On September 28, 2009, Forrest Church, long-time minister of All Souls Unitarian Church in New York City, died after a three-and-half- year battle against esophageal cancer. He was educated at Stanford University, Harvard Divinity School, and Harvard University where he received his Ph.D. in early church history. Church wrote or edited 25 books. In this capacious volume, he has gathered together a cross-cut of his writings over the years — essays, sermons, public addresses, revised book chapters, and articles. At the core of this material is Church's liberal Universalist theology: "Liberal means free; worthy of a free person (as opposed to servile); free in bestowing, bountiful and generous; free from bigotry or unreasonable prejudice in favor of traditional opinions or teachings; open to the reception of new ideas."
The title of the book — The Cathedral of the World — reflects the thrust of this work, which is to ponder the manifold meanings of faith, God, and religion in troubled times. Church challenges us to see the light shining through the many windows of the cathedral of the world and to be receptive to the mysteries which abound in our lives:
"Some people have trouble believing in a God who looks into any eyes but theirs. Others have trouble believing in a God they cannot see. But that none of us can look directly into God's eyes certainly doesn't mean God isn't there, mysterious, unknowable, gazing into ours."
Here are some of the topics covered in this fine compilation: the clash between Christian fundamentalists and liberals, Mother God, the role of religion in American democracy, reclaiming the American creed, the commonwealth of God, fear and terror, univeralism for the twenty-first century, there is no hell, and love after death. The book concludes with an interview with Forrest Church by Bob Abernethy of the PBS news program Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.
