Date: Friday, October 25, 1:00 – 6:00 pm; Saturday, October 26, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Instructor: Nahum Ward-Lev
RSVP: https://myunion.utsnyc.edu/perceiving-thinking-acting-as-a-prophet-an-exploration

Through text study, conversation, and experiential exercise, this course is a community inquiry into the role of prophetic wisdom in societal transformation. Drawing insight and inspiration from sacred Scriptures as well as our own life experience, we ask:  What wisdom can we draw from the Hebrew prophets to guide our social action? How does the liberating energy flowing throughout creation support our social justice endeavors? What practices cultivate our capacity to perceive the world through the eyes of God’s love and concern?  How do we discern the prophetic action that we are called to engage? And how might this inquiry shape our next steps, individually and collectively? Students have an opportunity to explore spiritual practices that might help ground us in our most loving, wise and resilient selves while pursuing the challenging work of uprooting oppression. This course draws from the rich exploration in Nahum Ward-Lev’s book, The Liberating Path of the Hebrew Prophets: Then and Now (Orbis Books, May 2019). In addition to Hebrew Scripture, the participants will engage with the writings of modern prophets, ranging from Erich Fromm, Gustavo Gutiérrez and Abraham Joshua Heschel to bell hooks, Martin Luther King Jr., Paulo Freire and Grace Lee & James Boggs.

Rabbi Nahum Ward Lev is the leader of Beit Midrash, an intensive Jewish learning community at Temple Beth Shalom in Santa Fe. He is the founding director of The Meeting Ground at Ghost Ranch, a spirit-based, multi-cultural training center for peacemakers. He trains physicians in Spirituality and Medicine at the Northern New Mexico Family Practice Residency Program. He is a trained Spiritual Director. Nahum is a co-founder of the Jewish and Christian Dialogue in Santa Fe and the former Rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom in Santa Fe.