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Home , Divinity, Ethics (Spinoza book), Goddess, Henry Nelson Wieman, Logos, Paganism

How do UU and Pagan Thea/ologies Fit Together?: CUUPS 20th Anniversary

Rev. Rudra Vilius Dundzila, Ph.D., D.Min. Associate Professor of and Comparative Harry S Truman (City of Chicago) Transfer Candidate for UUA Ministry

1 UUA “Fulfilling the Promise” Survey, 1997

Humanist 46.1% Earth/ centered 19% Theist 13% Christian 9.5% Mystic 6.2% Buddhist 3.6% Jewish 1.2% Hindu .4% Moslem .1%

Other 13.3% 2 Independent “Some UUs are more U than UU,” 2005

Humanist 54% Agnostic 33% Earth-Centered 31% Atheist 18% Buddhist 17% Pagan 13%

Christian 13% 3 UUA Engaging Our Theological Diversity 2005

Clergy *

Process (incl. and process ) 32% 17% (including Humanist-) 20% 17% Mystic, Christian, and / 17-19% No data 13-14% 14% 13-14% No data Paganism 5-6% No data Feminist/liberation language 5-6% No data Other categories 25%

4 Religious Naturalism n is a -contained system n world can be perceived and appreciated with a religious sensibility

5 Rev. Stone’s Divisions

Religious Naturalism

God as God as Do not speak of God creative process totality of yet still religious in the universe considered religiously

Shailer Mathews Spinoza Usrula Goodenough Alexander Ralph Wendell Burhoe George Burman Foster Donald Crosby Karl Peters Frederick Eliot Willem Drees William Dean Jerome Stone Gordon Kaufman

6 Karl Peters n God is the power behind serendipitous n random variation = n Natural selection =

7 Bernard Loomer, Size of God n : God and the are identical n God is an actuality that represents the totality of the world and its possibilities n God represents the web of life n God is a symbol of ultimate values and meanings

8 n Pantheism: God and the universe are identical

n Panenthesim: God and the universe are identical, and God is also super-natural

9 n The cosmos is all that exits; there is no need for God in it or outside it n The natural world provides and for humanity

10 UU Feminism n 1980s: the Great n 1990s: the of the Great Goddess n Current: the Goddess as a plural noun

11 Elizabeth Fisher n nearly all from around the globe worshiped or in various forms n Spiritual growth and Goddess affirmation will happen through personal encounters that challenge one’s own notions

12 Cynthia Eller n the myth established an idealized archetype of the feminine that does not correspond to historical or cultural

13 The Goddess n inspiration and empowerment n develop deep inner spiritual connections n enables women to reclaim their rightful place in a sexist society n

14 Rev. Shirley Ann Ranck n Goddess

n inherent of women (and men)

n holiness of the body

n validation of all

n nurture and create

n spirit of life

n embodied

n engendered

n nature

n Interdependence

15 UU Paganism n Paganism

n or n Earth-centered

16 Margot Adler n Goddess n “Paganism” waning n Earth-centered spirituality waxing

17 Hymnals

18 Goddess, God n forms, symbols, powers, archetypes, human depth, inspiration, creativity n not theo/alogy, but and ethics

19 Rev. Joan Van Becelaere n of the divine n Pantheism

n divinity is identified with the material world n Earth is and alive n Web of life n are part of nature

20 UUA and Purposes

th n 7 :

n Respect for the interdependent web of all of which we are a part. (added 1985) TH n 6 source:

n Spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature. (added 1995)

21 Joyce and River Higginbotham n Panentheism

n immanence of God as in pantheism coupled with a transcendent element n A personal for defining one’s own system

22 UU Paganism (cont.) n The Goddess n Plurality of Godesses and

n diversity of experience and existence

n natural diversity = pluralistic

n vs. historical : there is one God (not a )

n Mort Saul: “Unitarians believe there is at most one God.”

23 UU Paganism (cont.) n Ethics: n Ritual: transformation n not theo/alogy

24 How does Religious Naturalism, Goddess Spirituality, and Paganism fit together?

(The Conclusion)

25 Leading Idea

Religious Goddess Paganism/Earth- Naturalism Spirituality Centered Religious Women and their Religious for the bodies are reverence for the natural world, inherently divine, natural world; the without connected to earth and humans nature are inherently connotations divine and interconnected; harmony with nature

26 UU Tripod: , religious tradition, personal experience

Religious Goddess Paganism/Earth- Naturalism Spirituality Centered Emphasizes Emphasizes Emphasizes reason personal personal experience experience

27 The Divine

Religious Naturalism Goddess Spirituality Paganism/Earth-Centered Impersonal, non- The Goddess; the feminine The Earth as alive, nature as anthropomorphic divine holy; Goddess; God 1) creative process within the 1) emerging panentheistic world (spirit), kept in check by possibilities natural selection (logos) (panentheistic ?) 2) totality of the universe, 1) the world, human , and 2) the world and earth with all considered religiously in particular women’s bodies; things and beings in it (pantheist) embodied, engendered, (pantheist) internalized; not supernatural; care for all, incl. nature 3) no need for theistic concept 2) metaphor 2) metaphor; naming the experience of nature as divine

28 29 Religious practice

Religious Goddess Paganism/Earth- Naturalism Spirituality Centered Study and Ritual to celebrate Ritual to connect appreciation of humans, esp. humans to nature nature women, with their and its seasonal bodies and to cycles connect to the cycles of nature

30 Religious Response (Ethics)

Religious Goddess Paganism/Earth- Naturalism Spirituality Centered Environmental Feminism, Environmental ethics environmental ethics ethics, eco-

31