Summer Sundays 2010
Building Your Own Theology

Welcome to Your Theology

The Big Box of Meaning

Theresa Ullerich

DOC

June 27

Overlapping Realities

Because reality is perceived differently between species as well as between individual humans, there can be no single correct understanding of it or of any spirituality inherent within it.

Ryan NeuCollins

July 4

My Life is a Winding Road or: How I Got from There to Here without Going Over the Edge

Chris will share three religious traditions which have shaped his faith and discuss how the gaps in a personal theology can be a source of growth and comfort.

Chris Taylor

July 11

Things Happen Because They Can

Realizing the nature of things and meaningless of behaviors sometimes takes a long time.

Jean Reese

July 18

Projecting Personal Theology Through Work

Jaia and her boss, Scott Gill (Executive Secretary of Access2Independence, an organization that helps people in eastern Iowa lead independent lives), will talk about "Projecting Personal Theology Through Work." Jaia will also talk about her family's influence on her religion.

Jaia Rosenfels
and Scott Gill

July 25

The Sanctuary City Project in Johnson County

A group of local religious leaders and citizens are advocating for Iowa City to join a list of national cities as a Sanctuary City. Why UUs should stand up with this group to foster an environment of acceptance and tolerance of immigrants in our community.

Vicki Siefers

Aug 1

Do We Really Care?

We often laud ourselves as a religious movement dedicated to achieving social justice, like affordable housing. My experience suggests our dedication in this arena is mostly opposition. Maybe we don’t care as much as we say we do.

Charlie Eastham

Aug 8

Beliefs of a Social Scientist

John will discuss how his studies in social science and the sciences have influenced is own personal theology.

John Hudson

Aug 15

Losing Faith and Finding Acceptance

I’ve heard it said in a condescending way that Unitarian Universalists have it easy because they can believe whatever they want. The implication is that a UU can pick and choose values and beliefs haphazardly, based on whatever is convenient for a given situation and a particular time. But this is untrue. To build one’s own theology requires a lot of work. It requires years of searching and thinking and struggling, only to search and think and struggle some more. During my presentation, I will share a story about my own search for “truth,” including reasons for why my views changed and difficulties I faced along the way.

Carol Wolfe

Aug 22

From Catholic to “catholic”
Deb and Will will talk about their spiritual journeys from Catholic childhoods to their discovery of a “catholic”—broad-minded, liberal, comprehensive, universal—home in the Unitarian Universalist tradition.

Deb Delaet and
Will Coghill Behrends

Aug 29

Burnt Toast

A teenager with underdeveloped morals searches for the balance between dark and light. Okonomiyaki. How does an Osaka pancake reflect the religious views of a third generation Japanese-American?

Rai and Dave Tokuhisa