Recommended Reading and Resource List from Diarmuid O'Murchu

The following is from Diarmuid O'Murchu's website:

http://www.diarmuid13.com/workshops

TOPIC 1: THE NEW COSMOLOGY:

Its scientific, cultural and spiritual significance today.

Key Texts:

1. Brian Swimme & Thomas Berry (1992), THE UNIVERSE STORY.

2. Judy Cannato (2006), RADICAL AMAZEMENT. 

3. Richard Scaine (2013), DISCUSSIONS IN THE NEW COSMOLOGY

4. Brain Swimme & Mary Evelyn Tucker (2011), JOURNEY OF THE UNIVERSE.

5. Excellent web page:

http://www.evolutionarychristianity.org

TOPIC 2: EVOLUTIONARY FAITH: 

How the story of evolution, - in terms of cosmos, earth, and humanity - unravels the benign mystery within which everything is held in being.

Key Texts:

1. Ilia Delio (2013), THE UNBEARABLE WHOLENESS OF BEING.

2. John F. Haught (2010), MAKING SENSE OF EVOLUTION.

3. Diarmuid O'Murchu (2008), ANCESTRAL GRACE.

4. Phipps, Carter (2012), EVOLUTIONARIES.

5. WHAT IS ENLIGHTENMENT? (Journal) (Jan-Mar, 2007).
Web page:www.evolutionarychristianity.org

TOPIC 3: ENCOUNTERING GOD IN OUR HUMAN STORY:

The sacred at work through our 7,000,000 year evolution, and its significant implications for spirituality and theology.

Key Texts:

1. Diarmuid O'Murchu (2008), ANCESTRAL GRACE
2. Ann Gibbons (2006), THE FIRST HUMANS
3. Steve Taylor (2005), THE FALL
4. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN (Special Edition), Vol.16 (No.2), 2006
5. Web page: www.becominghuman.org

TOPIC 4: MYSTICISM FROM A COSMIC PERSPECTIVE:

Exploring the awakening sense of mystery in the contemporary world.

Key texts:

1. John Horgan (2003), RATIONAL MYSTICISM.

2. Amy Corzine (2008), THE SECRET LIFE OF THE UNIVERSE

3. Kathleen Fischer (2009), LOVING CREATION: CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY, EARTH-CENTRED AND JUST. 

4. Brian Swimme & Mary Evelyn Tucker (2011), JOURNEY OF THE UNIVERSE
5. Web page: http://www.wccm.org

TOPIC 5: THE CHANGING NATURE OF CONTEMPORARY SPIRITUALITY:

And the implications for how we understand religion today.

Key Texts:

1. Ursula King (2009), THE SEARCH FOR SPIRITUALITY
2. Gordon Lynch (2007), THE NEW SPIRITUALITY: An Introduction to Belief beyond Religion.
3, Miriam Therese Winter (2009), PARADOXOLOGY: Spirituality in a Quantum Universe

4. Matthew Fox (2000), SINS OF THE SPIRIT, BLESSINGS OF THE FLESH.

5. Kathleen Fischer (2009), LOVING CREATION: Christian Spirituality, Earth-Centred and Just. 

6. Web page:http://www.integrativespirituality.org

TOPIC 6: The KINGDOM OF GOD:

The heart and soul of our Christian Faith

Key Texts:

1. John Dominic Crossan (2007), GOD AND EMPIRE.

2. Stephen J. Patterson (2014), THE LOST WAY: How Two Forgotten Gospels are Rewriting 
                                                                                           the Story of Christian Origins.

3. John Selby Spong (2016) BIBLICAL LITERALISM: A Gentile Heresy.

4. Diarmuid O'Murchu (2012), CHRISTIANITY'S DANGEROUS MEMORY
                                           (2014), ON BEING A POSTCOLONIAL CHRISTIAN

TOPIC 7: UNDERSTANDING JESUS IN THE LIGHT OF MODERN CHRISTIAN SCHOLARSHIP

The challange of Christology today - theoretically and pastorally. (sometimes combined with topic 5 or 6 above).

Key Texts:

1. Boulton, David (2008), WHO ON EARTH WAS JESUS?: The Modern Quest for the Jesus of History.

2. Bourgeault, Cynthia (2008), THE WISDOM JESUS

3. Jose A. Pagola, (2009), JESUS: An HISTORICAL APPROXIMATION. 
4. F. Segovia & R. Sugirtharajah (2009), A POSTCOLONIAL COMMENTARY ON N.T. WRITING.

5. Wink, Walter (2002), THE HUMAN BEING: JESUS AND THE ENIGMA OF THE SON OF MAN.
6. Diarmuid O'Murchu (2012), CHRISTIANITY'S DANGEROUS MEMORY

TOPIC 8: JESUS IN THE POWER OF POETRY

An experiential workshop, exploring how poetry and other arts can illuminate Gospel wisdom. Some advanced reading is advised.

Key Texts:

1. Borg, Marcus (2008), JESUS.

2. Boulton, David (2008), WHO ON EARTH WAS JESUS?

3.  Bourgeault, Cynthia (2008), THE WISDOM JESUS.

4. Diarmuid O'Murchu (2009), JESUS IN THE POWER OF POETRY.

TOPIC 9: JUSTICE-MAKING:

Including an overview of globalisation: an exploration of the challenge to work for justice today, the spirituality underpinning it, and a review of practical strategies.

Key Texts:

1. Walter T. Anderson, (2004), ALL CONNECTED NOW: LIFE IN THE FIRST GLOBAL CIVILISATION
2. Rosemary Radford Ruether (2005), INTEGRATING ECOFEMINISM, GLOBALIZATION AND WORLD RELIGIONS.
3. John Cavanagh (Ed.)(2002), ALTERNATIVES TO ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION.
4. Margaret Swedish (2008), LIVING BEYOND THE "END OF THE WORLD".

Web Pages:

5. International Forum on Globalization: http://www.ifg.org

                                                                                    6. Excellent Resource on Ethical Investment: http://www.eiris.org

TOPIC 10: QUANTUM THEOLOGY:

"The whole is greater than the sum of the parts" is a central principle of Quantum Physics with major implications for every field of learning including theology.

Key Texts:

1. Judy Cannato (2006), RADICAL AMAZEMENT

2. Mark Hathaway & Leonardo Boff (2009), THE TAO OF LIBERATION

3. Adrian B. Smith (2008), GOD, ENERGY and the FIELD

4. Miriam Therese Winter (2009), PARADOXOLOGY: SPIRITUALITY IN A QUANTUM UNIVERSE.

TOPIC 11: The GREAT EARTH MOTHER GODDESS:

A fiction of our ancient past, or an enduring archetype haunting the contemporary spiritual imagination? I opt for the latter interpretation and explore its context and meaning for our time.

Key Texts:

1. Carol Christ (1997), THE REBIRTH OF THE GODDESS.
2. Rosemary Radford Ruether (2005), GODDESSES AND THE DIVINE FEMININE

3. Paul Reid-Bowen (2007), GODDESS AS NATURE

4. Tim Ward (2006), SAVAGE BREAST: One Man's Search for the Goddess (www.savagebreastbook.com)
5. FEMINIST THEOLOGY, (Journal) Entire Volume (Vol 13.2, Jan.,2005)

TOPIC 12: NEW UNDERSTANDINGS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT:

Based on my book, In the Beginning was the Spirit

Key Texts:

1. Mark Wallace (2005), FINDING FOD IN THE SINGING RIVER

2. Kirsteen Kim (2007), THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE WORLD
3. Denis Edwards (2004), BREATH OF LIFE
4. Wolfgang Vondey (2010), CELEBRATING THEOLOGY: Christian Doctrine from a Spirit-driven Perspective.  

5. Diarmuid O'Murchu (2011), IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE SPIRIT.
6. Leonardo Boff (2015), COME HOLY SPIRIT.
7. John C. Haughey (2015) A BIOGRAPHY OF THE SPIRIT

TOPIC 13: PARADIGM SHIFTS / READING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES:

Exploring the nature and impact of contemporary change in terms of both systems and persons.

Key Texts:

1. Margaret J. Wheatley (1994), LEADERSHIP AND THE NEW SCIENCE.
2. Walter T. Anderson (2004), ALL CONNECTED NOW: LIFE IN THE FIRST GLOBAL CIVILISATION
3. Margaret Swedish (2008), LIVING BEYOND THE "END OF THE WORLD"

4. Gerard Loughlin (2007), QUEER THEOLOGY: RETHINKING THE WESTERN BODY

5. Diarmuid O'Murchu (2013), GOD IN THE MIDST OF CHANGE.

6. Web-page: http://www.paradigmshifts.iwarp.com

TOPIC 14: CONSCIOUSNESS & THE POWER OF INTENTION:

The psychic energy that underpins everything in creation. As conscious beings, humans appropriate consciousness from the conscious universe

Key Texts:

1. Wayne W. Dyer (2004), THE POWER OF INTENTION
2. Jan Phillips (2006), THE ART OF ORIGINAL THINKING
3. Mark Epstein (2005) OPEN TO DESIRE.

4. Pim van Lommel (2010), CONSCIOUSNESS BEYOND LIFE.
5.Web-page: http://www.theintentionexperiment.com

TOPIC 15: BEING ADULT IN OUR FAITH:

Passing on the faith is widely seen as a pedagogy with the focus on children and youth, but one of the most urgent needs of the present time is a faith pedagogy for Adults honouring the principles of Adult Education.

Key Texts:

1. James Fowler (1982), STAGES OF FAITH
2. Nicola Slee (2004), WOMEN'S FAITH DEVELOPMENT
3. F. Segovia & R. Sugirtharajah (2009), A POSTCOLONIAL COMMENTARY on the NEW TESTAMENT WRITINGS.

4. John Shelby Spong (2016), BIBLICAL CRITICISN: A Gentile Heresy.

5. Diarmuid O'Murchu (2014) ON BEING A POSTCOLONIAL CHRISTIAN

                                         (2015), INCLUSIVITY: A Gospel Mandate

TOPIC 16: THE TRANSFORMATION OF DESIRE:

Desire is a word with several ambiguous meanings, an aspect of human existence which we need to reclaim and rehabilitate as we grow more deeply into a fresh sense of our planetary and cosmic identity. 

Key Texts:

1. Wayne Dyer (2004), THE POWER OF INTENTION.
2. Mark Epstein (2005), OPEN TO DESIRE
3. Wendy Farley (2005), THE WOUNDING AND HEALING OF DESIRE.
4. Veronica Goodchild (2001), EROS AND CHAOS.

TOPIC 20: THE RELIGIOUS-MONASTIC LIFE (The vowed life) Modules:

MODULE 1: Historical Insights to the Current crisis in Religious Life.

MODULE 2: Major Issues Facing Apostolic Religious Today

MODULE 3: Liminality and the Prophetic Horizons of the Vowed Life.

MODULE 4: Understanding the Vows in the contemporary World.

MODULE 5: Coping With decline and the death of an old model.

MODULE 6: Paradigm Shifts and the Future of Religious LIfe.

Key Texts:

1. Sandra Schneiders, FINDING THE TREASURE (2000); SELLING ALL (2001); BUYING THE FIELD (2013). 
2. Fiand, Barbara (2001), REFOCUSING THE VISION.
3. Joan Chittister (2005), THE WAY WE WERE.
4. Michael H. Crosby (2005), CAN RELIGIOUS LIFE BE PROPHETIC?.

5. Sarah McFarland Taylor (2007), GREEN SISTERS: A SPIRITUAL ECOLOGY

6. Brenda Peddigrew (2008), ORIGINAL FIRE:The Hidden Heart of Religious Women (order via www. amazon.com; www.amazon.ca) 

7. Elizabeth Rapley (2011), THE LORD IS THEIR PORTION: The Story of Religious Orders and how They Shaped our World.

8. Diarmuid O'Murchu MSC - see the section Books & Tapes.