Course Description

   Our Christian tradition has its origin in and takes its direction from the universe through its 14 billion year history. This course offers a way of learning the story and understanding the process through which life emerges and unfolds through time and space as sacred story and revelatory process.  It invites participants to immerse themselves in contemporary discoveries into the emergent universe in order to appreciate the wonder of the story and the splendor of the divine creativity that inspires and sustains it.  The course will also consider the story of the earth as sacred history, attending to the mystique and numinous dimensions of the life community and to the urgency of the ecological issue, with an eye to discerning its implications for the physical, psychic, and spiritual dimensions of our lives.

Course Objective

   By the end of this course, it is hoped that participants can more readily discern the divine source of creativity and generativity within the unfolding story of creation and grasp the sacred dimension and theological significance of this long and fascinating evolutionary process.

Course Goals

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

 appreciate the sacred dimension of story;

 discern the sacred dimension and significance of the universe story, making correlations  between the new story and various creation stories;

 identify and describe the sequence of crucial transformative events which constitute the  story of our expanding, emergent universe;

 relate and describe the evolutionary process as our comprehensive sacred story,  recognizing and responding to its revelatory insights and “instruction;”

 propose extensions and/or revisions of traditional theological interpretations and emphases  such as grace, creation, community, faith, redemption, salvation history, and morality;

 appreciate and articulate the formation and formative power of the earth as a unique chapter  of the sacred story.

Required Readings

Thomas Berry.  The Dream of the Earth.  San Francisco: Sierra, 1988.

Timothy Ferris. The Whole Shebang.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.

Sidney Liebes, Elisabet Sahtouris, and Brian Swimme. A Walk Through Time: From Stardust to Us.  New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1998.  ($20.97) ISBN: 0-471-31700-4.

Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry.  The Universe Story.  San Francisco: Harper, 1992.  (See Cosmic Walk narrative)

Brian Swimme. The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos.  Maryknoll: Orbis Books , 1996.
 

Required Course Video

"The Unfolding Story."  Baylands Production, 1993.  Videotape.  Foundation for Global Community, 222 High Street, Palo Alto, CA 94301.  To order, call: 1 (800) 707-7932.
 

Evaluation and Course Requirements

1.  Write your own account, in your own words, of the universe story as sacred history or story.  Include the events and subjects explored in the eight sessions as well as selected events and subjects included in the readings and audio presentations.   Weave those elements of your religious tradition’s story (historical, theological, biblical, etc.) that seem important and appropriate to the universe story.  The challenge will be to limit this story to 30 pages in length.

2.  Portray the universe story in some artistic medium.  You might make a scroll-mural, write an epic poem or allegory, or design a music montage.  Choose a form that is right for you.

OR

    Develop a proposal for integrating the comprehensive sacred story in some real-life context.  Present your course of action in detail from its initial goal, through consultation and planning stages, through implementation and evaluation.  The proposal should be 25 pages in length.
 

Back to Home Page