Events

Our free summer Evening Public Lectures feature a wide range of professors, both guests and Regent regulars. Enjoy delving deep into a pressing issue with a wise guide; then brave the mic to ask your burning question. Better (and cheaper) than a night at the movies. 

Due to closure of the College related to Covid-19, all of our Summer 2020 lectures will be streamed online. 

Lecture Description: Story is formed when we pause and reflect on our experience. It’s best done with a listener present, be that listener the God to whom we pray, a person to whom we speak, or the imagined reader of what we write. Attending to our lives in this way helps us notice when we’ve encountered divinity in the ordinary. We see this happen with people in Scripture, and we know it in our own lives, congested, rushed, and bereft of attentive listening as they sometimes are. We remember the people headed to Emmaus and how they talked with Jesus on the road and later talked to their friends about that transformational walk. In this evening together, we will consider the spiritual discipline of talking our walk and how it may deepen and mature our faith.

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 will be teaching the course "Contemplative Listening: The Foundation of Spiritual Friendship and Direction" from June 22–July 3, 2020 as part of our 2020 Summer Programs.

Please submit questions by emailing [email protected] during the lecture.