The Sophia Lyon Fahs Lecture

1.  MISSION

The purpose of the Fahs Lecture is annually, at the General Assembly of the Uniatrain Universalist Association, to present a speaker on the topic of religious education to this wide and diverse gathering of lay and professional Unitarian Universalists.  Each year, the Fahs Lecture Committee seeks to invite an individual whose life and work has shown a commitment and understanding of the meaning, the depth, and the challenges of religious education.  The speaker's role is to address some aspect of the sacred work of "leading out" learners of all ages , "educare", to help us have deeper understandings, higher visions, and renewed inspirations for this ministry.

The Fahs Lecture is named in honor of Sophia Lyon Fahs, the religious educator who in the middle of this century shaped the course of Unitarian Universalist religious education.  Her insights - including the notion that children develop religious understanding from their interaction with the world - revolutionized how we teach.

2.  HISTORY

This annual lecture held at the UUA General Assembly each year, was begun by members of the Board of the Liberal Religious Educators Association in the early 1907s, following a tradition of notable lectures.   Dr. Eugene Navias reports that previous to the Fahs Lecture, "the Religious Education Department once had major speakers at General Assemblies and their Unitarian predecessor, May Meetings, and that LREDA regularly had speakers at its annual dinner at GA.  One of the most notable speakers at one of these events in the years before the Fahs Lecture started was Cody Wilson, Executive Director of the President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography.  His lecture at the LREDA Dinner in 1971 drew much positive attention and was later published by the UUA R.E. Department and distributed through the UUA Bookstore.
     "The big move with the Fahs Lecture was...to have a lecture on a topic that had some import to liberal religious education at a prime time at the GA - to rank along with the Ware Lecture.  ...a $1,000 grant [was] received from the Unitarian Sunday School Society to fund the first lecture."

HISTORY OF THE SOPHIA FAHS LECTURE AT THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST ASSOCIATION

YEAR	SPEAKER	TOPIC	PLACE
1974	Mary Daly,  author	"God, the Father"	New York, NY
1975	Gail Thain Parker  President, Bennington College		Minneapolis, MN
1976	Barbara Brown leading expert on biofeedback research	"Changing Concepts of Mind and Spirit: Coping with the Mind Revolution"	Claremont, CA
1977	Zella Luvia   Professor of  Psychology, Tufts	"The Changing Worlds of Men and Women: New Opportunity or Loss?"
1978	Denise Levertov writer, Professor of English, Tufts	"Acres of Clams and What They Are Saying"
1979	Jean Houston Director of the Foundation for Mind  Research; President of Association of Humanistic Psychology	"Theology and the Metamorphosis of Mind"	East Lansing, MI
1980	FAHS Night - instead of a lecture	an opportunity to create an autonomous     association of people interested in     life-long religious education	Albuquerque, NM
1981	Suzanne Benton  accomplished sculptor, mask maker, actress & storyteller	"Women Myths and Masks"  new perceptions and understandings of women and myths of the Old Testament	Philadelphia, PA
1982	Maria Harris Andover Newton  Education  Theological School	"Sisterhood, Silence and Religious- Silence-Awareness-Mourning-Mutuality as ways of learning and understanding"	Brunswick, ME
1983	Claire Fisher  Aurilia Reinhardt  Professor, Starr King School for Religious Leaders	"Another Way: Morality and Gender"	Vancouver, BC
1984	Joanmarie Smith  Professor, Methodist Theological School	"Ecumenical Spirituality"	Columbus, OH
1985	William R. Jones	"Moral Decision Making: Implications   for Unitarian Universalist  Religious Education"	Atlanta, GA
1986	Carter Heyward Episcopal priest and Professor of Theology, Episcopal Divinity School	"Reflections on a Feminist Spirituality for Justice"	Rochester, NY
1987	Henry Hampton  executive producer,  "Eyes on the Prize"	"Little Rock through a Big Window:  Reflections on Media and Movement"	Little Rock, AK
1988	Mary Elizabeth Moore	"Telling Stories and Crossing Boundaries"	Palm Springs, CA
1989	Robert Keegan	"Growing Young Hearts and Minds Toward Justice"	New Haven, CT
1990	John DeFrain Professor of Family Science, University of Nebraska Lincoln	"The Quality of Strong Families: A Primer for Unitarian Universalists"	Milwaukee, WI
1991	William Jones UU minister, Director  of Black Studies, Florida State University	"Primer on Oppression:  Liberals' New Agenda"	Hollywood, FL
1992	Doris Dyke professor, Emmanuel College, University of Toronto	"Women:  Nurtured and Abused by Religion"	Calgary, Alberta
1993	Charles Foster Professor of Religious Education, Emory University, Atlanta	"Rainbows and Mosaics:  The Multi-Cultural Future"	Charlotte, NC
1994	Thomas Owen-Towle  UU Minister	"Putting the Child into Our Midst"	Fort Worth, TX
1995	Roberta M. Nelson  UU Minister of Religious Education	"Persistant as the Myriad Light of Stars"	Spokane, WA
1996	Marie Fortune Director, Center for  the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence	"Doing Least Harm: A New Approach  to Sexual Ethics"	Indianapolis, IN
1997	Byrd Baylor, author	"Being in Charge of Celebrations"	Phoenix, AZ
1998	Bernice Johnson Reagon  educator, musician	"In Seach of the Sacred" (cancelled)	Rochester, NY
1999	Dr. Ronald Cram, Executive Director of the Religious Education Association	“Beyond Tolerance: Racial Dialogue in an Era of Expanding Religion “	Salt Lake City, Utah
2000	Elias Farajaje-Jones, Professor of Theology at Starr King School for the Ministry	"Meditate, Liberate, Educate."	Nashville, TN
2001	Thomas Groome, Professor of Religious Studies, Boston College	“Postmodernity and Religious Education”	Cleveland, OH
2002	Beverly Wildung Harrison, Professor Emeriti, Union Theological Seminary	“Sophia Fahs: Freedom in a Colonizing Culture”	Quebec, QC
2003	Jerome Berryman	“Godly Play: Finding Our Spiritual Direction Through Creativity”	Boston, MA
2004	Dr. Elizabeth Conde-Frazier	“From Hospitality to Shalom – Pedagogical Strategies”	Long Beach, CA
2005	Elissa Bishop-Becker	“The Grief Spiral: The Transformative Power of Loss”	Ft. Worth, TX
2006	The Rev. Richard S. Gilbert	“Growing People of Prophetic Fire” (Text of Lecture)	St. Louis, MO
2007	William J. Doherty	“Home Grown Religion” (Text of Lecture)	Portland, OR

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