THE HUMANIST INSTITUTE
Class XIV

Year One

Session One: Essential Humanism August 2006

Guest presenters: Carol Wintermute, representatives from various Humanist groups

1. What brings us here? Goals and questions Wednesday evening

Students and Mentor will introduce themselves and describe their interest and involvement in Humanism

The entire curriculum outline will be reviewed and discussed; questions will be addressed

Students will consider individual projects, field work plans, and other assignments for future class gatherings

Ongoing communication between gatherings, and the creation of student portfolios, will be discussed

2. Classical Greece and the Renaissance Thursday morning

Gerald Larue, Freethought Across the Centuries (sections

Charles G. Nauert, Humanism and the Culture of Renaissance Europe

*Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone, Out of the Flames

3. The Enlightenment: Europe and Britain Thursday afternoon

Peter Gay, The Enlightenment

4. Deism and Transcendentalism: US colonial to civil war Thursday evening

Susan Jacoby, Freethinkers

James Turner, Without God, Without Creed

{Louis Menand, The Metaphysical Club (sections)}

{Robert Ingersoll, On the Gods and Other Essays (sections)}

5. Civil war to Manifesto I to now Friday morning

Mason Olds, Religious Humanism in America

John Devey, A Common Faith

Humanist Manifesto, I, II, and III

*A.C. Gaylor, Women Without Superstition

*Julian Huxley, Evolutionary Humanism

*William Schulz, Making the Manifesto

*Edmund Wilson, Genesis of a Manifesto

6. Various Humanist Organizations I (with guest presenters) Friday afternoon

HUUmanist David Schafer

International Humanist and Ethical Union Warren Wolf

Society for Humanistic Judaism Rabbi Peter Schweitzer

Howard Radest, Toward Common Ground

David Robinson, The Unitarians and the Universalists

Sherwin Wine, Judaism Beyond God

Paul Kurtz, Living Without Religion: Eupraxophy

Students will select one of the above volumes to read, and prepare to summarize/discuss it with the class

Friday Evening OFF

7. Definitions of Humanism I Saturday morning

Edward Ericson, The Humanist Way: an Introduction to Ethical Humanist Religion

Corliss Lamont, The Philosophy of Humanism

Howard Radest, The Devil and Secular Humanism

Lewis Vaughn and Austin Dacey, The Case for Humanism

Lloyd and Mary Morain, Humanism as the Next Step

Nicholas Walter, Humanism

Students will receive one of the above volumes to read, and prepare a written summary/recommendation for the class. Students will offer a presentation of not more than 10 minutes to describe the book to the class.

8. Various Humanist Organizations II (with guest presenters) Saturday afternoon

American Humanist Association Roy Spekhart

Ethical Culture and Humanist Friends Tony Hileman

American Ethical Union Howard Radest

9. Contemporary Problems I Saturday evening

Students will prepare a 5-7 minute presentation (2-3 pages) on a specific issue confronting Humanism in the present day that is of particular concern to them, and discuss this issue with the class for 30 minutes.

10. Contemporary Problems II, and session closure August 20 morning

Continue presentations

Questions and issues remaining from previous days will be addressed, and clarify assignments for field work, follow up, and preparation for the December session

*These volumes will not be supplied, but are recommended for further reading.

Session One Follow-up assignment:

Students will participate in the round-robin creation of a time line of Humanist history via e-mail. As each successive student receives the document from the previous participant, he or she will add to it a date that is of significance to the historical development of the humanist movement, with a sentence of identifying information, and then send the document along to the next student within 48 hours. We should have time for 3-4 full rounds before the next class gathering, which should make for an interesting final product that will be useful to all of us. If you find yourself unable to identify a date to add, consult any member of the HI board or faculty for a suggestion.

Session One Field work assignment:

Students will find a local advisor and enter into an agreement with that person for the duration of the Institute class. A signed advisor form must be submitted to the instructor by the time of the December session.

Students will arrange to make a short presentation about some aspect of Humanist history within their local context. Their advisor will observe this presentation, and offer feedback. The student will write a one page summary of the feedback and their own reflections on the presentation, which should be shared with the advisor, and submitted to the instructor as soon as completed.

Year One

Session Two: Being Human December 1-3 2006

Guest presenter: Leslie Westbrook

1. Perspectives on the roots of religion in human behavior Friday evening

Peter Berger, The Sacred Canopy

Thomas Lewis, A General Theory of Love

Shankar Vedantam, “Tracing the Synapses of our Spirituality” Washington Post, June 17, 2001

*Abraham Maslow, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature

*Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Evolving Self: A Psychology for the Third Millennium

Students will reflect upon, and be prepared to discuss, some of the ways in which they see the processes of meaning formation and mutual limbic regulation at work in their own lives.

2. Moral development theory Saturday morning

Robert Kegan, The Evolving Self: Problem and Process in Human Development

Carol Tavris, The Mismeasure of Women

Joseph Reimer, Diana Paolitto, Richard Hersh, Promoting Moral Growth: From Piaget to Kohlberg

Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice

Students will prepare a 3-4 page paper presenting a case study of observed moral evolution in another individual

3. Ethical theories and problems Saturday afternoon

Kai Nielsen, Ethics Without God

Thomas Blass, Obedience to Authority: Current Perspective on the Milgram Paradigm

Philip Zimbardo, The Stanford Prison Experiment (Website)

*David Cooper, Ethics: The Classic Readings

*Michael Shermer and Dennis McFarland, The Science of Good and Evil

*Arthur Dobrin, Ethics for Everyone: How To Increase Your Moral Intelligence

Students will prepare a 2-3 page paper discussing strategies for moral education that might produce predictable behavior in the Milgram or Zimbardo dilemmas.

4. Family values, human sexuality, and gender identity Saturday evening

“TransAmerica,” or "Ma Vie en Rose" or "You Don’t Know Dick"(films)

Kwame Anthony Appia, The Ethics of Identity

Jared Diamond, Why Is Sex Fun?

*Edward Stein, The Mismeasure of Desire: the Science, Theory and Ethics of Sexual Orientation

*Mary Ann Mason, All Our Families

*check out the online resources at http://www.uua.org/obgltc/index.html

*Ursula Le Guin, The Birthday of the World

Class will include either a film or live personal presentation on transgender issues

5. Theories of counseling Sunday morning

Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence : 10^th Anniversary Edition

Michael Nichols, The Lost Art of Listening: How Learning to Listen Can Improve Relationships

The IHEU Code of Ethics for Counselors

*Augustus Napier, with Carl Whitaker, The Family Crucible: The Intense Experience of Family therapy

*Isabel Briggs Myers, Introduction to Type: A Guide to Understanding Your Results on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Class will include role plays to explore listening skills and ethical dilemmas of caring leadership

Session Two Follow-up assignment:

Students will contribute to an on-line discussion of ways in which Humanist institutions and Humanist philosophy can support people of all ages as they engage their developmental and moral challenges

Session Two Field work assignment:

The student will have a conversation with his/her advisor in which they reflect together upon the student’s development as a Humanist, using some of the structures, categories, and understandings gained from this session. The student will write a 2-3 page reflection on this conversation, share it with the advisor, and submit it to the instructor before the April session.

Year One

Session Three: Humanist Ideas in World Religions April 20-22, 2007

Overview:

Huston Smith, Why Religion Matters: The Fate of the Human Spirit in an Age of Disbelief

*Jean Kotkin, Howard Radest, Orna Hankins, ed., Humanism’s Answers: Speaking to the Challenge of Orthodoxy, Vol. 9 of Humanism Today

*Ninian Smart and Richard D. Hecht, eds., Sacred Texts of the World: a Universal Anthology

*Huston Smith, The World’s Religions or The Illustrated World’s Religions

Two students will select each one of the five non-Christian traditions listed below, read the additional recommended texts, and together prepare a 15-20 minute presentation on the attractions and difficulties of that tradition to begin the discussion with the rest of the class.

1. Early Religions – Myth, cosmos, and connection; what is it to be human? Friday evening

Joseph Campbell, Hero With a Thousand Faces

*Joyce Higginbotham, Paganism

*Dennis Tedlock, Barbara Tedlock (Editors) Teachings from the American Earth: Indian Religion and Philosophy

*Gerald LaRue, Ancient Myth and Modern Life

2. Hinduism – Epistemology; what is reality? How do we know? Saturday morning

Diana L. Eck, Darsan

*Heinrich Robert Zimmer, Joseph Campbell (Editor), Philosophies of India

* Thomas J. Hopkins, The Hindu Religious Tradition

3. Buddhism – Ethics and non-violence; what is the right path? Saturday afternoon

Daniel Berrigan, Thich Nhat Hanh, Love in Action : Writings on Nonviolent Social Change

*Richard H. Robinson, Willard L. Johnson, The Buddhist Religion

*Edward Conze, Buddhism: Its Essence and Development

4. Judaism – Practice and covenant; what is community? Saturday evening

Daniel J. Elazar, “The Idea of Covenant” The Covenant Tradition in Politics, Volume I, Introduction

Chaim Potok, Wanderings

*Joseph Telushkin, Jewish Literacy: Most Important Things to Know About Jewish Religion, Its People & Its History

*Hayim Halevy Donin, To Be a Jew: A Guide to Jewish Observance in Contemporary Life

5. Islam – Al-Andalus; what does tolerance mean? Sunday morning

Maria Menocal, The Ornament of the World

*Fazlur Rahman, Islam

*Reza Aslan, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam

6. Christianity – the demographic challenge Sunday afternoon

Philip Jenkins , “The Next Christianity” The Atlantic Monthly October 2002

Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not a Christian

Marcus J. Borg, The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith

Students will prepare a 2-3 page paper reflecting on how, in their view, humanists ought best to relate to Christianity and Christian believers as we find them in contemporary U.S. culture.

*These volumes will not be supplied, but are recommended for background reading.

Session Three Follow-up assignment:

Students will contribute to an on-line discussion of whether or not Humanism qualifies as a religion, why or why not, and what would be the advantages and disadvantages, both intellectually and practically, of either perspective.

Session Three Field work assignment:

The student will attend an event offered by one of the religious communities considered in this session, preferably one with which he or she is not already familiar, and write a 2-3 page reflection paper about the experience, specifically considering the question of how to relate with openness to such a community, while maintaining one’s authenticity as a Humanist. This paper should be shared and discussed with the advisor, and submitted to the instructor before the August session.

Year Two

Session Four: Leadership August 15 – 19 2007

Guest presenters: Hank Wintermute, Roy Spekhart, Lori Lipman Brown

1. Media awareness Wednesday evening

Deirdre Breakenridge, Thomas DeLoughry, The New PR Toolkit: Strategies for Successful Media Relations

Students will prepare a case study of some institutional self-presentation (newsletter, website, press campaign) and analyze it according to the strategies suggested in this text

2. Public speaking I; principles, brief exercises Lori Lipman Brown Thursday morning

Hal Hart, Successful Spokespersons Are Made, Not Born: How to Control the Direction of Media Interviews & Deliver Winning Presentations

Students will make brief responses, without prior preparation, to various public relations situations

This class will include conversation with a media consultant

3. Leadership theory and practice I (Hank Wintermute) Thursday afternoon

Frances Hesselbein, Marshall Goldsmith, Richard Beckhard, The Leader of the Future

Robert K. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership: A Journey Into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness

Ronald A. Heifetz, Leadership Without Easy Answers

John Gardner, On Leadership

James MacGregor Burns, Leadership

Edgar H. Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership

Peter Drucker, The Leader of the Future and Effective Executive

James Kouzes and Barry Posner, The Leadership Challenge and the Fifth Discipline

Max Depree, Leadership is an Art

Barbara Crosby, John Bryson, Leadership for the Common Good, 2nd ed.

Edgar Stoesz, Chester Raber, Doing Good Better: How To Be an Effective Board Member of a Nonprofit

In addition to the required text, students will read one of the books listed above, and prepare a report and recommendation as to its content for the class.

4. Leadership theory and practice II (Hank Wintermute) Thursday evening

John Carver, Boards That Make A Difference

Students will write a 3-4 page paper describing the gifts, skills, and core beliefs of a leader they admire enough to wish to emulate

5. Systems theory I Friday morning

Edwin Friedman, Generation to Generation

Harriet Lerner, The Dance of Anger

Students will prepare a 2-3 page paper exploring the intersection of their functioning in family and institutional leadership

6. Systems theory II Friday afternoon

Class will include role plays to explore the application of systems theory and institutional dynamics to situations encountered by leaders

Friday evening OFF

7. Administration as realization of human intention/moral enterprise (Roy Speckhart?) Saturday morning

Geoffrey Bellman, Getting Things Done When You Are Not In Charge

William Bridges, Managing Transitions

Lyle Schaller, The Change Agent

8. Authenticity; professional ethics, personal integrity Saturday afternoon

John Gardner, Self-Renewal

Joseph Jaworski, Synchronicity: The Inner Path to Leadership

Craig Johnson, Meeting the Ethical Challenge of Leadership

Students will prepare their personal ethical leadership mission statement, and share with the class

9. Marketing; humanism as good news, elevator speeches Saturday evening

Thomas Bandy, Kicking Habits

Students will interview two people with no official connection to humanism, asking what the word means to them, and what they think a person who identifies as a humanist would be like. Results to be reported in one page per interview, and discussed in class.

Class will include practice in defining and advocating humanism in various public situations

Sunday morning, attend New York Ethical Culture Society, followed by lunch with THI board

10. Public speaking II, presentations Sunday afternoon

Students will take turns offering a prepared sermon, platform talk, or other public presentation relevant to their work, with discussion and feedback from the class

Session Four Follow-up assignment:

Students will expand and revise their personal ethical leadership mission statement, based on discussions and feedback from this session. Revised statements will be shared by e-mail, and students will offer brief reflections on their classmates’ statements.

Session Four Field work assignment:

The student will make a public presentation on the topic of humanism, which the advisor should attend. If this is not possible, the advisor should review a tape or text of the presentation. The advisor will offer feedback about the effectiveness of the presentation, and the student will write a one page reflection on the feedback and their own experience, and submit it to the instructor before the December session.

Year Two

Session Five: Critical Thinking December 2007

Presenter: David Schafer

1. What do you mean, “What do you mean?” Friday evening

2. Quantitative Reasoning Saturday morning

3. Religion, Reason, and Science – Explanation, Prediction, and Control Saturday afternoon

4. How do you know you know? Saturday evening

5. Early Technology – practical knowledge of the world Sunday afternoon

Alec Fisher, Critical Thinking, Cambridge University Press, paperback, 2001.

Richard Paul and Linda Elder, The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking: Concepts and Tools, 2001

Richard Paul and Linda Elder, The Miniature Guide to Analytic Thinking, 2003

Harry J. Gensler, Introduction to Logic, Routledge, paperback, 2001.

Simon Blackburn, Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, Oxford, paperback, 2007.

Simon Blackburn, Think, Oxford, paperback, 2001.

Simon Blackburn, Truth: A Guide, Oxford, paperback, 2006.

Dirk J. Struik, A Concise History of Mathematics, Dover, paperback, 1987.

Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions, Anchor, 2007.

Kirk, Raven, and Schofield, The Pre-Socratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selection of Texts, Cambridge, , 1987.

Year Two

Session Six: Science, Methods and Uses April 2008

1. Historical and conceptual interrelations of science, religion, and humanism Friday evening

John Brockman, The New Humanists: Science at the Edge

Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Paul Kurtz, Science and Religion: Are They Compatible?

Ian G. Barbour, Religion and Science

John Brockman, The third Culture: Beyond the Scientific Revolution

2. Observation, description, classification, explanation Saturday morning

Rupert Sheldrake, Seven Experiments that Could Change the World

Brian Silver, The Ascent of Science

Stephen Toulmin, The Uses of Argument

3. Scientific methods – what scientists do and why and how they do it Saturday afternoon

E.O. Wilson, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge and The Diversity of Life

Phillip Kitcher, Science, Truth and Democracy (Oxford Studies in the Philosophy Of Science)

Noretta Koertge, A House Built on Sand: Exposing postmodernist Myths About Science

Alan Sokal, Jean Ricmont, Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals’ Abuse of Science

Paul R. Cross and Norman Levitt, The Higher Superstition

4. Science and technology of the inanimate world Saturday evening

P.C.W. Davies, God and the New Physics

5. Science and technology of the living world Sunday morning

Daniel Clement Dennett, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea

Michael J. Behe, Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution

Phillip Appleman, Charles Darwin Anthology

Francis Crick, the Astonishing Jypothesis

Wendell Berry, Life is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition

Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man

Richard Dawkins, The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene and

River Out of Eden and The Blind Watchmaker

Year Three

Session Seven: Contemporary Culture August 2008

Students will register for and complete the on-line class:

“Humanist Activism and Organization” at the Continuum for Humanist Education (http://www.humanisteducation.com/)

Students will select one of the issues listed below (1-9), to be considered at this session, and in consultation with the instructor and other class members, select a current text treating the subject, to be read by the entire class. Students will prepare a more extensive bibliography on their topic, including a counter-text representing an opposing point of view, which they will read. Students will make a presentation to the class considering humanist perspectives on the topic, its effect on humanist practice and institutions, and sympathetically examining the opposing viewpoint.

1. Postmodernism, ethics in discourse and leadership Wednesday evening

Christopher Butler, Postmodernism; A Very Short Introduction

2. Civil liberties and religious freedom Thursday morning

Barry W. Lynn, Piety and Politics

3. Philosophies of government, democracy Thursday afternoon

Fareed Zakaria, The Future of Freedom

4. War and peace, the problem of non-violence Thursday evening

Marshall Rosenberg, Speak Pease in a World of Conflict

Mark Kurlansky, Non-Violence, 25 Lessons

5. Cultures of privilege and oppression; feminism Friday morning

Pauline Johnson, Feminism as Radical Humanism

6. Cultures of privilege and oppression; racism Friday afternoon

David Roediger, Colored White

Friday evening OFF

7. Environmental issues Saturday morning

Lester Brown, Plan B 3.0

8. Globalization and ethnic issues Saturday afternoon

C. Ford Runge, Ending Hunger in Our Lifetime

9. Just economics and effective politics Saturday evening

Jeffrey Sachs, Commonwealth

George Lakoff, Thinking Points

10. Prophecy as leadership Sunday morning

Gregg Easterbrook, The Progress Paradox

Session Seven Follow-up assignment:

Students will contribute to an on-line discussion of which among these issues most nearly concern Humanism, and how Humanist groups might act effectively in dealing with them.

Session Seven Field work assignment:

The student will plan and complete some action to address one of the issues discussed in this session. The plan should be discussed with their advisor prior to the event, and the outcome should be evaluated in conversation with the advisor as well. The student will write a one page reflection on the experience and submitted to the instructor before the December session.

Year Three

Session Eight: Aesthetics December 2008

1. Creativity and being human Friday evening

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Creativity : Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention

2. Drama and social structure, art as protest Saturday morning

Hugh Duncan, Symbols in Society or Communication and the Social Order

*Vincent B. Leitch, The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism

*Albert Hofstadter and Richard Huhns, Art and Beauty

3. Philosophy of art in the humanist tradition Saturday afternoon

John Dewey, Art as Experience

Elaine Scarry, On Beauty

Carol Wintermute, Bob Tapp, from various issues of Humanism Today

Students will present to the class an example of some form of artistic expression – music, film, poem, play, sculpture, painting – which for them evokes humanist values or world view.

4. Personal aesthetic practices Saturday evening

Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way; A Personal Path to Higher Creativity

or

Carol Lloyd, Creating a Life Worth Living

Students will share with the class examples of their personal aesthetic resources and practices

5. Ritual as art form, theory and practice Sunday morning

Catherine Bell, Ritual, Perspectives and Dimensions

Algernon Black, Without Burnt Offerings

Students will prepare a 3-4 page paper discussing the appropriate role of ritual within both the humanist organization, and the well-ordered humanist personal life.

Session Eight Follow-up assignment:

Students will contribute to an on-line catalogue of various works of art which they consider to express humanist values, and will begin to discuss plans for their graduation ceremony

Session Eight Field work assignment:

The student will create a work of art that intentionally articulates something about the philosophy or values of Humanism. The student will share this work of art with his or her advisor, and engage in a discussion exploring what resources or practices nourish the human spirit, for the advisor as well as the student.

Students will prepare a 4-5 page summary of their learning from the advisor and fieldwork setting, to which they will invite the advisor to add whatever he or she might wish. This, along with the advisor’s current contact information, should be submitted to the instructor before the April session.

Year Three

Session Nine: Celebration April 2009

1. Humanist interpretations of spirituality Friday evening

Paul Woodruff, Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue

Robert Solomon, Spirituality for the Skeptic

Chet Raymo, Skeptics and True Believers

*Annie Dillard, Holy the Firm and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

*Anthony De Mello, Awareness and Song of the Bird

*Madeleine Lengle, Circle of Quiet

*Sam Keen, To A Dancing God

Students will write a 2-3 page reflection on their perception of the integrative function within their own lives, using whatever vocabulary – reverence, spirituality, inner experience, centering – has integrity for them

2. Ritual authority and community gatherings Saturday morning

Catherine Bell, Ritual

Kathleen Wall, Gary Ferguson, Rites of Passage: Celebrating Life's Changes

*James F. Hopewell, Barbara G. Wheeler (Editor), Congregation: Stories and Structures

*Gordon Atkinson, Reallivepreacher.com (book or website)

*Richard Lischer, The Preacher King : Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Word that Moved America

*William F. Schulz (Editor), Transforming Words: Six Essays on Preaching

*Jane Ranney Rzepka, Kenneth Sawyer, Thematic Preaching: An Introduction

*Eugene L. Lowry, The Homiletical Plot: The Sermon As Narrative Art Form

Each student will identify a person in their social environment who exercises ritual authority, observe an example of this function, and interview the person about their understanding of the role they play. The student will prepare a brief presentation exploring what they have learned from this model for the class.

3. Life cycle celebrations Saturday afternoon

Corliss Lamont, A Humanist Wedding and A Humanist Funeral

Sherwin Wine, Celebration: A Ceremonial and Philosophic Guide for Humanists and Humanistic Jews

Carl Seaburg, Great Occasions

*Khoren Arisian, The New Wedding: Creating Your Own Marriage Ceremony

*Edward Searl, Bless This Child: A Treasury Of Poems, Quotations, And Readings To Celebrate Birth

*Edward Searl, In Memoriam: A Guide to Modern Funeral and Memorial Services

*Edward Searl, Beyond Absence: A Treasury Of Poems, Quotations, And Readings On Death And Remembrance

*Jane Wynne Willson, Funerals Without God: A Practical Guide to Non-Religious Funerals

*Sarah York, Remembering Well: Rituals for Celebrating Life and Mourning Death

*Thomas Lynch, The Undertaking : Life Studies from the Dismal Trade

*Stephen R. Prothero, Purified by Fire: A History of Cremation in America

*Leon Wieseltier, Kaddish

Students will prepare a sample wedding, memorial service, and child dedication, to be shared in class

4. Graduation Saturday evening

Students will plan, prepare, and take part, along with members of the Institute board and other classes, in a celebration of the completion of their program and their role as leaders in the humanist community

5. Projects, evaluation, and commitment to leadership Sunday morning

Students will make a presentation to the class regarding their projects and field work assignments, discuss their experience of the Institute program, complete a written evaluation, and identify the responsibilities and leadership roles that they propose to undertake in future service to the humanist movement.