The Encounters Series, a program dedicated to fostering unexpected conversations around divisive issues and obscure knowledge, began in Spring 2017 with the sponsorship of the Humility & Conviction in Public Life project, the Hartford Public Library (Hartford History Center), and the Wadsworth Atheneum (The Amistad Center for Art & Culture).
Encounters dives deeply into the subjects that are of interest to the Greater Hartford community through facilitated, small-group dialogues followed by a “question and answer”-style conversation with UConn faculty and community partners. Readings are provided beforehand to better encourage informed and informal dialogue within conversations that often prove to be polarizing, and thus unproductive.
Sample “By Our Love” Discussion Questions:
- By what acts of love is your (faith) community known?
- What is meant by “Unity” in terms of faith?
- What would it look like for unity to be restored?
- Who is the foreigner in your community?
- What does it mean to love “the other”?
- Can justice, kindness, or humility be achieved politically? How?
- Charity and caring for the poor are important Biblical directives. How do we see that reflected in current voting trends?
- How do your faith commitments shape or influence your politics? How do your politics shape or influence your faith commitments?
- Describe an instance in which your faith and politics were in tension with one another. How did you resolve this?
- If love and unity are central to Christian faith, what are the greatest barriers to seeing that love, caring, and unity being reflected in our lives?
- What are the ways we can practice love, caring and unity?
