Interweavings: Sacred Practices, Dynamic Texts
We may be Muslim, Christian, Jew, skeptic, or non-believer, but we are each united in our humanity and the stories of the Bible bond us through that essential humanity…our very lives inform the way we enter the biblical text, and the biblical text ‘speaks’ to us through the context of our lives.
How might ancient texts speak to us afresh today? Can pre–modern practices be revitalized and re-imagined to address modern concerns?
Rabbi Leila Gal Berner and Sheri D. Kling strongly believe that there is still something life-giving in both ancient texts and pre-modern practices, and that both can be explored in dynamic ways while still being grounded in timeless wisdom.
Once Rabbi Berner was introduced to the Christian contemplative practice of lectio divina—a Latin phrase meaning “sacred reading”—she immediately fell in love with its ability to drop her into a living experience of biblical text. She wanted other Jews to have that same experience, and created a uniquely Jewish expression of lectio divina that she has named Kriat Hakodesh (Reading the Holy) reflected in her book, Listening to the Heart of Genesis: A Contemplative Path.
Sheri Kling has had similar experiences with Christian contemplative practices, and has refashioned three of them—lectio divina, praying with icons, and praying with the imagination—into a transreligious practice she calls Dream Divina. While the target of contemplation in her practice is one’s individual dream and its images, the underlying spiritual “technologies” of the Christian practices still carry the same power to reveal the presence of the Sacred.
In this event, Rabbi Berner and Dr. Kling will share their own experiences with reshaping traditional practices to reawaken modern sensibilities to potentially transforming encounters with texts and with God.
About the Speakers
Rabbi Leila Gal Berner
Rabbi Leila Gal Berner was ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and holds a second ordination from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (of blessed memory). She received her doctorate in medieval Jewish history from UCLA. She is Chair of the Bible Department of the ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal Ordination Program where she teaches biblical and medieval history, feminist thought, and midrash. Dr. Berner has taught in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at American University and George Washington and Emory universities, and Swarthmore and Reed colleges. She is the author of Listening to the Heart of Genesis: A Contemplative Path. You can find out more about Dr. Berner on her website www.rabbileila.com
Sheri D. Kling
Sheri D. Kling, Ph.D., is the director of Process & Faith with the Center for Process Studies and interim minister of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Bradenton, FL. Sheri earned her Ph.D. in Religion: Process Studies from Claremont School of Theology. She is a theologian, songwriter, and spiritual teacher, as well as a faculty member of the Haden Institute, adjunct faculty with Claremont School of Theology, and the author of A Process Spirituality: Christian and Transreligious Resources for Transformation. She regularly delivers dynamic “Music & Message” presentations to groups, and offers courses, concerts, and spiritual retreats. She may be found online at sherikling.com
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