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Church Life Maintenance Module, Theology Module

Dates:
16–20 of October, 2019.

Place:
Nečtiny Castle (Nečtiny 1, 331 63, Plzeň sever district), www.zameknectiny.cz.
 
Foreign lecturers:
Rev. Dr. Thandeka is a Unitarian Universalist theologian, journalist, and congregational consultant who leads the Love Beyond Belief project. She was given the Xhosa name Thandeka, which means "beloved," by Archbishop Desmond Tutu in 1984. She is the founder of Contemporary Affect Theology, which investigates the links between religion and emotions using insights from affective neuroscience. Before receiving her doctorate in philosophy of religion and theology from Claremont Graduate University, she was a television producer for 16 years and is an Emmy award winner. Her publications include: Learning to Be White: Money, Race, and God in America(2000),  The Embodied Self: Friedrich Schleiermacher's Solution to Kant's Problem of the Empirical Self (1995), and she is a contributor to books including The Cambridge Companion to Schleiermacher and The Oxford Handbook on Feminist Theology and Globalization. Dr. Thandeka's numerous publications in journals include essays in American Journal of Theology and Philosophy, The International Journal of Practical Theology, Harvard Theological Review, Process Studies,and Tikkun.Her books and essays have helped secure her place as a "major figure in American liberal theology," as Gary Dorrien notes in The Making of American Liberal Theology: Crisis, Irony, and Postmodernity, 1950-2005  (John Knox Press, 2006). Thandeka has taught at San Francisco State University, Meadville Lombard Theological School, Williams College, Harvard Divinity School, and Brandeis University, and has been a Fellow at the Stanford Humanities Center at Stanford University and a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Process Studies at Claremont School of Theology in Claremont California and Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
 
Rev. Daniel Costley is a British Unitarian Minister.  Daniel studied for ministry at Harris Manchester College, Oxford and was called to his first congregation in 2010. Daniel has worked in a number of roles within the British Unitarian and Free Christian movement, including Chair of the Ministry Strategy Group and a member of the ministry Interview Panel.  He still works closely with Harris Manchester College and has been involved in the review of ministry training in Britain.  Daniel currently leads three Unitarian congregations in south-east England and is also President of the Unitarian Historical Society.  He lives in Sevenoaks with his family and dog, and is a keen photographer."
 
Rev. Norbert Zsolt Racz is since 2009 the Minister of the Central Unitarian Church in Kolozsvár, Transylvania. He is a graduate of Hungarian Unitarian Church’s John Sigismund College and the Protestant Theological Institute In Kolozsvár. Before being called to serve the Church in Kolozsvár he worked for the Hungarian Unitarian Youth Association: ODFIE. Rev. Racz was a principle speaker at many international Unitarian conferences.
 
 
 
Schedule:
CHURCH LIFE MAINTENANCE
 
Wednesday
October 16
 
 
15:00–15:30
Opening ceremony for N Module
Training
Ministry and Leadership in a Congregational Setting
15:00–15:30
Ministry in postdenominational era
15:35–16:05
"I am led to be able to lead; I educate myself to be able to educate"
16:25–16:55
Specifics of working with a group; specifics of working with individuals
17:00–17:30
Professional approach: how to maintain universal attitude in ministry
17:40–18:40
Special possibilities to enrich ministry work
   
Thursday
October 17
 
 
07:30–08:30
Breakfast
08:35–08:50
Service
Training
Role of Minister in Educating the Church Membership
09:00–09:45
Pedagogical role of minister
09:55–10:40
Where to draw sources and inspiration
10:50–11:20
Professional organs and organization, including international ones
11:30–12:45
Lunch
Training
Role of Minister in Maintaining Life of Congregation
12:45–13:30
Options of involving minister to various areas of church life
13:40–14:10
Outreach and mission work - advantages, gains and risks for church
14:20–15:20
Responsibility of ministers for the state of being of congregation
15:30–16:30
Role of minister in maintaining life of congregation - summary
16:45–17:45
Additional program for N module students: British Unitarian College
 
THEOLOGY
 
Friday
October 18
 
07:00–07:30              
Meditation
07:30–08:20
Breakfast
08:20–08:50
Opening ceremony and service
Training
Theology: Faith, Religion and Their Meaning
09:00–09:45
What is theology: defining the term, basic overview of its development
09:55–10:40
 Roots and starting point: Traditional religions
10:50–11:50
Basic notions: God and what is related; time and various approaches to it
12:00–13:30
Lunch
Training                            
Theology in Relationship with an Individual
13:30–14:00
Faith - its forms and manifestations (basic overview and definitions)
14:10–14:40
Religious tradition and its meaning for creating and following a personal spiritual path
15:00–16:00
I and Though as the foundation of existential reflection (includes workshop)
16:10–17:10
Reality versus possibilities of understanding the reality (includes workshop)
17:15–18:15
Meeting for students and tutors
 od 18:15
Common dinner preparation
 
 
Saturday
October 19
 
07:00–07:30                
Meditation
07:30–08:30
Breakfast
08:35–08:50
Service
Training
Unitarian and Universalist Theology
09:00–09:45
Unitarianism, Universalism: roots, history, presence and how it is related to history
09:55–10:40
Specifics of Unitarian theology I. Relationship theology - philosophy – ethics
11:00–12:00
Specifics of Unitarian theology II. Philosophy and ethics in Unitarian religion
12:10–12:40
Religion of the future (workshop)
12:40–14:00
Lunch
Training
Unitarian Ethos
14:00–14:30
Revealed x natural religion; creative religion
14:40–15:25
Highest authority, dogma, creed, miracles; can religion exist without them?
15:40–16:40
Foundations of Unitarian ethos: principles, language of reverence
17:00–18:00
Informal discussion with lecturers
18:00–18:30
Methodological seminary
 
Sunday
October 20
 
07:00–07:30                
Meditation
07:30–08:20
Breakfast
08:20–08:50
Service
Training
Unitarian Theology and Sources of Inspiration
09:00–09:45
Sacred texts and the other religions; inspiration from other sources
09:55–10:40
So called Living Bible of Emerson and Čapek
Training
Religion and Spirituality
11:00–12:00
Meaning and definition of religion and spirituality
12:10–12:55
Spirituality: types, possibility of classification of spiritual development
13:05–13:35
Unitarian religion, Unitarian spirituality; role of community
13:40–14:00
Closing ceremony