“In the Beginning…” The power of story to captivate and transform is primordial. Great stories are mesmerizing and potent, inspiring reverence for the Mystery that attracts and eludes us. Deep stories seep into the imagination and penetrate the soul. Like pearls of Truth surfacing from Sophia/Wisdom’s depths, they provide soul-saturated meaning for the hungry of heart. Rife with nature imagery and iconic archetypes, they touch into our hunger for sacred wonder, mythic identity and purpose. Couched in recognizable oral formulaics and discernible literary tropes, a deep story's enduring power to communicate meaning and Truth is unmistakable. What unravels with each new telling is epic.
This Cohort is for story-lovers who want to dig deeper and sift through the compost of sacred origin stories to discover what is growing anew. “Deep Story Composting” offers an introductory foray into Genesis creation stories, examining inherited patriarchal renderings with eco-feminist lenses. It traces a significant and recent development of Christian eco-ethics, and proposes an ethical framework for an evolutionary ecology.
Digital Content:
Genesis Creation Mythologies - Setting the Context - Eco-Feminist Hermeneutics and Sacred Stories of Origin
Sweeping a Dirt Floor? From Lynn White's 1967 "Historical Roots of our Ecologic Crisis" to the Eco-Encyclical Laudato Si (2015)- What have we learned about eco-ethics and Christian responsibility to care for Earth?
Three Ecozoic Virtues for the Current State of the Biosphere: Seeing, Hearing, and Loving
Digital content created by and Cohort facilitated by Dr. Laura Weber
Dr. Weber grew up in the gorgeous Midwestern bio-region where her large St. Louis family is planted, and where her “community” includes not only a large extended human family, but the mighty river, hillocks, granite formations, fishes, avian-kin and arbor elders.
Dr. Weber served almost three decades as professor and administrator in three Midwestern Jesuit universities. While in higher education, she championed inclusive access for international, BIPOC and LGBTQ colleagues and students, and taught eco-feminist theologies and spiritualities consonant with emerging environmental justice initiatives.
Dr. Weber has also worked as an administrator in non-profit settings and flourished as an environmental advocate through networks, consortia and grassroots organizations. Her guiding principle in leadership was to expand our concept and practice of the wider “We.”
Most recently, Dr. Weber is the Founder and Creative Curator of Environmental Soulutions, LLC, which represents a natural evolution of her desire for environmental justice advocacy, change management through the lens of biomimesis (imitation of nature), leadership training and formation, and accompaniment of organizations and individuals through the maelstrom that characterizes posthuman spiritualities.
Dates: 6- 7:30pm CT on May 13, June 10, July 8, and Aug. 12, 2025
all cohort meetings will be online
Ministry Cohorts
Ministry cohorts allow you to sample many theological themes, offering peer learning with your ministry context in mind. Scholars have chosen a specific lens on a particular topic and share their expertise through digital content you watch on your own time. Four monthly online meetings are interspersed, where you and your cohort members gather for facilitated discussion with an experienced church leader.
Cohorts support lifelong learning and are for anyone- authorized clergy, chaplains, Christian educators, lay leaders and anyone interested in the topic. UCC members will recognize the Mark for Ministry woven throughout the cohorts, though anyone from any denomination, or no denomination, is welcome to attend.
Completion of this Ministry Cohort provides 9 contact hours of continuing education, subject to approval by the participant's credentialing body.
