Wednesday, March 6, 2019

At Church on Sunday - The future of Univeralist theology.


At church on Sunday, 02/24/19, Rev. Lane Campbell and Rev. Michelle Yates had a conversation about the future of Universalism in the next twenty years.

Here is what Rev. Lane Campbell had to say about the future of Univeralist theology.

"I think some of what we've been talking about here recently, as we've been looking at Universalist theology in the present day, is seeing that this belief in universal salvation, that all people are going to go to a good place when they die and that no one is going to be judged and going to hell, is becoming a part of our mainstream Christianity.

So I wonder what our unique contributions will be to Universalism moving forward. I think that what we have to offer certainly, as a faith community, is having folks from a diversity of theological backgrounds that bring multiple perspectives to Universalism.

We certainly have folks in this room right now who are theist. We have folks who are atheists, folks who would identify with Judaism. Folks who would identify with Christianity, with Islam , with Buddhism, with Hinduism like we heard about this morning. We have folks here that have multiple different belief systems and sort of theologies.

 I wonder and I'm excited to see what that will look like in the future and I think that's really the
future of of our branch of Universalism having so much more and a deeper dialogue  - getting together and really talking about what we believe together."

This section of Rev. Lane Campbell runs approximately from 02:55 - 04:19




3 comments:

  1. Lane has an interesting idea but she is focused on people coming together to share thoughts when the focus should be on spiritual experience not thoughts.

    Francis David said, "We need not think alike to love alike." Spirituality is based on experience not on creeds, dogmas, and books.

    The future of Universalism will come from recognizing, acknowleging, and sharing practices that engender and expand spirituality. For example, how do people from various spiritual traditions pray? Can we pray together?

    How do people from various spiritual traditions induct people into their faith tradition through baptism, dedication, recognition of ancestral heritage and lineage. Can we share these practices of induction?

    How do peole from various traditions go forgiveness? Can we learn from each other about forgiveness practices?

    Etc.

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  2. Harry: Thank you for your thoughtful comment. I agree that the future of Universalism will not be about more dialogue about beliefs, but will be about practices which produce spiritual experience.

    Some people have objected to the term "perennial philosopy" and suggested instead "perennial psychology," because while religion may be about thoughts and beliefs, spirituality is about experience and mindfulness.

    The question worthy of exploring is how do we share our spiritual practices and experiences with each other across religious traditions?

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  3. What church is this? I really like their envisioning their future and the future of Univeralism. Would that more church's had this kind of leadership.

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