Name: ProFuture Faith: The Prodigal Species Comes Home - Digital Edition
SKU: 34092
Availability: InStock

Description

“Rev. Michael Dowd, a regular guest in my pulpit, has created an eight-session video discussion course, “ProFuture Faith: The Prodigal Species Comes Home,” that weaves together science, inspiration, and sustainability in a visually stunning and conversation-generating way. His prophetic call for intergenerational justice will appeal to humanists and spiritual members alike. I recommend it to all UU ministers and RE directors.”
— Rev. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister of All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, OK

“Just when we are tempted to get lost in the haze of consumerism until the whole planet gets used up, Michael Dowd comes along to shake us awake, and to ask us to not only face reality, but to let it be our guide into the future. We can still come home to this world. And we can still create a religion that helps align our hearts and minds, and our actions, with the astonishing beauty that has brought us here.”
— Peter Mayer, singer and songwriter

ProFuture Faith: The Prodigal Species Comes Home — 8 sessions

Having “squandered our inheritance on profligate living,” we are a prodigal species. Industrial civilization and our insatiable appetites have us hurtling toward irreversible consequences – not in some distant future, but right now. The good news is it’s not too late. At the intersection of science, spirituality, and sustainability is a deep love of life and a passion for our posterity – a ProFuture Faith. Join eco-theologian, author, and TEDx speaker, Rev. Michael Dowd in a dynamic DVD and internet-based discussion course that bridges the gap between head and heart, science and faith. Participants will be guided on a journey that accepts what is inevitable, avoids what is futile, and be inspired to attend to what is urgent. Come home to reality. Embrace a ProFuture Faith!

Purchase of ProFuture Faith Digital Edition includes a renewable one-year group use license and one-year access to the streaming/digital program and supplemental study materials (that you may download and print/e-distribute). The license is automatically activated upon purchase of the program. At the end of your one-year license, you will be contacted by email about renewing your license for continued group use of the digital program and access to/use of the digital files and downloadable/printable supplemental materials. This digital program is not closed captioned.

Contributor

Michael Dowd (1958 – 2023)

was a bestselling eco-theologian and pro-science, pro-future ‘evangelist’ whose work was featured in The New York Times, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, Discover, and on television nationally. His book, Thank God for Evolution, was endorsed by 6 Nobel Prize-winning scientists, noted skeptics, and by religious leaders across the spectrum. Michael delivered two TEDx talks and a program at the United Nations. He and his wife, science writer and climate activist, Connie Barlow, spoke to some 2,500 groups across North America since 2002, including nearly 500 UU churches. Rev. Dowd also conducted two acclaimed online conversation series: “Evolutionary Christianity” and “The Future Is Calling Us to Greatness.”

Themes

Part 1 — Coming Home to Reality (4 sessions)

Un-Trivializing God — Reality as Thou — (20 min)
The Purpose of Religion and Necessity of Science — (20 min)
The Epic of Evolution — A Cosmic Timeline — (20 min)
Thus Sayeth Reality — What is Inevitable; What is Needed — (20 min)

Part 2 — Practical Wisdom (4 sessions)

Thus Sayeth Reality — What is Futile; What is Urgent — (19 min)
Why We Struggle — Un-Trivializing Mythic Wisdom — (20 min)
Impermanence & Death as Sacred — Embracing Limits — (17 min)
Staying Sane, Sober and Inspired in Contracting Times — (21 min)

Primary and Secondary Resources for Further Exploration

Part One — Coming Home to Reality

Un-Trivializing God — Reality as Thou

Primary resources…

ESSAY: “What Are We Pointing to with the Word ‘God’?” – Gene Marshall

ARTISTIC VIDEO: “God Is Reality Personified, Not a Person” (20 min)

Additional resources…

BLOG POST: “God: Personification ≠ Person” – Rev. Dowd

VIDEOS: Nate Hagens: “Reality 101: What every student (and citizen) needs to know”

Also: https://un-denial.com/2019/02/02/by-nate-hagens-reality-101-what-every-student-and-citizen-should-know-about-energy

The Purpose of Religion and the Necessity of Science

Primary resource…

SERMON VIDEO: “Reality 101: Expanding Our Circle of Compassion” – Dowd (30 min)

Additional resources…

AUDIOS: Edward “Teddy” Goldsmith: https://soundcloud.com/michael-dowd-grace-limits/sets/edward-teddy-goldsmith (audios narrated by Dowd)

INTRO to Goldsmith: http://thegreatstory.org/sustainability-audios.html#goldsmith

The Epic of Evolution — A Cosmic Timeline

Primary resource…

SLIDE NARRATION: “Sane vs. Insane Progress” – Dowd (24 min)

Additional resources…

MINI ESSAY: “Ecology is the New Theology” – Dowd and Barlow

SERMON VIDEO: “Intergenerational Justice: Could Any Vision Matter More?” – Dowd (23 min)

Thus Sayeth Reality — What is Inevitable; What is Needed

Primary resource…

OVERVIEW: Techno-Fix: Why Technology Won’t Save Us or the Environment (review, quotes)

Additional resources…

SLIDE NARRATION: “Reality’s Rules: Ten Commandments to Avoid Extinction and Redeem Humanity” – Dowd (17 min)

TEXT: Jem Bendell’s 2018 paper: “Deep Adaptation: A Map for Navigating Climate Tragedy”

AUDIO: https://soundcloud.com/michael-dowd-grace-limits/sets/jem-bendell-deep-adaptation

SERMON VIDEO: “Confessions of a Recovering Progressive” – Dowd (28 min)

Part Two — Practical Wisdom

Thus Sayeth Reality — What is Futile; What is Urgent

Primary resource…

SERMON VIDEO: “EcoTheism: Ecology as the Heart of Theology” – Dowd (31 min)

Additional resources…

SCHUMACHER LECTURE (text): “The Ecozoic Era” – Thomas Berry

AUDIO of above Thomas Berry lecture, “The Ecozoic Era” (narrated by Dowd; 42 min)

Why We Struggle — Un-Trivializing Mythic Wisdom

Primary resources (web portals link to text, audio, video) …

Quadrune (4-Part) Brain resources: http://thegreatstory.org/evolutionize.html

Our physical instincts: http://thegreatstory.org/evolved-brain.html

Our social instincts: http://thegreatstory.org/evolved-brain-mammal.html

Our interpretative instincts: http://thegreatstory.org/evolved-brain-monkey.html

Our spiritual instincts: http://thegreatstory.org/evolved-brain-porpoise.html

Additional resources…

VIDEOS: Nate Hagens — Reality 101: What Every Student (Citizen) Should Know

CHAPTERS 8-12 in Rev. Dowd’s book, Thank God for Evolution, pp. 139-239 (especially Section III: “The Gospel According to Evolution”)

Impermanence and Death as Sacred — Embracing Limits

Primary resources…

SERMON VIDEO: “Not the Future We Ordered: Honoring Our Grief” – Dowd (30 min)

WEB PORTAL (text, audio, video): “Death as Natural, Generative, and No Less Sacred than Life”: http://thegreatstory.org/death-programs.html

BLOG POSTS: (1) “Death: Sacred, Necessary, Real”: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-michael-dowd/death-is-sacred-necessary-real_b_1541102.html

(2) “A Scientific Honoring of Death”: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-michael-dowd/a-scientific-honoring-of-death_b_1556839.html

BBC NEWS SPECIAL REPORT (2019): “Are We on the Road to Civilization Collapse?” and “The Lifespan of Ancient Civilizations”

Additional resources…

BOOK (75 pages): William Ophuls: Immoderate Greatness: Why Civilizations Fail

ESSAY: “The Fate of Empires and Search for Survival” – Sir John Glubb

Staying Sane, Sober, and Inspired in Contracting Times

Primary resources…

SERMON: “Not the Future We Ordered: Staying Sane in Crazy Times” – Dowd (37 min)

SOUL NOURISHMENT: Dahr Jamail and Barbara Cecil’s 2019 series: “How then Shall We Live? Finding Our Way and Peace of Heart Amidst Global Collapse”: Essays / Audios

Additional resources…

ESSAY: The Prodigal Species – Bruce Sanguin

INSPIRATION (text): Positive Visions, Practical Tools, and Inspiring Examples of Eco-Wise Thinking and Living

ON HOPE, DESPAIR, GRIEF, and ACTION

AUDIO PLAYLIST: https://soundcloud.com/michael-dowd-grace-limits/sets/rip-homo-colossus

Dahr Jamail and Barbara Cecil’s series: “How then Shall We Live? Finding Our Way and Peace of Heart Amidst Global Collapse”: Essays / Audios

Emily Johnston: “How to Keep Going”: https://medium.com/@enjohnston/how-to-keep-going-c634a8322f28

Derrick Jensen: “Beyond Hope”: https://orionmagazine.org/article/beyond-hope/

Jem Bendell: “Hope and Vision in the Face of Collapse: The 4^th R of Deep Adaptation” https://jembendell.wordpress.com/2019/01/09/hope-and-vision-in-the-face-of-collapse-the-4th-r-of-deep-adaptation/

Catherine Ingram: “Facing Extinction”: http://www.catherineingram.com/facingextinction/

AUDIO: https://soundcloud.com/michael-dowd-grace-limits/catherine-ingram-facing-extinction

Dahr Jamail: “In Facing Mass Extinction, We Don’t Need Hope, We Need Courage”: https://truthout.org/articles/in-facing-mass-extinction-we-dont-need-hope-we-need-to-grieve/