John Murray Distiquished Lectures For over twenty years Murray Grove has sponsored the John Murray Distinguished Lecture at the UUA General Assembly. The mission of the Lecture is to explore how Universalism contributes to the Unitarian Universalism of today. These lectures are funded, in part, by the New York State Convention of Universalists and the Pennsylvania Universalists Convention and, for 2008, is being sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist District of Metropolitan New York

The 22nd Annual John Murray Distinguished Lecture

will be presented

at the UUA General Assembly

in Ft Lauderdale, Florida, by

Rev. Dr. William F. Schulz

on the theme of

"The Future of Human Rights"

 

Dr. Schulz, the former Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, is currently Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and Adjunct Professor of International Relations at the New School.  A Unitarian Universalist minister, he served as President of the Unitarian Universalist Association from 1985 to 1993.  He will address human rights,

Universalist values and social justice, as well as describing the challenges and opportunities facing the new US President.

 

JMDL 2007

John Murray Distinguished Lecture
UUA General Assembly 2007
Portland, Oregon

Rev. Paul Rasor

Universalism and the Sectarian Element in Liberal Religion
 
Many scholars treat early Universalism as a “sectarian” movement, socially and spiritually alienated from other theologically liberal groups.  This sectarian impulse is still seen in Unitarian Universalism.  This need not be divisive; properly understood, it can become a resource in our ongoing struggles with religious identity.

Paul Rasor is Director of the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom and Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Virginia Wesleyan College.  Paul received his M.Div. and Ph.D. in theology from Harvard, and holds degrees in law and music from the University of Michigan.  His academic career includes 14 years as a full-time law professor and nine years’ teaching theology and religious studies.  An ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, Paul has served UU churches in Arlington and Lexington, MA.  He has published widely in both law and theology; his latest book is Faith Without Certainty: Liberal Theology in the 21st Century, published in 2005 by Skinner House.