Common Ground (Center for inquiry, study, and dialogue)

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Common Ground is an adult education organization whose primary concern is the human quest for understanding and the human pursuit of significance. Originally the organization began with the study of world religions and the commitment to inter-faith dialogue. Today, Common Ground's primary focus is on the world's great cultural, philosophical, religious, and spiritual traditions and their implications for every dimension of human experience.

Lecture topics include: history, literature, art, science, psychology, business, relationship, health, and personal growth.

Common Ground was founded in 1975 by Ronald H. Miller and Jim Kenney.

Along with the World Congress of Faiths and the Interreligious Engagement Project, Common Ground publishes the quarterly journal INTERRELIGIOUS Insight – a journal of dialogue and engagement[1].

[edit] Locations

The Common Ground Center is located in Deerfield, Illinois and is the home of the majority of Common Ground's events and activities.

Lectures and other events are held at the Lake Street Church in Evanston, Illinois; First Congregational United Church of Christ in Crystal Lake, Illinois; Tinley Park High School in Tinley Park, Illinois; First Congregational United Church of Christ in Elmhurst, Illinois; Swedenborg Library in Chicago; and also in Naples, Florida and Cincinnati, Ohio

[edit] Educational Resources

In addition to founders Miller and Kenney, the following people regularly are called upon to present programs:

Laura Bernstein - Rabbinical student, Hebrew Seminary of the Deaf; contributor, Finding a Way: Essays on Spiritual Practice.
Rabbi Herbert W. Bronstein - regular CG faculty; Senior Rabbi Emeritus, North Shore Congregation Israel; editor, Liturgies for the Reform Movement; lecturer, scholar of comparative religion.
Eric Carlson - regular CG faculty; Ph.D., Astronomy, Northwestern University; Senior Astronomer Emeritus, The Adler Planetarium
Steve Durham - DMin, Chicago Theological Seminary; pastor, Mayfair Presbyterian Church, Chicago.
Tom Hoberg - Ph.D., Literature, University of Chicago; Professor of English, Northeastern Illinois University.
Kenneth James - affiliated with The Soulwork Center, a Jungian-oriented partnership offering workshops, consultation, and other resources for spiritual development and individuation; teacher at the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago; co-author of this is not a book.
Anna Trumbore Jones - Ph.D., Columbia University, 2003; Assistant Professor of History, Lake Forest College.
Ellen Katz - MA, MS, Columbia University, California State University, psychotherapist, co-producer and creator of the documentary/educational video When Helping Hurts: A Guide for the Codependent; past consultant to the Children's Program, Betty Ford Center
Robert McClory - MA, Journalism, Northwestern; STL, Theology, St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein; Professor Emeritus, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern; author of several books, including Faithful Dissenters: Men and Women Who Loved and Changed the Church.
Ahmad Sadri - Ph.D., New School for Social Research; Professor and chair, department of Sociology and Anthropology, Lake Forest College; author of two books -- one in Persian and one in English, Max Weber's Sociology of Intellectuals -- as well as dozens of articles in English and Persian; columnist for the Daily Star of Lebanon; regular commentator on WBEZ's "World View with Jerome MacDonald."
Ann McNamara Smith - M.A. in Religion, Yale Divinity; Director, Ethical Cartography (Charts and Maps for Moral Discourse); Scholar in Residence, University of Chicago.
Robert Spatz - MLS, Liberal Studies, Lake Forest College; MA, Clinical Psychology, Forest Institute of Professional Psychology; currently authoring a book on what we need to learn from Thomas Jefferson
Larry Suffredin - JD, Georgetown University Law Center; lobbyist; lawyer; Cook County Commissioner (13th District).