Events

Regent's Evening Public Lecture series is back for another summer! Join us in person or online to explore Scripture, theology, culture, and much more with Summer Programs faculty and other exciting speakers.

To livestream this and other Evening Public Lectures, visit us at rgnt.net/live.

About the Lecture

We live and move and have our being in the One Who is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, yet we are challenged—especially in these pandemic days—to mark completion. Graduations, weddings, funerals, and milestone birthday parties have been postponed or only minimally acknowledged. The news cycle barrages us with one intensity followed by another, with no sense of completion. We suffer from ambiguous losses, losses that may pass without notice and be experienced in solitude. Similarly, accomplishments have been muted and are too often unacknowledged. Impaired completion interferes with making the next beginning. How might we acknowledge and honour completion in its fullness—whether that be with celebration, lament, or satisfaction—so that we might open our hearts and minds to the new grace arriving in our lives?

About the Speaker

Susan S. Phillips has served as Executive Director at New College Berkeley since 1994, and prior to this role was the Academic Dean. Dr. Phillips is keenly interested in how we live our faith in daily life, drawing insight from the diverse fields of the social sciences, biblical spirituality, and practical theology. She is a sociologist and meets regularly with individuals for spiritual direction. She teaches in a wide range of contexts, serves as supervisor for spiritual directors, and consults for Christian organizations. In addition to being a regular contributor to summer classes at Regent College, she teaches at the Graduate Theological Union, Fuller Theological Seminary (Northern California), and San Francisco Theological Seminary (Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction). Dr. Phillips sat on the Board of Governors at Regent College for eight years and on the editorial boards of Radix, Presence, and Reflective Practice. Her most recent book is The Cultivated Life: From Ceaseless Striving to Receiving Joy. With her husband Steve, she worships at First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, and has served there as an elder.

Dr. Phillips is teaching Contemplative Listening: The Foundation of Spiritual Friendship and Direction from July 18 to July 29 as part of Regent’s 2022 Summer Programs.

Format and Attendance

Regent intends to offer this lecture as a live event in the College’s chapel. Under current provincial policies, this event will not require attendees to show proof of vaccination. Please be aware, however, that Regent’s event protocols will follow the guidelines in place on the event date.

This lecture will also be streamed live online, and we look forward to being joined by friends from around the world. A recording will be available for a limited time after the event.