Current Classes

Our chosen adult education discussion class for Autumn, 2019, will be reading the book: Co-Active Leadership: Five Ways to Lead. You may purchase the book in any of several formats by clicking the link below (and our Fellowship will receive a small percentage of your purchase at no extra cost to you.) Class start dates to be announced – probably in early October, 2019.

 

 

Adult Religious Exploration  –  Our group discussion series have topics vary frequently. For our current discussion classes, please visit:  https://www.meetup.com/create-meaning-visalia/ 

Past Topics

Here are some of the past books or topics we have enjoyed reading and discussing, to give you an idea of the variety of topics we cover:

  • February 12, 2019 – Building Your Own Theology –  This classic UU adult education program invites participants to develop their own personal credos, the fundamental religious beliefs, values, and convictions that inform and direct of their lives. Rather than finding meaning and truth in a specific creed, Unitarian Universalists believe that religious faith is uniquely personal and evolves as we each engage our inner search and in our life journey.
  • September, 2018 – Our Place In the Web of Life: An Introduction to Environmental Justice  – This 5 session class helped our congregation identify specific environmental injustice in our local community with a focus on racism and economic privilege. The course deepened our UU identity and spirituality, focused on what it means to be faithfully and justly part of an inter-connected community of life – including marginalized communities.
  • April, 2018 – Hindsight, Humor, and Hope: Who, Me an Elder? – The 6 two-hour workshops were geared to help people as they begin to redesign their later years into a time of reflection, discernment, soul stretching, and new life possibilities. This gift of extended years finds many people becoming elders with deep personal questions such as,
    Who am I now? And What will I do that is meaningful?
  • January, 2018 – The Four Agreements.  This course was based on the book by the same title, written by Don Miguel Ruiz. This was a six week course which will be lead by Rev. Kathleen Scott. The purpose of the class is to raise awareness of the suffering we experience by (1) taking things personally, (2) making assumptions, (3) doing less then we are capable of and (4) using our words in ways that don’t serve our highest good and that of others.
  • September, 2017:  Jesus Words in Aramaic. Much of Jesus’ message has been confused with later Christian theology. Bue he actually spoke and thought in a very different language – Aramaic. If we consider his original words and reflect deeply on them, a figure emerges from the shadows – inspiring, mystical and significantly different. Join us as we examine some of the most misinterpreted sayings of Jesus through the lens of the language and culture from which they originated and discover how they actually overlay with Unitarian Universalist principles. Two-session workshop presented by Ellen Bush. Based on Dr. Neil Douglas-Klotz’s book Prayers of the Cosmos: Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus (2009).

  • Spring, 2017, we engaged in a study of the book Nonviolent Communication – A Language of Compassion by Marshall B. Rosenberg, PhD.
  • Fall, 2016, we held a 9-session series on Huston Smith’s The World’s Religions. The study is in keeping with the UU Tradition of drawing “wisdom from the world’s religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life.” The World’s Religions, by beloved author and pioneering professor Huston Smith, is the definitive classic for introducing the essential elements and teachings of the world’s predominant faiths, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, as well as regional native traditions. This revised and updated edition provides sympathetic descriptions of the various traditions, explaining how they work “from the inside,” which is a big reason why this cherished classic has sold more than two million copies since it first appeared in 1958.  You may purchase the book from our online bookstore at: http://astore.amazon.com/uuvisalia-20/detail/0061660183 
  • The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander.
  • Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
  • Reclaiming Prophetic Witness Liberal Religion in the Public Square by Paul Rasor
  • A House for Hope: The Promise of Progressive Religion for the Twenty-first Century by John A. Buehrens and Rebecca Ann Parker (Beacon Press 2010). We held a book discussion group on this in spring of 2013.
  • “Immigration as a Moral Issue” is the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Congregational Study/Action Issue (CSAI) 2010-2014. This course was designed to engage participants in the conversation about immigration and intended to give a broad overview to this complex issue. This course began October, 2012, and concluded in February 2013.
  • Ethical Eating– 2009-2010
  • Spiritual Practices for Unitarian Universalists.  This class explored 8 different ways that UU’s can engage in spiritual practice.
  • Low Carbon Rings – Two groups of 5 households formed a “Carbon Ring” to fight global climate change by directly reducing our household carbon footprints.
  • The Great Turning by David Korten- (Local discussion complemented by Facebook discussion still available)
  • Cakes for the Queen of Heaven: In Ancient Times (April 5, 2008 – May 1, 2008)
    A course in feminist theology exploring the religious myths and symbols of the ancient world where female images and experiences were central, and exploring the psychological and social importance to women today of reclaiming our female religious heritage.
  • Building Your Own Theology – We completed Part One in February 2008, and Part Two in May, 2009. We offered a duplicate of this course for new participants in 2011-2012. Each session had 10 individual sessions. Course Description: Ultimately, we are all theologians. We all ponder the great life issues. Without a deep-rooted theology, this tumultuous world in which we live will be full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. If we are to harness our deepest spiritual convictions for meaningful living in this world, we need to get our theology straight. Developing a theology is not an academic exercise; it has to do with the very stuff of our lives. This class invited us to develop our personal credos: the fundamental religious beliefs, values and convictions that inform and direct the living of your life. Author Richard S. Gilbert, a well-respected UU minister, poses five developmental tasks in which participants come to terms with human nature, ultimate reality, history, ethics, and religious meaning. See Course Outline or background reading.
  • Emerson as Spiritual Guide
  • Global Warming: Changing Course
  • Choices for Sustainable Living
  • Articulating Your UU Faith
  • The End of Faith by Sam Harris
  • Thoreau as Spiritual Guide: Walden as a Guide for Spiritual Renewal and Transformation
  • The Partnership Way by Riane Eisler
  • The Chalice and the Blade by Riane Eisler
  • Rise Up and Call Her Name by Elizabeth Fisher
  • Paganism 101