Pushing universalism: A talk with tom kunesh

Pushing universalism – decentering humanity, centering nature, expanding our ideas of personhood, of our family relationship to other kinds of being.

As nations worldwide expand their definition of personhood to include whales, bees, turtles, rivers, & nature as a whole, what effect do these legalistic inclusions of other ‘things’ as beings have on our a/theology of ‘soul’? Are governments developing the metaphysics of salvation faster than Christianity can keep pace? Join this talk with tom kunesh about the edges of expanding life-saving universalism.

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tom kunesh was born & raised with 12 siblings, a good catholic boy attending good catholic schools in central Minnesota on the west bank of Wakpa Tanka (River Great), never knowing it was the old US-made reservation of the HoČak put there in 1848 as a buffer between the indigenous Dakota & the invading Anishinaabe to the northeast. His grandfather was born on the Fort Berthold Reservation ND but his mom’s and family’s tribal affiliation is Standing Rock lakota. tom realized he was faith-less when he was 15, joined the US Navy at 19, served in Spain, Persian Gulf & Indian Ocean as a russian & farsi linguist, got degrees in spanish, religious studies & divinity. He spent the last 34 years in Tennessee, worked with the Chattanooga InterTribal Association, the state Commission of Indi** Affairs, & currently with the TN Ancient Sites Conservancy. He works on raising 5 kids with his wife Julie, & sits quietly with friends of all types in Nashville. He’s a member of the Decolonizing Quakers working group, Friends of Colors, Nontheist Friends Network UK & USA, Indigenous Friends, & the Institutional Assessment & Implementation Committee of FGC’s Central Committee.