What and Where Is it?
This is an ecumenical adult discussion group that meets at 6:00 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month at First Presbyterian Church, Murray, KY. We meet in the large meeting room known as “the session room.”
What do we discuss?
We usually discuss books but as a break from reading, we have occasionally spent several months watching short videos. During much of 2013, for example, we viewed a seven part series entitled “Painting the Stars: Science, Religion, and an Evolving Faith” produced by “Living the Questions,” a progressive Christian group of scholars. We began our discussions in 2008 with a year-long study of Marcus Borg’s The Heart of Christianity, but we have also read William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, a classic in psychology of religion, as well more popular works such as John Shelby Spong’s, Jesus for the non-Religious, Emmet Fox’s Sermon on the Mount, Garry Wills’, What Jesus Meant, Greg Braden, The Biology of Belief, and even a few books with strange titles such as Sheldon Kopp’s If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him, and André Conte-Sponville’s The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality.
Why is the group called “Head and Heart”?
The title, conceived by facilitator Ken Wolf, retired history professor from Murray State, suggests that spiritual development must involve both our head (intellect) and our heart (emotional commitment). Over the years, we have begun to discover, as members look at and talk about their personal and religious/spiritual histories, that our heads and hearts, while they each give us different ways of approaching reality, cannot and should not finally be separated, despite what we were all taught in school about the split between body and brain, science and religion, feeling versus thinking.
Who comes to this group?
Regular attendees at Head and Heart meetings would likely describe themselves as seekers. Most attend a church, but some have no ties to organized religion. We regard ourselves as intellectually curious, open to new ideas, to each other, and to spiritual growth. We try to better understand where we came from (religiously and spiritually) and where we would like to go. Some of us see ourselves as “progressive” or “emergent” Christians. Others refuse all labels. All are welcome.. Call or email Ken Wolf (270 293-5502) or wolken43@gmail.com with any questions. University faculty and staff might find this group particularly interesting.