Advanced search
Search results clear search
1 - 8 of 8
Homes for Herons: On Birds, Swedenborg, and Ecopoetics
Swedenborg’s influence on 19th century American thought was widespread. “The Age is Swedenborg’s,” marveled Ralph Waldo Emerson in his journal in 1854, as he observed the ubiquity of Swedenborg’s name within various spiritualist and pseudo-scientific currents. This talk explores one unexamined corner of Swedenborg’s impact on 19th century cultural poetics: namely, his signal contribution to new ways of representing nature as a place for encountering the Divine. The adaptation of Swedenborg’s doctrine of correspondences into a spiritualized “language of nature” produced aesthetic innovation in both the visual arts and literature, often in ways that deliberately engaged with emergent environmental concerns. Using an approach of “ecocriticism,” or ecological literary criticism, this lecture unpacks the intersections and convergences between the appearance of ornithological conservation at the end of the 19th century—particularly in the establishment of the Audubon Society—and two figures who were simultaneously engaged with Swedenborgian theology: the regionalist writer Sarah Orne Jewett and the Tonalist painter George Inness. The title paraphrases an important painting by Inness—“Home of the Heron” (1893)—which will be explored alongside Jewett’s famous short story, “The White Heron” (1886). Devin Zuber is an assistant professor for American Studies, Literature and Swedenborgian Studies at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley, California, where he serves as core doctoral faculty member for PhD programs in Art & Religion and Interdisciplinary Studies. A graduate of Bryn Athyn College’s B.A. program (2000), Dr. Zuber completed his PhD, M.A., and M.Phil. at the City University of New York, where he was awarded the alumni and faculty award for most distinguished dissertation for 2009-2010. Before coming to Berkeley, Devin was the in-residence Eccles fellow for American Studies at the British Library in London, and taught for three years as an assistant professor of American Studies at the University of Osnabrueck in northern Germany. His scholarship has appeared in American Quarterly, Religion and the Arts, and Variations, and he is presently working on two book projects related to Swedenborg’s reception in various 19th century contexts. Introduction by Dr. Jane Williams-Hogan. | By Dr. Devin Zuber | Bryn Athyn College - Doering Center
See Event (59m 16s)
A New Church Approach To Giving
Panel Discussion - June 25, 2011
Wayne Parker hosts panelists as they present different perspectives on New Church principles of free-will giving, insights into important teachings about tithes, benefactions of charity, and how to make the leap to percentage giving from the "first fruits" in your own life. | By Rev. James P. Cooper; Alexander H. Jr. Lindsay; Rev. Matthew L. Genzlinger; Rev. Glenn (Mac) Frazier; Wayne Parker | Bryn Athyn College - Doering Center
See Event (01h 05m 56s)
Theologs Finding the New Church
Panel Discussion - June 25, 2011
Three ministers (Chris Barber, Howard Thompson and Stephen K. Muires) describe how they found the New Church and the lessons that may be applied to evangelization in general. | By Rev. Howard Thompson; Rev. Christopher A Barber | Bryn Athyn College - Doering Center
See Event (01h 13m 25s)
Life Before, During and After a Crisis
Explores how to manage our way through trauma and seek the Lord's help during it, and ways of coping with life after the trauma, bringing a level of acceptance and incorporation of the experience into our daily lives. | By Rev. Thomas H. Rose | Bryn Athyn College - Doering Center
See Event (01h 24m 59s)
Welcoming People of all Abilities
New Church Challenge promotes opportunity, empowerment, and advocacy to help members of the New Church lead fulfilling useful lives despite physical, mental, and social challenges. William Buick chairs the session and makes introductions. Some of the participants' comments are difficult to hear and background noise is a problem. | By William W. Buick; Brian Blair; Julia Robinson | Bryn Athyn College - Doering Center
See Event (01h 24m 07s)
Your Book Of Life
Everyone loves a good story. Everyone has their own life story. Our "book" is co-authored by God and by us, as God provides and we respond. How has the Lord used past events to bring us to where we are today? How can we put present challenges into the perspective of eternity? | By Donnette Rose Alfelt | Bryn Athyn College - Doering Center
See Event (36m 31s)
1 - 8 of 8