FCRP 2010 Conference

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FRIENDS CONFERENCE ON RELIGION AND PSYCHOLOGY
Lebanon Valley College · Annville, PA · May 28–31, 2010

Towards a Radical Democracy of Spirit
The Mystical Roots of America

with

Jeff Kripal

Jeff Kripal, a scholar of comparative mysticism, will explore with us a submerged, but very old and very powerful American story: the story of the divine spark or absolute integrity of the individual human soul and its direct, unmediated relationship to the divine—what has come to be called “mysticism” or “spirituality.” Jeff will explain exactly when and where such radical ideas arose and how they are much more democratic than any notion of a “Christian nation” and its “family values.”

Jeff will also apply this story to the most practical and everyday features of our lives. Why, for example, do we continue to speak of God as a King or Lord when none of us want to live under a monarchy or any other regime of acquiescence and control? Why do our submissive rituals and prayers—the ways we use our bodies in worship—so seldom express a democracy of Spirit? Why do religious communities continue to use simplistic and widely discredited notions of gender and sex to disempower, exclude, and demean individuals, especially women and sexual minorities? Finally, and perhaps most important, what would it mean to realize the mystical ideal called “America”?

In four lectures during the weekend, Jeff will lead us in an exploration of democracy’s mystical roots. This exploration will include FCRP’s own story.

Conference information and on-line registration at
http://fcrp.quaker.org