The Sophia Lyon Fahs Lecture
1. MISSION
The purpose of the Fahs Lecture is annually, at the General Assembly of the Uniatrain Universalist Association, to present a speaker on the topic of religious education to this wide and diverse gathering of lay and professional Unitarian Universalists. Each year, the Fahs Lecture Committee seeks to invite an individual whose life and work has shown a commitment and understanding of the meaning, the depth, and the challenges of religious education. The speaker's role is to address some aspect of the sacred work of "leading out" learners of all ages , "educare", to help us have deeper understandings, higher visions, and renewed inspirations for this ministry. The Fahs Lecture is named in honor of Sophia Lyon Fahs, the religious educator who in the middle of this century shaped the course of Unitarian Universalist religious education. Her insights - including the notion that children develop religious understanding from their interaction with the world - revolutionized how we teach. 2. HISTORY This annual lecture held at the UUA General Assembly each year, was begun by members of the Board of the Liberal Religious Educators Association in the early 1907s, following a tradition of notable lectures. Dr. Eugene Navias reports that previous to the Fahs Lecture, "the Religious Education Department once had major speakers at General Assemblies and their Unitarian predecessor, May Meetings, and that LREDA regularly had speakers at its annual dinner at GA. One of the most notable speakers at one of these events in the years before the Fahs Lecture started was Cody Wilson, Executive Director of the President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography. His lecture at the LREDA Dinner in 1971 drew much positive attention and was later published by the UUA R.E. Department and distributed through the UUA Bookstore. "The big move with the Fahs Lecture was...to have a lecture on a topic that had some import to liberal religious education at a prime time at the GA - to rank along with the Ware Lecture. ...a $1,000 grant [was] received from the Unitarian Sunday School Society to fund the first lecture."
HISTORY OF THE SOPHIA FAHS LECTURE AT THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST ASSOCIATION YEAR | SPEAKER | TOPIC | PLACE |
1974
| Mary Daly, author | "God, the Father" | New York,NY | 1975 | Gail Thain Parker
President, Bennington College | | Minneapolis,MN | 1976 | Barbara Brown
leading expert on
biofeedback research | "Changing Concepts of Mind and Spirit: Coping with the Mind Revolution" | Claremont,CA | 1977 | Zella Luvia
Professor of Psychology, Tufts | "The Changing Worlds of Men and
Women: New Opportunity or Loss?" | | 1978 | Denise Levertov
writer, Professor of English, Tufts | "Acres of Clams and What They Are Saying" | | 1979 | Jean Houston
Director of the Foundation for Mind
Research; President of Association of Humanistic Psychology | "Theology and the Metamorphosis of Mind" | East Lansing,MI | 1980 | FAHS Night - instead of a lecture | an opportunity to create an autonomous association of people interested in life-long religious education | Albuquerque,NM | 1981 | Suzanne Benton
accomplished sculptor, mask maker, actress & storyteller | "Women Myths and Masks"
new perceptions and understandings of women and myths of the Old Testament | Philadelphia,PA | 1982 | Maria Harris
Andover Newton Education
Theological School | "Sisterhood, Silence and Religious- Silence-Awareness-Mourning-Mutuality as ways of learning and understanding" | Brunswick,ME | 1983 | Claire Fisher
Aurilia Reinhardt
Professor, Starr King School for Religious Leaders | "Another Way: Morality and Gender" | Vancouver,BC | 1984 | Joanmarie Smith
Professor, Methodist Theological School | "Ecumenical Spirituality" | Columbus,OH | 1985 | William R. Jones | "Moral Decision Making: Implications for Unitarian Universalist
Religious Education" | Atlanta, GA | 1986 | Carter Heyward
Episcopal priest and Professor of Theology, Episcopal Divinity School | "Reflections on a Feminist Spirituality for Justice" | Rochester,NY | 1987 | Henry Hampton
executive producer,
"Eyes on the Prize" | "Little Rock through a Big Window: Reflections on Media and Movement" | Little Rock,AK | 1988 | Mary Elizabeth Moore | "Telling Stories and Crossing Boundaries" | Palm Springs, CA | 1989 | Robert Keegan | "Growing Young Hearts and Minds Toward Justice" | New Haven,CT | 1990 | John DeFrain
Professor of Family Science, University of NebraskaLincoln | "The Quality of Strong Families: A Primer for Unitarian Universalists" | Milwaukee,WI | 1991 | William Jones
UU minister, Director of Black Studies, Florida StateUniversity | "Primer on Oppression: Liberals' New Agenda" | Hollywood,FL | 1992 | Doris Dyke
professor, Emmanuel College, University of Toronto | "Women: Nurtured and Abused by Religion" | Calgary,Alberta | 1993 | Charles Foster
Professor of Religious Education, Emory University,Atlanta | "Rainbows and Mosaics:
The Multi-Cultural Future" | Charlotte,NC | 1994 | Thomas Owen-Towle
UU Minister | "Putting the Child into Our Midst" | Fort Worth,TX | 1995 | Roberta M. Nelson
UU Minister of Religious Education | "Persistant as the Myriad Light of Stars" | Spokane,WA | 1996 | Marie Fortune
Director, Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence | "Doing Least Harm: A New Approach to Sexual Ethics" | Indianapolis,IN | 1997 | Byrd Baylor, author | "Being in Charge of Celebrations" | Phoenix, AZ | 1998 | Bernice Johnson Reagon
educator, musician | "In Seach of the Sacred" (cancelled) | Rochester,NY | 1999 | Dr. Ronald Cram,
Executive Director of the Religious Education Association | “Beyond Tolerance: Racial Dialogue in an Era of Expanding Religion “ | Salt Lake City, Utah | 2000 | Elias Farajaje-Jones, Professor of Theology at StarrKing School for the Ministry | "Meditate, Liberate, Educate." | Nashville, TN | 2001 | Thomas Groome, Professor of Religious Studies,Boston College | “Postmodernity and Religious Education” | Cleveland,OH | 2002 | Beverly Wildung Harrison, Professor Emeriti, Union Theological Seminary | “Sophia Fahs: Freedom in a Colonizing Culture” | Quebec, QC | 2003 | Jerome Berryman | “Godly Play: Finding Our Spiritual Direction Through Creativity” | Boston, MA | 2004 | Dr. Elizabeth Conde-Frazier | “From Hospitality to Shalom – Pedagogical Strategies” | Long Beach,CA | 2005 | Elissa Bishop-Becker | “The Grief Spiral: The Transformative Power of Loss” | Ft. Worth, | 2006 | The Rev. Richard S. Gilbert | “Growing People of Prophetic Fire” (Text of Lecture) | St. Louis,MO | 2007 | William J. Doherty | “Home Grown Religion” (Text of Lecture) | Portland, OR |
2008 CANCELLED 2009 Rabbi Sandy Sasso Nurturing the Spirirtual Imagination of Children Salt Lake City, UT |
