Our library in Hewett Centre is open every Sunday after service during Coffee Hour in Hewett Centre, and our Library Team offers related reading lists based on the topic of the Sunday service. Here is their list for the upcoming service on “Building Hope Together”, featuring Rev. Shawn Gauthier on Sunday, March 29, 2026 at 11 a.m. All are welcome in Hewett Centre after the Sunday service to check out some books, and to have coffee and conversation.
VanU library books related to this Sunday’s sermon:
1. Three Prophets of Religious Liberalism: Channing Emerson Parker introduction by Conrad Wright, 1964. 2188 WRI
The Julian Fears library. Published by Beacon Press. From LibraryThing: “Three landmark addresses in the history of American Unitarianism in one convenient volume. Edited by one of the leading UU historians.”
2. Theodore Parker by Henry Steele Commanger, 1936/1947, 921 PAR
The classic biography of a Unitarian who has been called “the conscience of America.” From reprint publisher : “Commager traces Parker’s life from his early years in Massachusetts to his education at Harvard Divinity School, where he developed his radical ideas about religion and social justice. Parker’s beliefs were rooted in Unitarianism, but he rejected traditional Christian doctrines and advocated for the abolition of slavery, women’s rights, and other progressive causes. The book explores Parker’s role in the Transcendentalist movement, his involvement in the Underground Railroad, and his impact on American politics and culture.”
3. Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman, 2021, 128 BRE
From LibraryThing: “It’s a belief that unites the left and right, psychologists and philosophers, writers and historians. It drives the headlines that surround us and the laws that touch our lives. From Machiavelli to Hobbes, Freud to Dawkins, the roots of this belief have sunk deep into Western thought. Human beings, we’re taught, are by nature selfish and governed by self-interest. Humankind makes a new argument: that it is realistic, as well as revolutionary, to assume that people are good. The instinct to cooperate rather than compete, trust rather than distrust, has an evolutionary basis going right back to the beginning of Homo sapiens. By thinking the worst of others, we bring out the worst in our politics and economics too. In this major book, internationally bestselling author Rutger Bregman … shows how believing in human kindness and altruism can be a new way to think–and act as the foundation for achieving true change in our society. It is time for a new view of human nature.”
4. The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times by Jane Goodall, 2021, 304 GOO
From LibraryThing: “Looking at the headlines – the worsening climate crisis, a global pandemic, loss of biodiversity, political upheaval – it can be hard to feel optimistic. And yet hope has never been more desperately needed.
In this urgent book, Jane Goodall, the world’s most famous living naturalist, and Douglas Abrams, the internationally bestselling co-author of The Book of Joy, explores through intimate and thought-provoking dialogue one of the most sought after and least understood elements of human nature: hope. In The Book of Hope, Jane focuses on her “Four Reasons for Hope”: The Amazing Human Intellect, The Resilience of Nature, The Power of Young People, and The Indomitable Human Spirit.”
5. Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in with Unexpected Resilience and Creative Power by Joanna Macy, 2022, 303 MAC
From LibraryThing: “The challenges we face can be difficult even to think about. Climate change, the depletion of oil, economic upheaval, and mass extinction together create a planetary emergency of overwhelming proportions. Active Hope shows us how to strengthen our capacity to face this crisis so that we can respond with unexpected resilience and creative power. Drawing on decades of teaching an empowerment approach known as the Work That Reconnects, the authors guide us through a transformational process informed by mythic journeys, modern psychology, spirituality, and holistic science.”
6. Hope in Shadows: Stories and Photographs of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside by Brad Cran, 2008, 971.1 CRA
From LibraryThing: “The poignant story of an at-risk community, in its residents’ own words and pictures.”
7. An Examined Faith: Social Context and Religious Commitment by James Luther Adams, c1991, 230.91 ADA
From the publisher via LibraryThing: “James Luther Adams has been a major force in American social ethics and liberal theology for more than half a century, from his work with anti-Nazi preachers in Germany in the late 1930s through his teaching at the University of Chicago and the Harvard Divinity School. In this latest collection of his inimitable essays, Adams explores the role of faith among the “communion of free spirits,” from Paul Tillich to Carl Sandburg, Jesus to Pope John XXIII. Adams encounters religion both in the “storms of our times” and in his own life and work.”-
8. Churchworks: A Well-Body Book for Congregations by Anne Odin Heller, 1999, 254.09 HEL
From LibraryThing: “Accessible and ingenious, this handbook uses the human body as a metaphor for the congregation and provides essential advice for growing and sustaining a healthy church.”
9. Salted with Fire: Unitarian Universalist Strategies for Sharing Faith and Growing Congregations by Scott W Alexander, c1994, 289.13 ALE
From the UUA: “Twenty-two essays written by a group of men and women who are passionately committed to the growth and extension of Unitarian Universalism. Not only inspirational, these essays also offer some practical advice to those who want to share the faith.”