Tag Archives: education

The Rise and Fall of Higher Education

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Rev. Clay Nelson

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Rev. Clay Nelson © 3 July 2016

Even if you have been attending worship here only for a short time you know about the Seven Principles that guide Unitarians in our efforts to live life in an ethical, compassionate and just manner. The banner that lists them is hard to miss in our sanctuary. But even life-long Unitarians are often not aware of the six sources that inform our living faith tradition. They are like wells from which we draw the waters of wisdom and spirituality that give life to our tradition. They include our direct experience of mystery, wisdom from world religions, our Jewish and Christian heritage, reason and science, Earth-centred traditions, and the one that inspires my thoughts on higher education today: “Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love.” Continue reading The Rise and Fall of Higher Education

The Past, Present and Future of Progressive Religion in Aotearoa New Zealand

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Address given to the Auckland Sea of Faith
By Clay Nelson
21 June 2015

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I want to thank Marion for inviting me to share this time with you. While I have looked forward to being with you, I wish I had reflected longer before offering the topic: The Past, Present and Future of Progressive Religion in Aotearoa New Zealand. You invited me for one 30 to 40 minute talk, not a six-part series of lectures. So I have struggled with how to slice this topic so it is thin enough to permit light to shine through it.

The aim of the Sea of Faith has offered me a way forward. Continue reading The Past, Present and Future of Progressive Religion in Aotearoa New Zealand

Inequality and the New Dark Ages

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By Rev. Clay Nelson.

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Clay Nelson © 29 March 2015

It wasn’t so until modern times, but a lot can change in a lifetime. Certainly it has in mine. Some of it has been fascinating and life enhancing but in one aspect the change we have experienced has been anything but. Where it is concerned I feel as I imagine a Roman citizen felt after the fall of their empire. Life was stable one day. Pax Romana with its infrastructure and commerce was benefitting most citizens. The next day the Visigoths came to town leaving chaos in their wake. Continue reading Inequality and the New Dark Ages