to Know American Muslims and Their Faith - Ameena Jandali
- 05-01-2016
Ameena Jandali is a founding member of Islamic Networks Group; instructor at San Francisco City College; author of training modules for public institutions on developing relations with the American Muslim community.
- Personal Theology: The Universe: The Ultimate Superhero - Rhonda Servin
- 04-24-2016
Rhonda Servin is an artist, writer and storyteller; she has a book in progress titled U: The Universe Chronicles; UUCB member.
- Personal Theology: Beyond Belief and Religion: A Seven Year Journey in India and Nepal - James O'Hara
- 04-17-2016
James O’Hara is author of In the Land of Shiva; former Catholic Brother and teacher whose life changed when he visited India and Nepal.
- Personal Theology: The Siddur: Jewish Prayer, Its History and Interpretation - Rabbi Harry Manhoff
- 04-10-2016
Harry Manhoff is the Congregational Rabbi at Temple Beth Sholom in San Leandro; author; lecturer at St. Mary’s College; he has a doctorate in the New Testament.
- Personal Theology: Who Stole Jesus? - Rev. Cathleen Cox
- 04-03-2016
Cathleen Cox is a Community Minister for UUCB, spiritual director, teacher, certified dream worker and workshop facilitator; 2002 recipient of the Margaret Fuller Award of UU Women’s Federation.
- Personal Theology: Transformation: Not for the Faint of Heart - Beverly Allen in conversation with Frank Ferrante
- 03-27-2016
Beverly Allen is a PhD, Professor Emerita at Syracuse University; visiting professor at Stanford; and author. Frank Ferrante is an award-winning author of May I Be Frank. They will have a conversation on the topic of transformation.
- Personal Theology: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society - Matthew Fox
- 03-20-2016
Matthew Fox is an internationally acclaimed spiritual theologian, Episcopal priest, activist, author and professor; founder of the University of Creation Spirituality. - Personal Theology: The Human/Dog Story: A Tail with a Heart - Bill Garrett
- 03-13-2016
Bill Garrett is a past professor at JFK University and UC Berkeley; now teaches through the Osher Lifelong Learning Program. He will discuss current research on the intersection of dog evolution with the story of humanity. - Personal Theology: Jonathan Haidt's 'The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion' - Bill Garrett
- 03-06-2016
Bill Garrett is a past professor at JFK University and UC Berkeley; now teaches through the Osher Lifelong Learning Program. - Personal Theology: Kahlil Gibran's 'Pen Bond': Feminism and Spirituality in Jazz-Age New York - Nicoletta Karam
- 02-28-2016
Nicoletta Karam is a bay area educator with a Ph.D. in Arab-American history; author of The 9/11 Backlash and other writings.
- Personal Theology: A God That Could be Real in the Scientific Universe - Nancy Abrams
- 02-21-2016
Nancy Abrams is a lawyer, author of several books, activist, scientist and philosopher and a Fulbright Scholar; she was interviewed by Deepak Chopra as part of his Deepak Homebase series and has lectured at NASA. - Personal Theology: What Does Death Have to Teach the Living? - Susan Moon
- 02-14-2016
Susan Moon is a writer, editor, and lay teacher in the Soto Zen tradition; author of a number of books about Buddhism, including The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women. - Personal Theology: Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication - Rev. László Major
- 02-07-2016
Rev. László Major, the current Balázs Scholar at Starr King School for the Ministry, studied in Transylvania. He is the Parish Minister at the Unitarian Congregation of Dakt. - Jay Atkinson - "Our Universalist Heritage"
- 01-31-2016
Jay Atkinson, Minister Emeritus, UU Church of Studio City; writer and teacher; research scholar at Starr King; UUCB member. Our Universalist Heritage.This seminar addresses the historical aspect of Universalism and its relationship to today’s Unitarian Universalist faith. - Rosemary Bray McNatt - "What Unitarian Universalism Looks Like Twenty Years from Now"
- 01-24-2016
Rosemary Bray McNatt, President of Starr King School for the Ministry; author of three books, including her memoir Unafraid of the Dark; former editor at N.Y. Times Book Review. What Unitarian Universalism Looks Like Twenty Years from Now.
SORRY….audio not available for this event.
- Hana Matt - "The Divine Feminine: Hindu/Buddhist Beliefs"
- 01-17-2016
Hana Matt, teacher of world religions at GTU and Interfaith Chaplaincy; author and lecturer; spiritual director and counselor. The Divine Feminine: Hindu/Buddhist Beliefs. - Hana Matt - "The Divine Feminine: Native/Indigenous Beliefs"
- 01-10-2016
Hana Matt, teacher of world religions at GTU and Interfaith Chaplaincy; author and lecturer; spiritual director and counselor. The Divine Feminine: Native/Indigenous Beliefs.
- Rev. Theresa Hardy - "Perspectives on Grief, Death, and Dying in the Present Day"
- 01-03-2016
Rev. Theresa Hardy, UUCB Chaplain with VITAS Innovative Hospice Care in Fairfield; active in UUCB youth programs. Perspectives on Grief, Death, and Dying in the Present Day.
- Jeremy Taylor - "Paying More Attention to Dreams"
- 12-20-2015
Jeremy Taylor, pioneer in dream work; author of several books on dream symbolism, mythology and archetypal energy; teacher and UU minister.
- Jeremy Taylor - "In Praise of Confusion"
- 12-13-2015
Jeremy Taylor, pioneer in dream work; author of several books on dream symbolism, mythology and archetypal energy; teacher and UU minister. In Praise of Confusion.
- Tony Bushman - "Paying Attention to What Has Heart & Meaning"
- 12-06-2015
Tony Bushman, life coach, pastoral counselor, consultant and professor; group, workshop and retreat leader; world traveler and photographer. Paying Attention to What Has Heart & Meaning.
- David Lingenfelter - "Cosmic Considerations: Matter and Energy, Darkness and Light"
- 11-29-2015
David Lingenfelter, UUCB member for over 30 years; PhD in Chemistry from UCLA; scholar. Cosmic Considerations: Matter and Energy, Darkness and Light.
- Jhos Singer - "Food and Gratitude: The Jewish Art of Eating Thankfully"
- 11-22-2015
Jhos Singer, Maggid/Congregational Leader of Chochmat HaLev, a Center for Jewish Spirituality in Berkeley; preacher, spiritualist and story teller; he’ll share some Jewish gastronomic and spiritual insights. Food and Gratitude: The Jewish Art of Eating Thankfully.
- Pat LaDouceur - "Stress-Free Holidays"
- 11-15-2015
Pat LaDouceur, MFT; trained in neurofeedback, hypnotherapy, alpha-synchrony; author. Stress-Free Holidays: simple shifts you can make to keep your spirits up when life gets crazy.
