Adults
Adult Education Classes for Sunday, May 19
- Theology for the 21st Century – 9:30 a.m. in Room LL05
The class will continue discussing the Little Book of Atheist Spirituality, by the French philosopher, Andre Comte-Sponville. Peter will lead the discussion this week. - Green Team Forum: Green Burial – Sunday, May 19 at 11 a.m. in the Chapel
Special guest Kevin Corrado will share the philosophy behind Natural Path Sanctuary, a nature preserve/burial ground/cemetery near Verona. As Kevin explains sustainable end-of-life choices and burial practices, he will transform the commonly gloomy topic of death into a conversation about respect for the deceased and hope for the future.
For details about this week’s classes and other Sunday morning happenings, click on this link; then click on the title of the class or event you want to learn more about.
On Sundays the Library on the second floor is staffed from 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and the book carousel is available to browse in Fellowship Hall.
Ongoing Sunday Educational Offerings
Theology for the 21st Century
This class meets in Room LL05 from 9:30-10:30 a.m. September to June
Often called "Cecil's Class" after Cecil Findley, one of the early leaders of this class, Theology for the 21st Century class members choose books to study from the spectrum of modern progressive theology. Some authors recently chosen have included Nigel Leaves, Brandon Scott, Paul Knitter, John Shelby Spong, John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg. Newcomers are always welcome. Class discussions, led by various members of the class, are always both lively and enlightening.
A Harvest of Good Books
June book reviews
June 2: Carla Di Iorio reviews Life of Pi. Published in 2001 after being rejected by five publishers, Yann Martel's Life of Pi became an internationally best selling "head scratcher." In 2010 Barack Obama wrote to Martel that the book is "an elegant proof of God, and the power of storytelling." What do you think about the story of a shipwreck, a tiger and a boy who "just wants to love God." Carla will be able to discuss the book, the movie and weave in her recent trip to India.
June 9: Daniel Cochran presents/discusses the book: Creation and the Persistence of Evil by Jon D. Levenson. This is a thought provoking and critically important study that reexamines traditional assumptions about the Genesis account of creation.
June 16: Bill White reviews Ben Sidran’s new book, There Was A Fire: Jews, Music, and the American Dream. Written by a Madison musician, this is a comprehensive social history of Jewish contributions to American popular music in the twentieth century full of stories and great insights.
June 23: Bobbi Reynolds reviews Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss. From a Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter at The New York Times comes the explosive story of the rise of the processed food industry and its link to the emerging obesity epidemic. Michael Moss reveals how companies use salt, sugar, and fat to addict us and, more important, how we can fight back.
June 30: Tom Brown reviews two books. First time novelist, Alice LaPlante wrote Turn of Mind* about an early victim of dementia who doesn’t know whether she murdered her best friend, and whose family tries to shield her from the reality she is unable to recognize. She does know the terror that her mind is going - or gone - and that her brilliant surgical career doesn’t control her life any more. The second book, Laura Wayman’s A Loving Approach to Dementia Care* takes some of the characters we’ve met, who try to make meaningful connections with persons who have Alzheimer’s Disease or other dementia or memory loss. The book also tries to help us make similar meaningful connections to characters surrounding the Alzheimer’s victim and tries to inform our understandings of what it is like for members of a supporting family to try to continue long-term loving relationships in ambiguous settings. We will have time to discuss what the books say about our roles of kindness and love to supporting families.
