Rabbi Rami Shapiro
Co-Sponsored by Temple B’nai Israel of Anderson
Friday, May 17, 2024
6:45 pm (Eastern Time)
Rabbi Rami will be delivering the sermon at the synagogue service at Temple B’nai Israel of Anderson, 1302 N. Oakland Ave., Anderson, SC
Sunday, May 19, 2024
2:00 pm (Eastern Time)
Two lectures will be presented with a brief break for refreshments in between:
“The Nature of God Revealed in Exodus 3:14 and John 14:6” – In this talk Rabbi Rami will explore the meaning of God as Ehyeh/I AM: the One Reality manifesting all life.
“Perennial Wisdom: the Universal Truth at the Mystic Heart of World Religions” – Theologians disagree; mystics don’t. In this talk Rabbi Rami will share the common message of the great mystic: the unity of all life in the Greater Oneness of God and the ethical imperative that flows from it.
This will be a hybrid event:
He will be in person at Temple B’nai Israel
1302 N. Oakland Ave., Anderson, SC
and there will be a Zoom component.
Register for the Zoom link here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nvqMo0zlTEmQOdFi7E2QYA
Rabbi Rami Shapiro is an award–winning author of over thirty-six books on religion and spirituality. He received rabbinical ordination from the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion and holds a PH.D. in religion from Union Graduate School. Rami co-directs the One River Foundation (www.oneriverfoundation.org), and is a Contributing Editor at Spirituality and Health magazine where he writes the Roadside Assistance for the Spiritual Traveler column and hosts the magazine’s podcast, Spirituality & Health with Rabbi Rami (www.spiritualityhealth.com).
Rev. Hillary Taylor
Sunday, August 25, 2024
3:00 pm (Eastern Time)
“Responding Faithfully Against the Death Penalty in South Carolina”
This will be a hybrid event:
She will be in person in Anderson, SC (location TBD)
and there will be a Zoom component.
Register for the Zoom link here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kGbz3tEtSi6kzeTtYXn1Dg
Rev. Hillary Taylor is the Executive Director of South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, and she brings a passion for administrative order to the organization. She is an ordained United Methodist Minister through the Mountain Sky United Methodist Annual Conference who loves all things related to psychology, liberation theology, and restorative justice. Before working for SCADP, she worked as a young adult missionary with the United Methodist Church as a Field Education Coordinator for Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary in South Africa, then as a financial coach in Miami, Florida. She also served as the pastor of the Bethany-Zoar United Methodist Charge in Saluda, South Carolina. A graduate of both Furman University and Candler School of Theology (Emory University), Hillary has been working against the death penalty since organizing with the #KellyOnMyMind Campaign in 2015 for Kelly Gissendaner in Georgia. When she returned to South Carolina, she became a pen-pal to someone on South Carolina’s Death Row, and has been working ever since to abolish the state’s death penalty.”
Dr. John Fea
Sunday, September 22, 2024
3:00 pm
“Did Our Founding Fathers Intend America to be a Christian Nation”
This will be a hybrid event. Venue and Zoom link to be announced
John is Professor of American History and Chair of the History Department at Messiah.
He is the author or editor of six books and his essays and reviews have appeared in a variety of scholarly and popular venues.
John lives in Mechanicsburg with his wife Joy, daughters Allyson and Caroline, and dog Jersey.
Dr. Heather Macumber
Sunday, October 27, 2024
3:00 pm (Eastern Time)
Zoom Event (with possible watch group locally)
Register for the Zoom link here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VqY2tj8mQdmufjBvH9fecw
Heather Macumber is Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at Providence University College in Otterburne, Manitoba (Canada). She received an MDiv from Tyndale University (Toronto, Canada) and graduated with a PhD in Old Testament from St. Michael’s College (Toronto, Canada).
Her work focuses on the intersection of the divine and earthly realms found predominantly in Jewish prophetic and apocalyptic texts. Recent publications employ monster theory as a critical lens to examine the monstrous in Daniel, Revelation, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. In 2021, her book Recovering the Monstrous in Revelation was published with Lexington Books/Fortress Academic as part of the Horror and Scripture Series. She has also published articles in academic journals including the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures, Biblical Interpretation, and the Journal for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies.
Heather Macumber has appeared as a guest on the popular podcast the Bible for Normal People (episode 149) highlighting her work on monsters in Revelation. Additionally, she is also a contributor to the Visual Commentary on Scripture organized by King’s College, London (England). This is an open access site that features online exhibitions of artwork and biblical commentary by experts. Her exhibition “Leah’s Struggles (Genesis 29:21-35)” is available here.
She lives in southern Manitoba (Canada) with her family. You can follow her on Twitter: @heathermacphd.
Rev. Jim Dant
Sunday, December 1, 2024
4:00 pm (Eastern Time) [not 3:00 as usual]
“Understanding the Development of the Christmas Nativity Stories
Through the Lens of Jewish Midrash
(What You Were NOT Taught in Sunday School)”
Jim Dant was born Jewish, christened Roman Catholic, baptized Baptist and received his doctorate from a Presbyterian Seminary. (He’s ecumenical.) He survived a tumultuous childhood — riddled with divorces, adoption and more divorces — He’s had two mothers, seven fathers and a host of step, half and adopted siblings. (He’s empathetic.)
He is the proud father of three daughters, two granddaughters, and one grandson. (He’s broke.)
Jim is a graduate of Georgia State University, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Columbia Theological Seminary. He has also enjoyed post-graduate studies at Princeton Theological Seminary, Hebrew College, Macon State College, and the
University of the West Indies. He has received certifications in spiritual direction, group spiritual direction, Ignatian retreat direction from Mercy Center in Burlingame, California, and is an RYT500 Yoga Instructor. (He’s fairly educated.)
Jim currently serves as co-pastor of Nineteenth Avenue Baptist Church in San Francisco, California and is the recently retired Senior Minister of First Baptist Church, Greenville, South Carolina. Over his career, Jim has also pastored in the state of Georgia, taught at Mercer University, Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology, Brewton Parker College, and led conferences throughout the USA, as well as, in Israel, Greece, Turkey, and Egypt. (He’s experienced.)
He has written nine books, several series of curriculum, numerous articles and essays…and a poem for Highlights magazine when he was nine years old. (He’s published.)
Finally, Jim has been known to ride motorcycles on the weekends, is an avid concert attendee, an ironman triathlete, a student of the classical guitar, bass guitarist for one of San Francisco’s newest and best cover bands, and a semi-professional Texas Hold’em
Poker player. (He’s fun.)
Ani Zonneveld
Sunday, January 12, 2025
3:00 pm
Zoom Event
“Progressive Islam — universal values vs. the politics of human rights”
Founder and President of Muslims for Progressive Values, an international human rights organization that advocates for social justice and equality for all, Ani Zonneveld is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations; on the U.N. Inter-agency Faith Advisory Council, and recently commissioned by the U.N. Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect to create an anti-hate speech workshop for Muslim communities. In 2023 she was selected as an “inspirational woman” in the LA Times. Recently, Ani co-authored and co-designed an “Inclusive Islam Curriculum Rooted in Human Rights” for children ages 4-7 and co-authored a chapter titled “Transnational Progressive Islam: Theory, Networks, and Lived Experience” for a book titled “Handbook of Contemporary Islam and Muslim Lives”. She is the subject of a documentary title “al-imam” featuring Ani’s activism works, and screened at the Cannes Film Festival.