Event: 2-Day Retreat: A Greater Love for the Earth and All Its People:
Earth Literacy, Ecology and Spirituality as seen by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Thomas Berry and other contemporary thinkers.
Facilitator: Ursula King, Professorial Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Bristol.
Venue: City of Edinburgh Methodist Church, 25 Nicolson Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9BX.
Dates: Saturday 25 - Sunday 26 May 2019.
Time: Registration: 9.30am-10am. Retreat: 10am-5pm.
Event Description: The immense universe story as known to us today is a continuously unfolding story. It is a truly new story unknown to previous generations. Humanity finds itself at a critical moment of reflection that calls for new forms of consciousness and spirituality, for a true spiritual “paradigm shift” or what the Pope’s encyclical Laudato Si’ calls our “ecological conversion”. People in the green and deep ecology movement are more likely than others to comprehend that the universe story, the Earth story and the human story are so intimately connected that new religious and spiritual attitudes are greatly needed. The American eco-thinker Thomas Berry (1914-2009), who was much influenced by the French palaeontologist and mystic Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), speaks about a new “Earth literacy” which is linked to a new spirituality where the whole planet and all life are understood as a vast eco-system connected with philosophical and spiritual dimensions that foster a new sense of divine presence pervading the entire universe.
It has been said that the New Story unfolds through “living fully in the evolutionary stream of life.” It is a story connected with the whole universe, all of life, and every human being. It presents us with a tremendous vision of great complexity and beauty. Yet it also contains a compelling summons to undertake the necessary “Great Work” of which both Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Thomas Berry speak so vividly, an enormous task of transformation without which the human species cannot evolve further. The retreat weekend will explore these action-oriented themes within the wider context of Teilhard’s and Berry’s major ideas while considering:
Spirit and matter within a larger evolutionary and future-oriented context;
Spirituality and mysticism within a planetary, multifaith context;
The spiritual dimension of the Earth Charter;
The transformative energies of love as “the spiritual blood of evolution”.
Ursula King, STL (Paris), MA (Delhi) PhD (London), FRSA, is Professor Emerita of Theology and Religious Studies and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Bristol.
Educated in Germany, France, India and England, she has lectured all over the world and published numerous books and articles, especially on gender issues in religions, method and theory, modern Hinduism, interfaith dialogue, spirituality, and on the French thinker, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.
She has held several visiting chairs in the USA and Norway, and been awarded honorary doctorates by the universities of Edinburgh (1996), Oslo (2000), and Dayton, Ohio (2003).
In 2000, she organised the Colston Research Symposium on Spirituality and Society in the New Millennium at the University of Bristol, and subsequently published its papers as a book (2001).
Among more recent publications are the edited volume on Gender, Religion and Diversity: Cross-Cultural Perspectives (2005) and The Search for Spirituality: Our Global Quest for Meaning and Fulfilment (2009).
NB: There will be no refund if you cancel your booking.
Cost: £100/£80 (Concessions). For a Registration Form:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.