Mini Courses

Mini Course – Saving Swedenborgian Stories: Planning and Implementing a History Project by Gail Rodgers McCormick 

Whether you belong to a flourishing society or have connections to one that long ago dissolved, it is never too early or too late to document its history. This Mini Course will help those considering a history project to identify goals, plan the scope, locate resources, and choose how to disseminate your work. Gail McCormick will discuss these issues using documentary examples and character sketches from her own decades-long research of the 150-year history of the New Jerusalem Society of Frankford (Philadelphia). Methodology will include providing a broad historical context for your story and considering how the past can inform the present.

Bio: Gail Rodgers McCormick is a retired local history librarian, archivist, and historical/genealogical research consultant. She has been researching the history of her grandmother’s childhood church, the New Jerusalem Society of Frankford (Philadelphia), for many years. Her book Charity, Change, and Community: Frankford’s Swedenborgians and Their Circle, 1817–1971, will be published this spring.

THIS EVENT WILL BE LIVE-STREAMED AND HYBRID FROM THE AUDITORIUM IN THE MOAKLEY CENTER

Mini Course – Acknowledging Truth, Honoring Landscapes by Shalonda Ingram

A Land Acknowledgment is a formal statement that recognizes the history and legacy of colonialism that impacted Aboriginal and Indigenous Peoples, their traditional territories, and practices. An acknowledgment is a simple, powerful way of showing respect and a step toward correcting the stories and practices that erase Peoples’ history and culture and toward inviting and honoring the truth. During this sacred time, we’ll explore our relationships to lands that we originated on, occupy, and our opportunities to practice regeneration. We will hold space for one another as we discern how land and our relationships to it operate in our daily lives.

Bio: People and organizations partner with my entities to turn ideas into reality, ground their strategy in what become ongoing relationships, and discover how to elevate diverse voices at all levels. We specialize in elevating community, embedding new economic energies, and delivering long term transformation. From this perspective, we revitalize hyper-local engagement of underutilized spaces by leveraging existing systems and collective practices to co-create transformational opportunities that foster empowerment.

THIS EVENT WILL BE ONLINE

Mini Course – Looking Forward: What is the Future of the New Church? by Rev. Rich Tafel

Two hundred and fifty years ago, Swedenborg described a future spiritual evolution coming into the world he called the New Church. In this Mini Course, Rev. Tafel will look for concrete examples of ways the Swedenborgian movement can be involved in this ever-evolving spiritual transformation today and into the future. Over the past two hundred years, pieces of this vision have already unfolded. Many Swedenborgians would point to our congregations and church life as examples of our involvement in this new unfolding. Today, it is time for us to take what we know, look back to imagine what the New Church will look like, and reimagine our roles in being useful to this spiritual evolution in our own time. In this class, we will ask questions such as: Where have we seen the New Church unfolding? What areas do we see the New Church unfolding? What role can we play to help participate in this process? What does this mean to our denomination and church life? What does the next level of spiritual evolution look like? Where exactly is the Swedenborgian movement going in the future? New Church members have been fascinated by Swedenborg’s vision of a New Church coming into the world for two centuries.

Bio: Rev. Tafel is the pastor of the Church of the Holy City in Washington DC. He is a strategist who works at the intersection of faith, business, and politics to build bridges bringing together unlikely coalitions to solve some of the world’s greatest challenges.

THIS EVENT WILL BE A HYBRID EVENT IN ROOM  HRT 116 ADJACENT TO THE MOAKLEY CENTER

Mini Course – Marguerite Beck Block: A History of the New Church’s Storyteller by Rev. Chris Barber

Many people, both in the church and out, have read the influential history book New Church in the New World, by Columbia University scholar Dr. Block. None, however, have before given the author and her fascinating life the same kind of attention that she has given our denominations. In this illustrated talk, Rev. Barber will share from the spoils of his years-long research on this complex figure and offer an overview of her life, impact, and the ongoing value of her work, published ninety-one years ago.

Bio: Rev. Chris Barber is an ordained priest in the General Church of the New Jerusalem and is a religion instructor at the Academy of The New Church Secondary Schools. His passion is bringing heaven and earth closer in people’s hearts, minds, and lives through the Sacred Scripture and the theology of Emanuel Swedenborg. In his free time, he collects books, writes on matters of local and church history as well as social issues and doctrine, and enjoys watching films. He also currently serves on the board of the Swedenborg Foundation.

THIS EVENT WILL BE IN-PERSON IN ROOM  HRT 114 ADJACENT TO THE MOAKLEY CENTER