Resources for Challenging Times
Theological and Sociological Perspectives
Best Practices ~ Education ~ Links & Resources ~ Stewardship ~ Theological ~ Worship
Contents:
- SOCIAL AND CONGREGATIONAL IMPACTS
- Economic downturn frays America's safety net, Christian Science Monitor
- Congregations remain hopeful in face of recession, Donald E. Skinner, UU World
- UU children help struggling families feed pets, Donald E. Skinner, UU World
- Congregations helping other congregations, Donald E. Skinner, UU World
- THEOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL PERSPECTIVES
- Alban Institute Roundtable Blog on the Economic Crisis
- Can process theology contribute to our reflection about the crisis in the financial sector? Dr. John B. Cobb Jr.
- Sacred Anxiety, Robert Gerzon, UU World
- How Much Do We Deserve?, Richard Gilbert, UU World
- Money and the Meaning of Life, Jacob Needleman
- Parker Palmer on Economic Crisis, Morality and Meaning, American Public Media – Transcripts and Podcasts
- Does the Free Market Corrode Moral Character?, American Public Media – Transcripts and Podcasts
- Repossessing Virtue, American Public Media – Transcripts and Podcasts
Economic downturn frays America's safety net
Christian Science Monitor
www.csmonitor.com/2009/0126/p10s01-usec.html
Is America's safety net in danger of unraveling? Many of the country's nonprofit organizations are on the front lines of the economic crisis, providing food and shelter, help in preventing foreclosures, job retraining. But they're being hit by the hard times, too. ... The US nonprofit sector employs 10 percent of the workforce – more than the auto and steel industries combined.
Congregations remain hopeful in face of recession
By Donald E. Skinner
UU World 2.23.09
www.uuworld.org/life/articles/128895.shtml
Some congregations have pared back budgets. Most are worried about finding ways to support members in need.
UU children help struggling families feed pets
By Donald E. Skinner
UU World 2.9.09
www.uuworld.org/news/articles/128971.shtml
North Carolina children raise money to provide pet food for families struggling with recession.
Congregations helping other congregations
By Donald E. Skinner
UU World 8.11.08
www.uuworld.org/life/articles/107498.shtml
Aiding another congregation gives 'sense of supporting a larger vision of Unitarian Universalism.'
Alban Institute Roundtable Blog on the Economic Crisis
http://albanroundtable.org/?tag=economy
An ongoing collection of essays, discussions and practical and theological responses to the economic crisis.
Can process theology contribute to our reflection about the crisis in the financial sector? By Dr. John B. Cobb Jr.
www.processandfaith.org/askcobb/2008/10-Financial%20Crisis.shtml
Whereas the vast majority of economists are socialized to consider how best to keep the current system functioning, theologians are free to ask about the system as a whole and its alternatives.
Sacred Anxiety
By Robert Gerzon
UU World Mar/Apr 2002
www.uuworld.org/2002/02/feature2.html
We often run from the discord of worry, but a noted counselor suggests that it's time to stop and listen for a deeper, spiritual voice. Anxiety, he says, can open a path to spiritual wholeness.
How Much Do We Deserve?
By Richard Gilbert
UU World Nov/Dec 2001
www.uuworld.org/2001/05/feature3.html
Is the marketplace the measure of all things? How much inequality of any type can a democracy experience and survive? What is economic justice? How much is enough? How much do we deserve?
Money and the Meaning of Life
By Jacob Needleman
www.gurdjieff.org/needleman4.htm
Excerpts extracted from Jacob Needleman’s book, Money and the Meaning of Life, New York: Currency Doubleday, 1991
Think of money as a device invented for organizing the satisfaction of mankind’s outer needs—within a cultural context in which most forms of conduct served the purpose of evoking impressions of the inner self. Money, thus understood, is intrinsically embedded in a contradiction!
Parker Palmer on Economic Crisis, Morality and Meaning
American Public Media – Transcripts and Podcasts
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/2008/repossessing_virtue-palmer/palmer-deeper_knowing.shtml
Explore human and spiritual aspects of economic downturn with a wise public intellectual of our time, the Quaker author and educator Parker Palmer. He works with people from all walks of life at the intersection of spiritual, professional, and social change, and stresses the need to acknowledge the inner life of human beings as a source of reality and power.
Does the Free Market Corrode Moral Character?
American Public Media – Transcripts and Podcasts
http://blog.speakingoffaith.org/post/62696669/webcast-does-the-free-market-corrode-moral
A panel discussion with three ethicists exploring the moral and ethical aspects of the economic downturn.
Repossessing Virtue
American Public Media – Transcripts and Podcasts
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/first-person/repossessing-virtue/
Repossessing Virtue is part of an ongoing series exploring the moral, spiritual, and practical aspects of the economic downturn. American Public Media reporters have been contacting familiar voices of wisdom and insight, and asking them a series of questions about the current economic climate.
