​
Dr. Mary Neal's
presentation of
​"To Heaven and Back"
Life After Death Experiences
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Faith and ...  
Climate, Catastrophe and Faith; 
​How Changes in Climate Drive Religious Revolutions
Tuesday,  March 15, 2022  at 4:00 p.m.​

In the spring, residents of Boca Grande weatherproof their homes before heading north for the summer. We all know the devastating potential of hurricanes and flooding for this area. In ancient times, the Calusa Indians who inhabited these islands long before we did understood weather as being under the realm of one of their three gods, the most powerful of the gods - - who controlled the weather, sun, moon and stars. To ensure favorable weather, they made sacrifices. Their beliefs about who controlled the weather impacted how they responded to weather.

In his latest book, “Climate, Catastrophe, and Faith: How Changes in Climate Drive Religious Upheaval,” Jenkins tackles the historic connection between faith and weather. He also addresses our present climate, with an eye to the future. He takes a deep dive into religion and science to explore global weather changes and what they mean for communities of faith. His presentation on March 15th will conclude with a haunting prediction.
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The Economist magazine calls Jenkins "one of America's best scholars of religion." A professor of history at Baylor University, he is nothing if not prolific. He has written at least 26 books on varied topics including America in the 1970s, cults and new religions, designer drugs, moral panics in Britain, Native American spirituality, global Christianity, World War I, and the history of Wales.

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Faith and ...
The Danger of a Single Christian Story
​Tuesday,  April 5, 2022  at 4:00 p.m.​

They are questions every good Sunday school teacher knows to expect: Why does the New Testament include four gospels, telling the story of Jesus’s life four different ways? What was each author trying to persuade us of—and did he succeed?

Those questions are central to the work of Michael Beth Dinkler, Harvard alum and Associate Professor of New Testament and ancient Christianity at Yale  Divinity School.
“Every retelling of a story is an attempt to persuade in some way,” Dinkler said in a recent interview. “And these four gospels show us the importance of context, for the person who is telling the story and for the people to whom they’re telling it. Coming to any biblical text and trying to force it into one kind of capital ’T’ truth is an unimaginative way of understanding God’s work in the world. The New Testament itself tells us that diversity has been present amongst followers of Jesus since the very beginning.”

Dinkler will consider how diversity in the Gospel narratives invites us to challenge and engage a wider understanding of diversity in our world today.