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 Sunday service. Here is their list for the upcoming service featuring Rev. Shawn Gauthier and Gerta Moray on Sunday, May 11, 2025 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. Unitarians and India: A Study in Encounter and Response, by Spencer Lavan, 1991, 289.1 LAV [The Julian Fears Library. From Amazon: “Compelling history of Unitarianism in India, including pioneer missionaries William Roberts, William Adam, Charles Dall, etc.; early Indian Unitarians including Rammohun Roy and Keshub Chunder Sen; contemporary Unitarian supporters of Gandhi, much more.”].
2. Emerson: The Mind on Fire, by Robert D. Richardson Jr., 1996, 814 RIC [From LibraryThing: “… This is not merely a study of Emerson’s writing and his influence on others; it is Emerson’s life as he experienced it. We see the failed minister, the struggling writer, the political reformer, the poetic liberator. The Emerson of this book not only influenced Thoreau, Fuller, Whitman, Dickinson, and Frost, he also inspired Nietzsche, William James, Baudelaire, Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, and Jorge Luis Borges. Emerson’s timeliness is persistent and striking: his insistence that literature and science are not separate cultures, his emphasis on the worth of every individual, his respect for nature. Richardson gives careful attention to the enormous range of Emerson’s readings – from Persian poets to George Sand-and to his many friendships and personal encounters – from Mary Moody Emerson to the Cherokee chiefs in Boston – evoking both the man and the times in which he lived. Throughout this book, Emerson’s unquenchable vitality reaches across the decades, and his hold on us endures.”].
3. Walden, by Henry David Thoreau, 1997, 818.3 THO [From LibraryThing: “In 1845 Henry David Thoreau, one of the principal New England Transcendentalists, left the town for the country. Beside the lake of Walden, he built himself a log cabin and returned to nature, to observe and reflect while surviving on eight dollars a year. From this experience emerged one of the great classics of American literature, a deeply personal reaction against the commercialism and materialism that he saw as the main impulses of mid-19th century America.”].
4. Unitarian Universalism: A Narrative History, by David E. Bumbaugh, 2001, 289.1 [From Amazon: “… He explains the tensions between the Unitarians and the Universalists before the merger of the denominations in 1961, the latter fearing they would be swallowed up by the stronger partner. After merger, the contest for the hearts and minds of liberals between the theists and humanists continued over into the new denomination. In recent times, a humanistically inclined denomination has found developing within it new interpretations of liberal religion, among them a vague emotion labeled “spirituality.” and an earth-centered approach to religion, labeled “pagan.” Of course, as one would expect, there is continuing concern over the relation of the denomination to its Christian roots.”].
5. Children of the Same God: The Historical Relationship Between Unitarianism, Judaism, and Islam, by Susan J. Ritchie, 2014, 289 RIT [From Amazon: “… makes the groundbreaking historical argument that, long before Unitarianism and Universalism merged in the United States, Unitarianism itself was inherently multireligious. She demonstrates how Unitarians in Eastern Europe claimed a strong affinity with Jews and Muslims from the very beginning and how mutual theological underpinnings and active cooperation underpin Unitarian history but have largely disappeared from the written accounts. With clear implications for the religious identity of Christians, Jews, and Muslims as well as Unitarian Universalists, and especially for interfaith work, Children of the Same God illuminates the intertwining histories and destinies of these traditions. …”].
6. BHAGAVAD-GITA, translated by Juan Mascaro, 1988, 294.5 MAS [The Julian Fears Library. From LibraryThing: “Sanskrit for ‘Song of the Lord’, the Bhagavad Gita is a 700-verse Hindu epic that constitutes part of the faith’s vast cornerstone work, the Mahabharata. The book provides timeless truths and indispensable advice for believers trying to overcome internal tensions, doubt and indecision. The teachings are conveyed in the form of a dialogue between the Pandava general Arjuna and the deity Krishna, who helps Arjuna understand his position in the Kurukshetra War, and guides him towards the right course of action. The Gita’s treatment of duty and devotion has inspired many, including the peaceful activist Mahatma Gandhi, who referred to it as his ‘spiritual dictionary’.”].
7. Hinduism: The Rig Veda (Sacred Writings, Volume 5), by series Editor Ralph T.H. Griffith, 1992, 294.592 [From LibraryThing: “The Rigveda (Sanskrit: ऋग्वेद rgveda, a compound of rc “praise, verse” and veda “knowledge”) is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns. It is counted among the four canonical sacred texts (śruti) of Hinduism known as the Vedas. Some of its verses are still recited as Hindu prayers, at religious functions and other occasions, putting these among the world’s oldest religious texts in continued use. The Rigveda contains several mythological and poetical accounts of the origin of the world, hymns praising the gods, and ancient prayers for life, prosperity, etc. …”].
8. This Very Moment: A Brief Introduction to Buddhism and Zen for Unitarian Universalists, by James Ishmael Ford, 1996, 294 FOR [Published by Skinner House Books. From LibraryThing: “An elegant primer, This Very Moment includes basic teachings of the Buddha, the historical development of Zen Buddhism, Zen meditation practices, koans and more. Ford also highlights the spiritual and political connections between Zen Buddhism and Unitarian Universalism, demonstrating the harmonious balance that can be struck between the two.”].
9. Buddhism: Religions of our Neighbors: Volume 3, Sid Bentley, 1983, 294 BEN [Published by the Province of BC, Ministry of Education].
10. Buddhism and Whiteness, by George Yancy, 2021, 294 YAN [From LibraryThing: “… contributors use Buddhist philosophical and contemplative traditions, both ancient and modern, and deploy critical philosophy of race, and critical whiteness studies, to address the proverbial elephant in the room-whiteness”].