It has been said that Unitarian Universalism suffers from lack of a “Great Story”.  While this may be true concerning its origin, many “saints” (an informal assignment in UU-ism) have lived extraordinary lives in our liberal faith. On Thoreau’s 198th birthday, Joan offers a very personal appreciation for the remarkable philosopher, conservationist, inventor and civil rights activist who inspired Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Rev. Joan Shiels has post-graduate degrees in Religion, Divinity and Theology.  She has studied all the “big guns” in theology. But she has long declared her greatest teacher, theological and otherwise, is Thoreau.