Reflections on Trinity Institute's 31st National Conference - God at 2000 by Michel Belt

The Trinity Institute's God at 2000: A view from the trenches by Michel Belt In a darkened auditorium, illumed by the flicker of a video signal projected on a giant screen, a small but enthusiastic contingent of lay and clergy from the Diocese of Newark, participated in the Trinity Institute's 31st National Conference. Friday and Saturday, February 11th and 12th, gathered in a darkened auditorium at Kean University, those present were joined to the 1,200 at Oregon State University (the conference site) in Corvallis, and over 300 other video downlink sites. This year's conference was provocatively named God at 2000, and was a follow-up to the conference several years ago titled Jesus at 2000. The title, and the question posed to the speakers, "How do you see God?", was a captivating topic. The seven speakers, all renowned authors and lecturers from the field of Islam, Judaism and Christianity, shared their personal insights and experiences, as they've searched for, and found God. The speakers included Marcus Borg, Diana Eck, Lawrence Kushner, Joan Chittister, Karen Armstrong, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Borg, who began the conference, spoke about his awareness of a panentheistic God - a God humanity can glimpse in all things created. A God he had come to know, neither as the God of his childhood, nor a God of his intellect, but one constantly seeking a relationship with humanity. Diana Eck, who teaches Comparative Religion at Harvard, spoke about her experiences of finding God in places as diverse as Bozeman, Montana, and Benares, India. She also spoke about the need for all people of faith to move beyond just tolerating other faith traditions. She listed three steps in understanding and accepting other faiths (which the Episcopal Church might use at it moves toward General Convention in July): first simple tolerance, then moving beyond tolerance to dialogue, and the third step, on-going encounters. Rabbi Kushner reiterated the interconnectedness-theme present in both Borg's and Eck's presentations. Using humor, he likened God to the internet: a "supreme server" with everything connected. He also began to focus the conference away from the intellect side, toward the mystical experience of God, stating, "All we know about God cannot compare with what we do not know." Joan Chittister, a Roman Catholic Benedictine nun used similar words, "We can not think God, we can only know God." For her, what we believe about God determines our view of everything else. She said, "God is beyond doctrine, denominationalism, and calls her out of herself," an interesting viewpoint among our own often parochial views. Professor Nasr, educated at MIT and Harvard in physics, shared his struggle, like Borg, to reconcile his faith and his scientific training. His approach was to tie the mysticism present in Sufi Islamic traditions, with his modern world-view, where he realized all major religions (except Christianity) have developed a "science of God," which focuses on theology, philosophy and a spiritual gnosis (a "science" of the divine). Out of this understanding is a simple faith statement - "God is One!" For him, it's a way of integrating ourselves and understanding the relatedness of all things. Karen Armstrong shared a bit of her difficult spiritual journey (from Roman Catholic nun, to atheistic, now calling herself a "freelance monotheist"). She believes we need to cultivate a new way of talking about God. She believes that even out of atheism can come a new understanding of God, reminding us that during the beginning of the Jewish, Islamic, and Christian traditions, all were called atheists, because all held views of God that differed from the majority. She admitted God is a conundrum, but all good theologies emphasize compassion. And the lecture portion ended with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. His lecture, although more of a "sermon," dealt with his very personal understanding of God: a view forged in the furnaces of South African apartheid, and his work with the Reconciliation Commission. He spoke of the hurts, but also of the compassion present in his suffering people. A compassion taught by a loving God. A God who turns the standards of every human age upside down. Coming as they did, from a variety of faith traditions, each arrived at their vision of God in slightly different ways. Yet as each spoke, more similarities than differences emerged. Each shared "bits and pieces" of their spiritual journey, and each was clear that the journey was not a "straight path." Each, though often struggling mightily, found a God who possessed a sense of humor. Each had a profound sense of God's presence in their lives (whether found in aspects of nature, or in other human beings). And each spoke eloquently of the relatedness, or interconnectedness of all things in creation. A relatedness we often forget in our rush to differentiate ourselves, and claim our way as "right."

Tapes of the Conference (three sessions) are available at the resource center

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