Beginning November 7
Dreams of a World Unseen
A speaker series exploring justice, creativity, and the possibility of creating a better life and world. Thursdays beginning 11/7.
6:30 – candlelit music with choir. 7:15 – talk begins. Free entrance.
2300 Bancroft Way – St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.
11/7: Perchance to dream – Tom Poynor, Episcopal Chaplain to UC Berkeley. This talk explores the cultural and theological background to the speaker series.
11/14: Music of Creation – Dr. Jacob Sherman, California Institute of Integral Studies. Jacob explores the connection between J.R.R. Tolkien’s Silmarillion and the medieval mystic Hildegard von Bingen.
11/21: Mechanisms, visions, and pathologies: Looking for the human in a tech future – Dr. Jennifer Alexander, University of Minnesota. This talk will consider the overlap of technology and our humanity.
12/5: Queer Abstraction – Mr Jared Ledesma, Des Moines Art Center. This talk is based on the award winning art show of the same name and explores how queer artists have created a visual language of liberation and hope.
January 30: McMansion Hell – Ms Kate Wagner, curator of the blog McMansion Hell. Kate will discuss the importance of design and how we live ethically in a very unethical moment.
February 6: Annual celebration of Candlemas – special choral service that includes a blessing of individual candles. Speaker – the Rt Rev. Marc Andrus, bishop of California, who will present on the relationship between Thich Nhat Hanh and Martin Luther King.
Postponed to March 12 – The Good Life – Dr Pamela Hieronymi, UCLA. Pamela is a widely acclaimed professor of moral philosophy who served as a consultant for the television show “The Good Place.” She will conclude our series by focusing on the importance of asking the questions of goodness that continue to drive the human quest for meaning.
Past Events:
May 2 & 4 2019
Queerness and faith and the Enneagram
Join us as we welcome Hannah Paasch of the Millenneagram podcast to discuss on May 2 how queerness and faith overlap. This will be after our 7pm choral service May 4 we will have a day Retreat beginningat 9:30am where we will dive into the Enneagram. Both events are at St Mark’s, are free, and include food.
The Jesus Sutras and Contemporary Issues in Faith
The Chinese Characters for the Luminous Religion – Christianity in 7th Century China
The Episcopal Campus Ministry is hosting noted translator of ancient Chinese texts and leader on environmental action, Martin Palmer, to speak on his work in uncovering the story of a the 7th Century Christians who journeyed into China and created a unique version of Christianity that blended Taoist, Buddhist, and Christian scriptures. Martin will also speak on how the interfaith community plays an integral role in combating climate change.
When: Tuesday, March 20th, 7PM. Martin will speak specifically on the texts of Chinese Christianity and how he came to find the site where the monks lived and prayed.
Thursday, March 21st, 6:00PM the Rev. Dr. Paula Nesbitt, professor of sociology of religion, will join in conversation with Martin Palmer on the connection between the Chinese Christians and interfaith dialogue now. At 7:30 there will be a chanted evening liturgy utilizing texts from the Jesus Sutras. Refreshments will be provided after both events. Admission is FREE for all events.
Where: St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way.
Who: The Episcopal Campus Ministry to Berkeley. Contact Tom Poynor, calcanterbury@gmail.com for more information. www.calepiscopal.org
Facebook: calepiscopal
We are hosting a series of speakers and topics that in some way explore the impact of the reformation. This series is possible through a generous grant from the Eli Lilly Foundation.
Oct 12: Mr. Elliott Kramer, History grad student UC Berkeley – the Anglican Church in Colonial North America
Oct 19: Dr. Daniel Lee, history department UC Berkeley – Luther, Calvin, and the construction of the modern state.
Oct 22 (Sunday) Mr. Jeffrey Thomas – director of the American Bach Soloists – Bach’s Powerfully Affirming Congregational Voice:
Rhetoric in Bach’s Early Cantatas 6pm talk, enter from Ellsworth Street. A light reception follows.
Mr. Thomas will use examples of cantata movements in which Bach embedded chorale texts and melodies to represent what seems to be the ultimate distillation of scriptural messages, as they summarize both that content and the high-quality (non-biblical) texts that illuminate the readings for any given day. The straightforwardness and the single and focused messages that are inherent in the chorale texts really represent the tremendous power of congregational understanding and absorption of Lutheran dogma.
Admission is free but we request you get a ticket for planning purposes. You can do so here.
Nov 16: Dr. Lori Anne Ferrell, FRHS – Claremont Graduate School director of English Early Modern Studies – topic TBA
Nov 30: Dr. Katherine Wilkinson – author and researcher for the drawdown project – how do we approach climate change to act in hope, and Ms. Lucia Graves political correspondent on the US political campaign and the environment. They will speak on issues of environment, the political atmosphere now and how information is shared.
Spring Symposium 2017
Jane Austen and Religion: an exploration of faith and religion in her novels. This two day event will include presentations from experts and students of Jane Austen’s work with a focus on how Austen’s Anglicanism informs or is hidden in her texts. There will also be an evensong service as part of the proceedings. This event is free. Please check back here for schedule and speaker updates. For questions or to present please contact tom@calepiscopal.org
Topics and Speakers:
Dr. Laura White, University of Nebraska will speak from her book ‘Jane Austen’s Anglicanism’. Dr. White will expand on the themes developed in that book with her further thoughts on the role of Anglicanism in Austen’s life. Link to the book page is here.
Lise Gaston, graduate student at UC Berkeley, will offer a talk on Austen’s clergy relations Henry Austen and Austen Leigh and the role they played in constructing the image of the holy Austen.
Jessica Ling, graduate student at UC Berkeley, will explore the role of the clergyman in regency England and some of the different ways in which the church was embedded into the culture and life of Britain in Austen’s era.
Dr. Roger E. Moore, Vanderbilt University, will speak from the topics raised in his book ‘Jane Austen and the Reformation’ specifically focusing on how Austen’s musings on places reveals her to be a sophisticated critic of the Reformation, specifically the Dissolution of the Monasteries carried out by Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell in the 1530s. Far from a writer who is uninterested in religion or religious history, as has often been assumed, Austen is instead part of a long, divisive conversation in England about sixteenth-century religious reforms and their negative social, economic, and spiritual consequences. A link to a review of Dr. Moore’s book is here.
Each year Cal Episcopal celebrates the festival of Candlemas. We choose this day for two reasons. 1) it is the only festival of the Incarnation (the humanity of God) that occurs during the academic year. 2) it celebrates the Cal motto ‘fiat lux’ or ‘let there be light. This year we welcomed the Rt. Rev. Marc Andrus, Dr. Jonathan Sheehan, Dr. Henrike Lange, and Dr. Asad Ahmed to discuss the role of faith and the academy historically and currently. A Candlemas procession including blessing of candles followed.
This event is also with collaboration from the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion.