Mission Impossible: Religion, Science and Spies: We talk all the time about people “on a mission” to change the world but what does that really mean? Are missions supposed to be so hard that we can focus on nothing else? Are they possible or impossible? Do they alter who we are and how we behave? Why do most organizations feel the need to create mission statements? Do they really follow them? Join us on a journey as we explore these questions and seek to understand missions in our wider world while developing our own sense of what our individual missions might be. Our main sources will be the diaries of early German missionaries to Pennsylvania, Anna Botsford Comstock’s guide to the study of nature and Katy Payne’s work with whales and elephants, and the story of women in the CIA. We will also look at popular films like The Martian and Operation Mincemeat and visit local community organizations in search of that illusive sense of purpose and meaning within ourselves and others.
- Teacher: Dawn Shedden