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Sophia Center Summer Institute to Celebrate Work of Thomas Berry

June 30, 2008

The 11th annual Holy Names University Sophia Center Summer Institute in July will be a celebration of the life of Thomas Berry, whose work that has informed much of the teaching at the center over the past 24 years.

The Summer Institute is titled Thomas Berry and the New Cosmology. It is scheduled for July 17-20, with a post-institute Retreat July 20-23, titled Experiencing Thomas’ Cosmological Vision, led by Diarmuid O’Murchu and Gail Worcelo.

Brian Swimme, longtime Sophia teacher and author of Hidden Heart of the Cosmos and The Universe is a Green Dragon, will be the keynote speaker at the Thursday evening plenary in the Regents’ Theatre of the Valley Center for the Performing Arts on campus. Mary Evelyn Tucker, author and senior lecturer in Religion and the Environment at Yale University, will be the Saturday night keynote speaker.

Jim Conlon, PhD, director of the HNU Sophia Center, said the Institute will feature the following lineup of scholars:

Thursday July 17th

• 7:00 p.m. - Brian Swimme, PhD, Journeying Through the Cosmos with Thomas Berry

Friday July 18th

• 9:30 a.m. - Stephen Dunn, CP, PhD, and Gail Worcelo, SGM, MA, Stone by Stone: Building Sacred Spaces in an Ecozoic Era
• 1:30 p.m. – 4 p.m. Interactive Dialogue (simultaneous programs)
  1. Program 1- John Surette, SJ, and Mary Southard, CSJ, Sacred Banquet, Sacred Dance
  2. Program 2 - Worcelo. Dunn and Bernadette Bostwick, SGM, Living the Dream of the Earth: Ways into the Future
  3. Program 3 - Drew Dellinger, Thomas Berry and the Poetry of the Cosmos.
  7:00 p.m., John Grim, PhD, Global Prophets – Thomas Berry and Teilhard de Chard.

Saturday July 19th

• 9:30 a.m. - Diarmuid O’Murchu, MSC, PhD, Theological Implications of the New Cosmology.
• 1:30 p.m. – 4 p.m., Interactive Dialogue: Friday’s schedule repeated, providing students with an opportunity to switch sessions.
• 7:00 p.m., Mary Evelyn Tucker, PhD, Cosmology, Ecology and World Religions

Sunday, July 20

• 9:30 a.m., Jim Conlon, PhD, Thomas Berry – Deep Cultural Therapist (and, A Mass for the World).

The Post-Institute Retreat: starts 7 pm Sunday and continues through noon Tuesday.

Conlon said the Sophia Center also is gearing up for the Fall 2008 Semester, noting that an exciting lineup of teachers will be presenting during the 2008-2009 school year. Applications are now being accepted for both Weekend and Semester programs. Offered are an MA or Certificate in Culture & Spirituality.

Conlon said that the MA program is “…designed to awaken a cosmological vision, a vision that celebrates creativity, compassion and transformation, and prepares people to live in these challenging and exciting times. Participants of diverse backgrounds and traditions from across the country and around the world gather to align their aspirations and engagement in response to this turning point in human/earth history.”

For More Information Contact

Sophia Center

Holy Names University
Phone: 800-794-8813 or 510.436.1046
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