Pending SPAFER Events

Fall Lecture Series -7 - Exploring the Wonder of the Creation

Description of SPAFER Activities

SPAFER has a number of events each year. First, there are monthly RoadHouse meetings that in the past have been held monthly (on Saturday) at Ken Forbes' house on Highland Avenue in Birmingham. The location and time for these will be announced on this site.

SPAFER also periodically holds retreats where invited speakers and guests can enjoy lectures, discussions, and getting to know one another in a scenic Mid-South setting.

SPAFER also sponsors invited speakers to the region to deliver lectures on religious issues of interest to the community.

Links are provided below to information and images on past retreats and invited speaker events.

Past SPAFER Mid-South Lecture Series

First Lecture - Faith in the Real World - Stephen Patterson, Ph.D. - Birmingham, June 2, 2001

Second Lecture - The Search for Authentic Spirituality: Opening Hearts and Minds - Hal Taussig, Ph.D. - Birmingham, Dec. 7-8, 2001

Third Lecture - The Courage to Move into the Future and Rethinking Human Sexuality - John Shelby Spong - Birmingham, March 6-7, 2002

Fouth Lecture - The Heart of Christianity: Seeing the Christian Life Again - Marcus Borg - Birmingham, November 7-8, 2003

Fifth Lecture - Using the Bible as a Doorway to God, Not as a Weapon to Undergird Prejudice - John Shelby Spong - Birmingham, March 10-11, 2004

Sixth Lecture - Let Justice Flow Like a Mighty River: Awakening America to God's Demand for Justice - John Cobb and Gary Dorrien, Birmingham, July 8-10, 2004

Seventh Lecture - Paul Then and Now - John Dominic Crossan - Birmingham, May 6-7, 2005

Eighth Lecture - Truth & Fiction in the Da Vinci Code: Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Early Christianity - Bart Ehrman - Birmingham, Oct. 28-29, 2005

Ninth Lecture - Jesus and Judaism: Why the Connection Matters - Amy Jill Levine, Birmingham, May 5-6, 2006

Tenth Lecture - Progressive Christianity: A Direction for the Future? - Delwin Brown, Birmingham, November 3-4, 2006.

Eleventh Lecture - The Lost Gospels of Christianity: Q - The Gospel of Jesus' Own Disciples, The Four Nag Hammadi Gospels - James M. Robinson, Birmingham, March 9-10, 2007.

Twelth Lecture - Exploring the Wonder of the Creation - Ursula Goodenough, and The Cosmic Walk, Eleanor DelBene - Birmingham, October 26-27, 2007.

SPAFER Two-day Retreats

Second Two-day Retreat - Seeing God Through the Eyes of Another Person: World Religions: Same Questions, Different Answers, or Different Questions, Different Answers? and Religious Diversity in the U.S.: What Difference Does it Make? - Lead by Dr. David Bains - Cheaha State Park Alabama, August 16-17, 2002.