Ministers' Book Club

From Thursday, September 29, 7PM, 2016, Chapel 

Melville’s Moby Dick. Discussion Led by Rev. John Buehrens

Here’s a chance to read or re-read a classic over the summer: one of the “great American novel” perennials.  Melville was a Unitarian, with a fascinating, tragic life story, and a profound view of such enduring issues as multi-cultural democracy and the problem of evil. As always, you need not have read the book to participate (although you will get more out of the discussion if you do). Non-readers might enjoy John Huston’s 1956 movie, Moby Dick, with Gregory Peck; or Ron Howard’s 2015 movie version of the real event that inspired Melville, In the Heart of the Sea. Neither are as great as the novel, however.

Ministers' Book Club

From Wednesday, April 6, 7PM, 2016, Chapel: The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau by Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young

The Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the new Dean of Grace Cathedral. He will be present to dialogue with Rev. Buehrens about his book, which grew out of his doctoral dissertation at Harvard Divinity School. His deep understanding of Thoreau’s spirituality and theology transforms the commonplace view of the man who gave John Muir the motto, “In wildness is the preservation of the world.”

Ministers' Book Club

From Wednesday, March 9, 7PM, 2016, Chapel: The Season of the Witch, by David Talbot

After the 1967 “Summer of Love,” San Francisco went through almost two decades of turbulence and trauma, with huge challenges and changes to the city’s culture and politics. Those who lived here in the 1970s and 80s were especially invited to participate. But even those new to the city, like Rev. Buehrens, will find Talbot’s account an important background to the challenges the city faces even today. The book is in paperback, but copies will not be sold at the church. Check your public library or favorite bookseller.