Classes and Workshops

Lectures and Talks

The following are a few of the topics about which Reverend Tomlinson can speak for your religious adult education, community, or other classes and workshops.

• Comparative and World Religions
• Religio Romana (Roman paganism)
• Business and Spirituality
• Sacred Uses of Paper, Origami (paper folding), and Kirigami (paper cutting) across Eastern, Western, and indigenous cultures

Current Class Offerings

Click to read a description of each topic.

• From Jesus to Christ (Frontline video: four 2-hour sessions)
Rev. Tomlinson provides study questions and facilitates group discussion of this popular PBS video series.
Session 1: Jesus' Life and Times. Session 2: The Ministry of Paul. Session 3: The Gospels. Session 4: The Christian Movement.
Includes handouts: questions, contemporary sources, and bibliography for further reading.
• Ancient Roman Divination (2-hour session)
Part lecture, part hands-on, part discussion, this class examines augury, dreams, lots, oracles, and other forms of divination practiced in the Roman Empire including contemporary Egyptian, Jewish, and Christian methods. Divination was an integral part of civic and daily life. It was how the gods communicated their wishes to the people and how the people could stay in right relationship with the gods. Because the Romans were tolerant of other beliefs and their culture was so vast, they adopted and spread ideas from many cultures throughout the East and West. Many of these practices survive to this day in modified form. Learn about these popular forms of divination. Discuss early Roman views on speaking with the gods/God and share your own. Create your own dice oracles based on Roman counterparts. Includes handouts of Biblical and Dead Sea Scroll references to divination and a chart for creating a dice oracle using works by Virgil or Homer.
• Clothes Make the Man and the Woman (or Do They?): Gender Roles in Non-Western and Western Society (1.5 hour slide show)

Previous Class Offerings

• paper prayers, paper trails (Workshop: Two 2-hour sessions)
Session 1
Presents an historical overiew of ceremonial and religious uses of paper and paper folding in China and Japan. Similarities between these beliefs and Native American concepts are explored as they relate to three origami models (the crane, balloon, and offering table) taught in preparation for the second session.
Session 2
Puts concepts from the first session into practice. You will choose from one or more models from the first session to create a hanging rainbow-colored model of the chakras. Primary emphasis is on using origami to express metaphysics, although high-level chakra concepts are covered.
• The Tao of Paper: Origami Models for the Chinese New Year
• Right Brain Theology: Sacred Paper Cutting and Folding (3-hour session)
Did you know the Japanese word kami means both "paper" and "spirit"? Learn this and more fun facts about the sacred origins and uses of paper in Asia, the West, and Mexico. Come join us for a few hours of creativity and self-expression.
We'll start with an introduction to and examples of the Buddhist and Shinto origins of paper, paper folding (origami), and paper cutting (kirigami), then move on to Western and Mexican religious and magical traditions.
Next, it's your turn to fold and create your "kami/spiritual face"; if time allows, you'll make a paper cut of your "spiritual body". We'll finish with a discussion of similarities of and differences between our models, and why we choose what we did. No previous art or folding experience is necessary.

Class rate: Call for rates.

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