This event has ended.
Nontheist Approaches to Religious Language
28 February - 27 March 2022, Online
Many Quakers today attend worship but find words like 'God' or 'Spirit' difficult. What can we say about a Divine we can't understand and may not believe in? This course explores ineffability, metaphor, and other aspects of this challenge.
If you are a nontheist, atheist, agnostic or simply have questions about traditional religious language, this course will help you to understand the problems involved and consider alternatives. If you are fine with talking about God, the Inward Light, or other terms, this course will help you understand why other people find those words difficult and may prefer not to use them.
This course has four live discussion sessions. We start by considering how we learn words and how context shapes our understanding. We then explore what happens when something is ineffable or cannot be expressed in words, and how metaphor and other poetic tools help us say things indirectly. Finally, we will look at how Quakers are facing these challenges and how different approaches play out in communities.
The start date for the course is when the online content and discussion forum becomes available; you can work on this material at any time to suit you.
The live Zoom sessions are at 19:00-20:30 (UK time) every Tuesday during this period.
More information
For more information contact:
Woodbrooke
Telephone: 07562 624047 and 07935 601512