ALJ Class: Love at the Center of UU Theologizing

Date: 08/24/25

Time: 11:45 am

Location: Fireside, hybrid

Presenter: Dr. Jay Atkinson:

Jay Atkinson retired in 2011 from 32 years of full-time service in Unitarian Universalist parish ministry, During those ministries he also served at various times on the adjunct faculties of our UU seminaries in Chicago and Berkeley (Starr King School for the Ministry).  Before turning to professional ministry, he did research in nuclear physics.  Currently he is a Research Scholar at Starr King with a focus on UU history.

Description:

A year ago, Dr. Atkinson offered a guest sermon at UUCPA titled, “Did Jesus and the Universalists Get It Right?”  His answer was “yes,” as he traced how Jesus’s life and message of Love became sidelined in the main thread of Christian theology while resonating with our Universalist tradition of “God as Love” and our new UUA language that places Love at the center of UU values. This presentation will expand on the history of “Love” in Unitarian and Universalist thinking over the centuries, how it lay at the basis of our historic rebellion against orthodox Christianity, and the strange way in which it now seems to be leading us back to the central idea of Jesus’s own preaching, long after many UUs claim to have left Christianity behind.  He will juxtapose that with what’s happening in the modern Christian movement of open and relational theism, which is putting “Love” back into the center of their own thinking.  Are UUs and progressive Christians both moving back toward “Love” as a theological center point from two different directions?

Fourth Sunday Waffles and snacks will be available after the service. Please use a paper plate.  Suggested contribution $2.

Child care will be provided.