Needham could not have been organized as a town in 1711 until it had a parish church. First Parish is therefore the oldest organization in the community. For 140 years it was the only house of worship in Needham. John Buehrens, the Minister of First Parish since 2002, is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Divinity School, where he is an adjunct member of the faculty. He is the author of Understanding the Bible: An Introduction for Skeptics, Seekers, and Religious Liberals and of the forthcoming volume, Universalists and Unitarians in America: A People’s History, and coauthor, with Rebecca Ann Parker, of A House for Hope: The Promise of Progressive Religion in the 21st Century. Buehrens served as President of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations from 1993 to 2001. His lecture will not only describe the origins of the parish and town, but the coming of religious pluralism to the community.
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