In every age the Spirit speaks.
The 2020 Didier Seminar is now in the planning phase. Check back here or follow us on FaceBook to make sure you get updates.
Didier Seminar
An informed and compelling Christianity is the goal of the Didier Seminar. Every spring for 20 years, our Didier Seminar has reached out for fresh voices of the Spirit. In April 2019 it was Rev. Robin Meyers, PhD., pastor, professor, New York Times best selling author, and challenging voice of Progressive Christianity.
The 2019 Didier Seminar Was a Great Success!
Senior Minister at Mayflower Congregational UCC Church in Oklahoma City for 34 years and for nearly as long Distinguished Professor of Social Justice at Oklahoma City University, Meyers’ seven books include the much-discussed, national best seller, Saving Jesus from the Church. Meyers writes, “Progressive Christians must not surrender the Bible to fundamentalists, but join head and heart in the search for a relevant and intellectually honest church for the 21st century.”
Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers’ 2019 Didier Lecture:
From Galilean Sage to Supernatural Savior
What is the Didier Seminar?
The Calvin W. Didier Annual Seminar on Religion and Contemporary Thought was endowed in 1993 as a retirement tribute to Reverend Didier in honor of a ministry mindful of the many voices of the spirit and the profound changes we continue to experience in contemporary thought and culture. This yearly seminar is dedicated to the spiritual growth through the best comprehensive thinking in religion, the arts, letters and science. We seek to present inspiring and acknowledged leaders in their various fields.
Past Speakers and Topics:
2019 Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers: “Progressive Christianity”
2018 Dr. J. Andrew Overman “When Stones Speak: Digging Deeper into Jesus Movements, Formative Judaism, and the Rise and Expansion of Islam”
2017 Dr. Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. “How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul”
2016 Diana Butler Bass “What Does It Mean To Say “I Am Spiritual But Not Religious”?
2015 Rev. Dr. Marilyn Salmon “Jesus Then and Now”
2014 Dr. Amy-Jill Levine “Jesus, Judaism and Christianity”
2013 Professor Paul Knitter “Must My God be Bigger Than Your God?” (Moving Beyond Competition to Cooperation)
2012 John Phillip Newell “A New Harmony: The Spirit, The Earth, The Earth and the Human Soul”
2011 Dr. Wilson Yates, Prof. Michael Dennis Browne, Dr. Stephen Paulus, and Rev. David Miller and Dr. Aaron David Miller “Theology, Spirituality and the Arts”
2010 Rev. Dr. Cynthia Bourgeault “Meditation and Visionary Seeing in the Christian Tradition”
2009 Dr. Imam Seyyed Hossein Nasr “The Heart of Islam”
2008 Dr. Philip Jenkins “The Next Christendom”
2007 Rev. Dr. Martiin Marty “Must Faiths Collide?”
2006 Dr. Don Swearer “Buddhism”
2005 Dr. Dominic Crossan “The Historical Jesus and the Kingdom of God Then and Now”
2004 Rev. Dr. ( Sir) John Polkinghorne “Belief of God in and Age of Science”
2003 Dr. Dominic Crossan “The Historical Jesus and the Kingdom of God Then and Now”
2002 Dr. Elaine Pagels “The Challenge of the Gospel of Thomas. Different Views of Jesus and His Message”
2001 Dr. Marilyn Salmon, Rev. Dr. Calvin Roetzel, Rabbi Barry Cytron “What Have We Learned and What Does it Matter?”
2000 Dr. Richard Horsley “Jesus Paul and the New World Order”
1999 Rev. Dr. Marcus Borg “Jesus in Contemporary Scholarship”
1998 Rev. Dr. J. Andrew Overman ” Jews and Christians: How Did We Start and Where Are We Headed?”