Weekend Program for Working Adults
The Sophia Center's Weekend program enables working adults to attain a master's degree in two years while delving deeply into the converging wisdom traditions that are the source of a new creation story.
It covers the same themes as the nine-month residential program and is structured around four stimulating weekends per semester, as well as the Summer Institute.
The weekend program attracts people from throughout the country who pursue expanding knowledge and an advanced degree while meeting their on-going vocational and personal commitments.
The unique weekend format allow students to reflect upon and apply the curriculum to the context of their working lives.
Spring 2010: The Great WorkJan. 22-24. Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future (Leslie Gray) Whereas there are no examples of sustainable industrial societies, there are many examples of sustainable indigenous societies. Dr. Leslie Gray will expand upon this observation by elucidating the underlying 1) world-view, 2) values and 3) model of health propelling most critical decision-making in American society today. Leslie will compare each of these 3 motivators with their counterparts in indigenous cultures with a view toward envisioning how our technoculture might transformed from self-destructive to life-supporting.
February 19-21. Inscendence: The Key to the Great Turning (Bill Plotkin) Thomas Berry as emphasized that, to transform contemporary culture, what is needed is a revelatory vision and an awakening to the numinous powers ever present in the more-than-human world. We will explore a nature-based map of human development, the encounter with soul that ripens people into genuine adults and elders—visionary artisans of cultural change, trailblazers of what Joanna Macy calls the Great Turning of the twenty-first century.
Mar. 19-21. The Engaged Spiritual Life: Wisdom and Compassion in Action (Donald Rothberg) What is the connection of contemplative practice with responding to the needs of our communities and our world? If we have been using meditation especially as a place of refuge and healing, how do we take steps toward compassionate action? And for those of us who are already involved in service or social change, how can the resources of inner work help strengthen and sustain us? Through talks, silent meditation practice, interactive exercises, group discussion, and creative process, we will explore these questions, providing principles to guide us and practices to take home.
Apr. 16-18. One Life: People and Earth (Helen Prejean & Marya Grathwohl) An integration of care for Earth, passion for justice and spirituality grounded in the Universe Story, Native American teaching based on Marya's experience, and Gospel prophetic traditions, through song, sacred dance, storytelling and personal reflection.
Fall 2010: Fourfold Wisdom
Sep. 17-19. The Revolution of Evolution (Heather Easton)
The 4.4 billion year process of Earth becoming is only beginning to be integrated into human consciousness. To understand that evolution changes the references points, challenges us to enter into the very dynamics of Earth processes, to rethink who we are within the scheme of things, and to marvel at the exquisite, creative and elegant Earth. Evolution beckons a revolution of consciousness. Come explore the power of evolution, with discussion, contemplation and celebration!
Oct. 15-17. The 21st Century: Humanity Grows Up (Michael Dowd)
The 21st century will mark humanity's rite of passage from adolescence to adulthood. Three great shifts will accompany this transformation. Our primary means of guidance and primary source of gratitude, trust, and inspiration will shift from beliefs to knowledge. We will mature from thinking that the world was made for us, to knowing that we were made for the world.
We will come to appreciate the role of chaos and death in the universe and value them as catalysts for creative emergence.
This weekend program will build on material in Dowd's book, Thank God for Evolution, which has been celebrated by some of the leading scientific and religious voices of our time.
Nov. 12-14. Poetry for the Soul of an Activist (Joanna Macy)
What feeds our inspiration to act for the healing of our world? Reports and strategic plans can provide essential guidance, but in a dark time, conversations closer to the core are needed too. There are murmurings we can catch from the surrounding mystery, the web of life. There are images and turns of phrase that can glimmer through us like silver, stretching the mind and emboldening the heart.
This workshop is based on Joanna’s “Work That Reconnects” and we will follow its unfolding stages with poetry as well as meditation and interactive exercises. The poets we will draws on include Denise Levertov, William Stafford and especially Rainer Maria Rilke..
Dec. 3-5. The Spirit of Democracy (Susan Griffin)
Susan Griffin charts the rise of society’s highest values … equality, truth and freedom. She argues that the dawning of democracy represented nothing less than a revelation of consciousness, one that is still unfolding today.
Spring 2011: Spirituality of Earth, Art and Spirit
January 21-23. Reinventing the Human: The Spiritual Challenge of The Great Work (Kathleen Deignan)
The ecological crisis is essentially spiritual at root. Therefore, The Great Work ahead of us will take tremendous spiritual commitment if we are to envision and then actualize a new mode of human identity in communion with all the creatures and elements of the living Earth.
How shall we begin to re-imagine our human purpose and presence in a hoped-for Ecological Age? How shall we generate the spiritual energy to undergo the great conversion of our habits of mind and heart and behavior which our eco-crisis demands?
In a rich and multi-media context, this seminar questions and seeks the wisdom and counsel of the contemporary master of Creation Spirituality, Thomas Berry, by examining his analysis of our present planetary crisis and the routes for moving forward as outlined in The Great Work: Our Way into the Future, The Dream of the Earth, The Sacred Universe, and The Christian Future and the Fate of the Earth.
This weekend will be exploratory, experimental, experiential, challenging, creative, sobering, convicting and inspiring: welcome to The Great Work of our time!
February 18 -20 (3 days). Becoming a Compassionate Presence (Joyce Rupp)
Compassion can change a heart, change a life, change a world. Joyce Rupp explores the depths of this vital quality from various dimensions, including science, medicine, theology, spirituality, sociology, and psychology. She invites participants to expand and deepen their personal transformation as a foundation for an effective expression of compassion. This program focuses on informing, inspiring and reenergizing participants, encouraging them to be a presence of compassion in a hurting world. The weekend will include conferences by Joyce Rupp, processes of reflection, dialogue and integration, along with creative ritual.
March 18-20. Spirituality in a Quantum Universe(Miriam Therese Winter)
Spirituality In A Quantum Universe is telling us spiritual truths; we are all connected; the God of one is the God of all; diversity is a blessing; suffering of one is a desecration of us all.
April 15-17. Field of Compassion: How the New Cosmology is Transforming Spiritual Life (Judy Cannato)
The best-selling author of Radical Amazement articulates a transforming vision of spirituality that examines the intricate connectedness of the physical and spiritual worlds, a phenomenon she calls the "field of compassion." Judy Cannato invites spiritual seekers to embrace the way in which an understanding of religion and the spiritual path is informed and illumined by cutting-edge science. Cannato's newest book is a must-read for those interested in how the new cosmology and the Christian story can be understood in harmony with one another. She shows how modern scientific discoveries demonstrate that at the most fundamental of levels all life is connected and that humankind participates in the unfolding of the universe. This book's compelling and radical call to transformation will inspire readers to choose collaboration and peace over competition and conflict.