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Theology for a Secular Age
- What distinguishes Unitarian Universalism from other faith traditions?
- What is the relationship between your personal faith and your religious community?
- As a person of faith, how do you balance religious wisdom and scientific insight?
Theology is the process of talking about faith in a thoughtful and organized way—how faith arises, what sustains it, why it falters, and where it can make a difference in our lives and world.
Today, theology stands at a crossroad. For centuries, theology has described how divine revelation accounts for our experience and dictates our actions. What happens to religion when reason, rather than revelation, becomes our most reliable source of knowledge?
In a secular age, people who believe in science can be genuinely religious—if theology itself is transformed.
Continue the Conversation
The Theology Track of Unitarian Universalist (UU) University 2009, led by the Rev. Galen Guengrich, began with a definition of the word “theology.” Strictly speaking, theology is speech about God.
“Theology steps back from a certain kind of experience, religious experience,” he said, “and asks what makes it possible, and why is it transformative, or why is it destructive?”
The seven questions in the course outline for this workshop:
- How do we know what we most truly know?
- What is the nature of existence and how do we fit into the picture?
- What in the world is divine—if anything?
- What is the uniquely human challenge?
- What are the purpose of faith and the role of religion?
- What does it mean to be a religious community?
- How shall we live in order to transform ourselves and the world?
Theology for a Secular Age Presentation (PDF, 94 pages)
