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 featuring Rev. Shawn Gauthier on Sunday, November 16, 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. To Re-Enchant the World: A Philosophy of Unitarian Universalism, by Richard Grigg, 2004, 288 GRI [Written by a Unitarian Society of New Haven member. From LibraryThing: “Since the seventeenth century, Western culture has been undergoing what historians and sociologists call secularization, the process via which religious institutions lose more and more of their power in society. … One visible aspect of the process of secularization is the weakening, and perhaps eventual withering away, of traditional religious institutions. … Secularization threatens to “disenchant” the world (Max Weber), to cut us off from the sense of the sacred and of Mystery. … there is a difficulty with New Age sorts of spiritualities when compared with the old-time religion: these new spiritualities tend to be very individualistic, if not idiosyncratic. … But individualistic New Age pieties seem to have no such social reinforcement underpinning them. Hence the central argument of To Re-Enchant the World: the Unitarian Universalist community accomplishes the unique task of re-enchanting the world by bringing a host of individual spiritualities into a single community where all of them are affirmed and thus granted social plausibility. The U.U. community, then, is a particularly powerful site for the re-enchantment of the world: it puts us back in touch with the sacred and with what the book labels the Mysterious Depth of reality. While Unitarian Universalists can bring many different spiritual ways into the U.U. community, five are analyzed in depth in the book, namely, humanism, a focus on nature, engagement with the arts, commitment to social justice, and devotion to a Source/Creative Abyss of the universe. The book also considers rituals common to the U.U. community and the experience of sacred space, sacred time, and sacred word in that community. Finally, To Re-Enchant the World makes some predictions about the future of Unitarian Universalism and even touches on the delicate issue of U.U. proselytizing. …”].
2. The Education of the Heart: Readings and Sources for Care of the Soul, Soul Mates, and the Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life, edited by Thomas Moore, 1997, 158 MOO [From LibraryThing: “In an era of information technology we tend to neglect education in the emotions, the imagination, and civility. … he presents many of the sources that influenced and inspired Care of the Soul, Soul Mates, and The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life, choosing special passages that show us how to cultivate our humanity. … Here we read the great teachers and writers of the past and present, not as representatives of historical periods but as vivid teachers who show us the way towards a richer, more spiritful and soul-filled life. …”].
3. The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life: International Edition, by Thomas Moore, 1996, 158.2 MOO [Gift of Sheila Feary. From LibraryThing: “… shows that a profound, enchanted engagement with life is not a childish thing to be put away with adulthood, but a necessity for one’s personal and collective survival. With his lens focused on specific aspects of daily life such as clothing, food, furniture, architecture, ecology, language, and politics, Moore describes the renaissance these can undergo when there is a genuine engagement with beauty, craft, nature, and art in both private and public life. …”].
4. Universal Questions: Exploring the Mysteries of Existence, by Harold Rosen, 1997 [Written by a Unitarian minister.].
5. Ordinary Magic: Everyday Life as Spiritual Path, edited by John Welwood, 1992, 291.4 WEL [From LibraryThing: “… reveals how the simple practice of mindfulness can be a magical and transformative part of anyone’s daily life. Thirty-five wide-ranging essays written by well-known spiritual teachers, therapists, and creative artists show how learning to focus awareness can bring a new richness to ordinary activities; how mindfulness can heighten creative pursuits such as painting, journal writing, or playing music; how contemplative awareness enhances both physical and psychological well-being; and how meditation can contribute to better relationships with family, community, and the world at large.”].
6. A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes, by Stephen W. Hawking, 1988, 523.1 HAW [From LibraryThing: “… explores such profound questions as: How did the universe begin, and what made its start possible? Does time always flow forward? Is the universe unending, or are there boundaries? Are there other dimensions in space? What will happen when it all ends? … plunges into the exotic realms of black holes and quarks, of antimatter and arrows of time, of the big bang and a bigger God – where the possibilities are wondrous and unexpected. …”].
7. How It Began: A Time-Traveler’s Guide to the Universe, by Chris Impey, 2013, 523.1 IMP [From LibraryThing: “In this vibrant, eye-opening tour of milestones in the history of our universe, Chris Impey guides us through space and time, leading us from the familiar sights of the night sky to the dazzlingly strange aftermath of the Big Bang”].
8. The Sacred Depths of Nature, by Ursula Goodenough, 1998, 574.01 GOO [From LibraryThing: “For many of us, the great scientific discoveries of the modern age – the Big Bang, evolution, quantum physics, relativity – point to an existence that is bleak, devoid of meaning, pointless. … shows us that the scientific world view need not be a source of despair. Indeed, it can be a wellspring of solace and hope. … Looking at topics such as evolution, emotions, sexuality, and death, Goodenough writes … about the workings of nature in general and of living creatures in particular. Her luminous clarity makes it possible for even non scientists to appreciate that the origins of life and the universe are no less meaningful because of our increasingly scientific understanding of them. At the end of each chapter, Goodenough’s spiritual reflections respond to the complexity of nature with vibrant emotional intensity and a sense of reverent wonder. …”].
9. Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth, by J. E. Lovelock, 1987, 113 LOV [From LibraryThing: “… puts forward his idea that life on earth functions as a single organism. Written for non-scientists, Gaia is a journey through time and space in search of evidence with which to support a new and radically different model of our planet. In contrast to conventional belief that living matter is passive in the face of threats to its existence, the book explores the hypothesis that the earth’s living matter air, ocean, and land surfaces forms a complex system that has the capacity to keep the Earth a fit place for life. Since Gaia was first published, many of Jim Lovelock’s predictions have come true and his theory has become a hotly argued topic in scientific circles. …”].
10. Walden and Other Writings, by Henry David Thoreau, 1993, 818.3 THO [From LibraryThing: “From July 4, 1845 to September 6, 1847, Henry David Thoreau lived alone in the cabin he built on the shores of Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts. Walden is the classic account of his stay–his experiment in essential living. This book is framed as a narrative of the cycle of one year, beginning with summer. Thoreau uses the changes of the day, the seasons, and the year to symbolize the quiet revolution that is going on inside him. His specific observations of the natural life outside himself cause him to look inward and reflect upon the lives of quiet desperation most men lead; the erroneous economic thinking which leads them to accept their shackles; the liberating effects of nature and self-examination; and finally those “higher laws” which can only be glimpsed on those rare occasions when true living unites with true reflection. …”].