UUFSMA: “Seeking the ‘Beloved Community’”

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Online Service

“Seeking the ‘Beloved Community”
Speaker: Joy James

Sunday, February 20, 2022
10:30 am

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/414604040 

Password: 294513

By Joseph Plummer

UUFSMA Board Secretary

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. often evoked the vision of a beloved community, an ideal at the center of Unitarian Universalism and the pursuit of social justice. This Sunday’s UUFSMA Guest Speaker, the American political philosopher, Joy James, will explore the concept of social relations guided by unconditional love, which the ancient Greeks expressed in the word agape, the highest form of love.

Distinguished from philia, love of another person, and the French concept of amour propre or self-love, unconditional love embodies the highest moral values of Judeo-Christian ethics. While her topic invites a deep and varied discussion, James intends to focus on the caring community as a manifestation of the political will to love. She links its meaning to Abolitionism and the Captive Maternal, which shackles people to the violence of the state. In her pioneering studies of the Captive Maternal, she examines the banding together of Blacks to form a loving community taking care of itself in response to racist violence.

James is Ebenezer Fitch Professor of the Humanities at Williams College and the author of “The Womb of Western Theory”, “Seeking the ‘Beloved Community”, “Contextualizing Angela Davis”, and the forthcoming book “The Captive Maternal”. A prolific author, she is also the editor of numerous books and studies, including “Imprisoned Intellectuals”, “The New Abolitionists”, and “The Angela Y. Davis Reader” and co-editor of “The Black Feminist Reader”.

To participate in our online Sunday Service, visit www.uufsma.org and click on the Zoom Service button on the home page. If requested, enter password: 294513. Sign-in from anywhere Sunday mornings between 10:15-10:25 am CST. Because of the sudden surge of the omicron variant of the corona virus, in-person services by reservation at the Aldea Hotel are being suspended until further notice.

Our Fellowship welcomes people of all ages, races, religions, sexual orientation, and gender identity. UUFSMA donates at least fifty percent of its income to support nonprofit organizations that provide health, educational, and environmental services for underserved communities in the San Miguel region. Please support this work by clicking on the website home page Donate button. Now more than ever, your support is essential. Enjoy previous services at https://www.youtube.com/. Enter UUFSMA in the search box.