Listening to Other Voices

Glastonbury Abbey’s Listening to Other Voices theme for the 2023-24 program is:

What Does it Mean to be Human? A Faith Perspective

Sharing the particular insights of various faith traditions, the speakers will address how their own tradition looks at our human story. And the speakers are truly ecumenical in scope for this year’s program, coming from very varied traditions.

All but one of the programs are hybrid (in person and virtual). November's speaker will be virtual but we invite you to join us at the Morcone Center to watch the presentation together. Communal discussion will follow. Of course, as is our custom, refreshments will be served at the Center! All lectures will also be available via Zoom for home viewing.

Registration is open for the 2023 lectures. Please click here for the programs registration page. Or click here for the programs brochure.

Thursday, October 19, Tiokasin Ghosthorse, a member of the Cheyenne River Lakota Nation of South Dakota, "Acknowledging Relationship: A Recall of the Conscious Heart."
Thursday, November 16, Shabana Basiq-Rasikh, president and co-founder of SOLA, the first boarding school for girls in Afghanistan, "Seek Knowledge, Even to the Ends of the Earth."
Thursday, January 18, 2024, Simran Jeet Singh, Executive Director Religion & Society Program at Aspen Institute, “The Light We Give: Sikh Wisdom on Seeing Our Shared Humanity.”
Thursday, February 15, Mary Evelyn Tucker & John Grim, Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, "A Faith Perspective from Teilhard de Chardin and Thomas Berry."
Thursday, March 21, Rabbi Karen Kedar, senior rabbi at Congregation BJBE in Chicago, “Building a Vessel of Compassion.”
Thursday, April 18, Narrayan Helen Liebensen, guiding teacher of the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center, "What Does it Mean to be a Human Being?"

This program is offered by the Glastonbury Abbey Listening to Other Voices interfaith lecture series, which is an extension of the rich Benedictine monastic teaching tradition found at the Abbey.

All our programs are offered free, but donations are gratefully received to cover the costs of producing our programs online. If you would like to make a donation, please click here.

Our 2022-2023 series...

The Journey Continues: Reclaiming the Heart of Faith

This year our lecture series looked at the state of religion in America, where our traditions seem to be now and where they may be going. All 2022-23 presentations are recorded and available for personal viewing only (see links below). For more information on the 2022-23's lecture series content, click here.

Diana Butler Bass, PhD, award-winning author & inspiring teacher, "Freeing Jesus and Freeing Ourselves."
Imam Asif Hirani, scholar & author, "Purifying Hearts with the Divine Guidance and the Process of Self Development."
Rabbi Noa Kushner, writer & Rabbi, “Connecting Heaven and Earth: Building Modern Religious Community in San Francisco.”
Brian McLaren, author, activist, theologian, "Staying Christian When the Church is on Fire."
Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, UCC pastor & intergenerational speaker, “Dancing in the Darkness.”
Rev. James Martin, SJ, Catholic priest & author, "Where is the Church Going? A Conversation with James Martin, SJ."

These recordings are offered free, but donations are gratefully received to cover the costs of producing them. If you would like to make a donation, please click here.

Our 2021-2022 series...

Hope and Healing in a Fractured World:
A Faith Response

Almost all of the 2021-22 presentations are recorded and available for personal viewing only (see links below). For more information on the 2021-22's lecture series content, click here.

The theme of the 2021-22 interfaith lecture series centered on the fractures, the breaks and the antagonisms that we find today in church and society. Our featured speakers addressed the crises with faith and hope. They also have the experience of having already faced these problems and thereby gave us hope.

Pádraig Ó Tuama, poet & theologian, "What Were You Arguing About Along the Way?" (recording not available).
Rev. Bryan Massingale, Catholic priest & social ethicist, "A Spirituality of Racial Metanoia."
Cantor Rosalie Will, worship leader & performer, "Prayer, Song, Breath...Healing for Self and Community."
Rabbi Ariel Burger, author, teacher & artist, “In Search of Melody: Reweaving the Bonds of Human Community in 2022.” (recording not available).
David Gushee, Christian ethicist, "Torn Asunder: How White Evangelicalism Became a Central Part of Our National Fracturing."
Traci Blackmon, UCC pastor & Activist, “Embracing the Power of WE.”

These recordings are offered free, but donations are gratefully received to cover the costs of producing them. If you would like to make a donation, please click here.

Our 2020-2021 series...

**"We All Live in the Same House"* A Faith Response to Climate Change**
*Rep John R. Lewis

The future of our earth is in crisis! Many seem asleep to this reality and feel uncertain about what they can do. In this series we heard from various interfaith speakers who shared their insights on how we can help the natural environment.

The 2020-2021 virtual interfaith lecture series is now completed but you can access recordings of all five lectures. Click on the links below to access the recordings on our YouTube channel:

Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb "Our Essential Interdependence: of Souls, Nations, Faiths, and Species"
Rev. Jim Antal "God's Call - Our Voices - in a Time of Climate Chaos"
Cary Wollinsky "Burning Oz, Why Australia Is So Weird"
Nana Firman "Walking Gently On Earth"
Mary Evelyn Tucker & John Grim "Laudato Si: The Cry of the Earth, the Cry of the Poor"

These recordings are offered free, but donations are gratefully received to cover the costs of producing them. If you would like to make a donation, please click here.