Next Sea of Faith Meeting in Cambridge — Wednesday 4 February 2015 — Exploring J. L. Schellenberg's idea of "Evolutionary Religion"

We have just set the date for the first meeting in Cambridge during 2015. It is on Wednesday 4 February.  As always it takes place in the church hall of the Memorial Church, Cambridge and will start promptly at 7.30pm and finish at 9.30pm.

You can find directions to the venue at this link

We will be exploring the basic ideas found in J. L. Schellenberg's important recent book Evolutionary Religion published by Oxford University Press who say:

J. L. Schellenberg articulates and defends a simple but revolutionary idea: we are still at a very early stage in the possible history of intelligent life on our planet, and should frame our religious attitudes accordingly. Humans have begun to adapt to a deep past—one measured in billions of years, not thousands. But we have not really noticed how thin is the sliver of past time in which all of our religious life is contained. And the eons that may yet see intelligent life have hardly started to come into focus. When these things are internalized, our whole picture of religion may change. For then we will for the first time be in a position to ask: Might there be a form of religion appropriate to such an early stage of development as our own? Might such 'evolutionary religion' be rather different from the forms of religion we see all around us today? And might it be better fitted to meet the demands of reason? 
          Though most concerned simply to get a new discussion going, Evolutionary Religion maintains that the answer is in each case 'yes'. When the light of deep time has fully been switched on, a new form of skepticism but, at the same time, new possibilities of religious life will come into view. We will find ourselves drawn to religious attitudes that, while not foregoing the idea of a transcendent ultimate, manage to do without believing and without details. As Schellenberg reveals, pursuing evolutionary religion instead of embracing a scientific naturalism is something that can rationally be done, even if traditional religious belief is placed out of bounds by argument. And ironically it is science that should help us see this. Indeed, in a new cultural dispensation evolutionary religion may come to be a preferred option among those most concerned for our intellectual enrichment and for our survival into the deep future. 

John Schellenberg's own website contains a series of filmed interviews that people may wish to explore before coming to the meeting. Click here to go there.

Contact details:

Revd Andrew Brown
http://andrewjbrown.blogspot.com/

http://www.cambridgeunitarian.org/

Minister
Memorial Church (Unitarian)
Emmanuel Road
Cambridge
CB1 1JW
01223 576952
07950 184421

Cambridge Sea of Faith Group - the Wednesday Evening Conversations continue . . .

The inaugural evening of the revived Cambridge Sea of Faith Group on October the 16th was a great success with twenty-eight of us gathering for two hours to explore some of the basic implications of secular religion with our special guest, Don Cupitt.

At the end of the meeting it was decided that on the 23rd those who came would decide on how to continue the conversation. The nine of us continued the general topic and decided that over the next two weeks we'll concentrate on the following subjects:

Wednesday October 30th 

Empathy ("What is it?" and whether it is always good?) and how prayer and/or meditation might be understood in a secular religious context.

Wednesday November 6th

Worship and political action in the secular religious context.

All of the meetings take place in the church hall of the Memorial (Unitarian) Church,Cambridge and will start promptly at 7.30pm and finishing at 9.30pm. They are open to all and there is no need to have been to any of the earlier conversations or book. All that's required is an open and inquiring heart and mind.

 Remaining dates in the series are on:

November 13, 20, 27

December 4

Contact details:

Revd Andrew Brown
http://andrewjbrown.blogspot.com/

Minister
Memorial Church (Unitarian)
Emmanuel Road
Cambridge
CB1 1JW
01223 576952
07950 184421
http://www.cambridgeunitarian.org/