Exploring Theology Dialogues

Our weekly Sunday dialogue sermons wend their way around the radical Christian Biblical theology in the Sea of Faith (Adapted from Don Cupitt) and others. Below are the numerated topics, what we have discussed, and the upcoming topics yet to be discussed.

We welcome you to join us. - Dr. Ray Peckauskas (congregant)

1. Meanings and values do not come down from above. They come up from below i.e. we have to create them.
2. The work of creating meaning in and through community is the essence of Religion. The meanings we create are the source of all our values.
3. The words "I believe in God" express an allegiance to a particular set of values. Christian (or other) experience is the impact of those values on our lives.
4. It is better to live one's own life than act out a script written for us by another, including God.
5. Blind faith and blind obedience are morally wrong.
6. The teachings of the prophets and Jesus do not commit to any kind of reality for God. They are raw data for the work of religion as defined in point 2 above.
7. It is spiritually immature to demand an extra-religious reality for God. Miracles and creation have nothing to do with religious values.
8. Spirituality is a search for ways to internalize the values and meanings that we create in community. Only then can our religious practice be truly autonomous. This is what inner integrity means.
9. The ultimate sin is to surrender one's inner integrity.
10. Imagination is the prime factor for creating new visions of what a good life means to the individual and the community.