Dubbed “the poet laureate of
Unitarian Universalism” by All
Souls Senior Minister Galen
Guengerich, Emily Dickinson
(1830 – 1886) remains one
of our greatest and most
original American poets. The
eminent literary critic Harold
Bloom agrees: “With Emerson,
Whitman, and Henry James,
[Dickinson] seems to me our
highest national achievement in
thought and the arts” (The Best
Poems of the English Language).
In each of these nine
conversations
(open
to
everyone), Galen will begin with
an attentive reading of one of
Dickinson’s hallmark poems,
and then invite the group to
participate in a broad discussion
of how her insights resonate
with our experiences and
challenges today.
All discussions will take place from
2:00 – 3:15 p.m. in the Ware Room.
Schedule
September 21, 2014:
The Question of Interdependence
Those Cattle smaller than a Bee
In this witty poem about houseflies that
predates the biologist E.O. Wilson’s work on
the importance of insects by a century and a
half, Dickinson recognizes that the natural
world has a calling independent of our own.
October 19, 2014:
The Question of Amplitude
I dwell in Possibility –
Initially arguing that the house of poetry is
superior to the house of prose, Dickinson then
turns to consider what it means to dwell in
possibility — to spread our narrow selves into
the fullness of life’s amplitude.
November 9, 2014:
The Question of Civil Disobedience
My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun –
Perhaps Dickinson’s most controversial poem,
and certainly one of her most provocative,
this unapologetic manifesto declares that
sometimes individuals must change society
not by encouraging change but by forcing it.
December 14, 2014:
The Question of Virtue
On a Columnar Self –
From the certainty of a solitary self to the
consensus of an assembled crowd to the
ultimate frame of reference that human beings
have called God: what is the most reliable
point of reference for determining ethical
virtue?
January 18, 2015:
The Question of Discrimination
Color – Caste – Denomination –
Despite the fact that discrimination based on
race, class, and religion arise in every society,
Dickinson argues (in 1864) that these forms of
prejudice have no place in the USA.
February 8, 2015:
The Question of Desire
A Charm invests a face
In this meditation on the nature of human
sexual desire, Dickinson ponders the superficial
appearances that often attract — and yet may
often also distract from seeing the true nature of
the person behind the face.
March 15, 2015:
The Question of Suffering
They say that “Time assuages” –
Contrary to those who blithely say that time
heals all wounds, Dickinson insists that, in
fact, suffering strengthens over time and
the experience of suffering itself eventually
becomes a source of strength.
April 19, 2015:
The Question of Freedom
‘Tis so appalling – it exhilarates –
In what is perhaps her boldest rejection of
the torment of traditional religion, Dickinson
grapples with what she calls the coldness of
truth: the frightening experience of theological
liberty and the terror of unbounded freedom.
May 17, 2015:
The Question of Justice
It feels a shame to be Alive –
This 1863 poem about the Civil War dead
becomes a meditation on justice: do citizens
who remain safe at home in times of grave crisis
deserve the ultimate sacrifice made by others?
“I dwell in
Possibility”
Galen Guengerich
is Senior Minister
of All Souls
Unitarian Church
in Manhattan
and author of
God Revised: How
Religion Must
Evolve in a Scientific photo by Mitchel Gray
Age (Palgrave Macmillan).
Raised Conservative Mennonite,
he studied classics at Franklin and
Marshall College, received his
M.Div. from Princeton Theological
Seminary, and went on to earn
a Ph.D. in theology from the
University of Chicago, where he
focused on how diverse religious
commitments
affect
political
conceptions of justice in pluralist
democracies. He is a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations and
a Lecturer in Preaching, Worship,
and the Arts at Union Theological
Seminary in New York City.
Life’s Big Questions
viewed through the poems
of Emily Dickinson
Questions? Contact Maryah
Converse at (212) 535-5530 or email
[email protected].
A monthly discussion series
led by Galen Guengerich
Unitarian Church of All Souls
1157 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10075
(212)535-5530
www.allsoulsnyc.org
ALL
SOULS