Autoethnography
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Embodiment Spirituality and No Words Theology. Is this what was resurrected? Journal entries and theological reflections from Holy Week 2024.
I am sharing here my journal entries and theological reflections from Holy Week, 2024. When journalling I usually start with a question and then sit quietly and wait for the answer. This is what I wrote. Remind me again. What is Theology? It is the study of the Divine. This, spirituality, and education – from neuro-queering and embodied perspectives – are my academic, professional, and lived experience specialisms and expertise. What do I need to know today, which is Good Friday? On Good Friday we are reminded of the fate which awaits humanitarian and humane humans who challenge the empire, its systems, and the status quo. When enough of us:…
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My Friend, Siddhartha
I wish I had read Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha when I was a teenager, but I’m so glad I picked it up at 25. While browsing through the clearance section of a Barnes and Noble,–a great place to find collections of ancient myths, story books depicting the lives of sacred figures, and modern spiritual inspirations–I picked up a coloring book that advertises itself as an aid for meditation. I must have been leaning into my artistic side that day because another little book caught my eye among the disheveled stacks: an Illustrated Edition of Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha. It felt as if the gold lettering on the book’s spine was illuminating my…
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Learning to ask questions of the Status Quo
As I write, the Church of England is engaged in the meeting of its General Synod, deeply immersed in the latest round of conversation and decision-making about its ‘Living in Love and Faith’ process. Understandably, feelings are running high, and the challenge of how the state church can hold together different ways of grappling with theological understanding is inevitably a key strand of these discussions. Estate-based priest and theologian Rev. Al Barrett wrote thoughtfully ahead of this week, ‘It’s important, I think, in these conversations for each of us to try hard to locate ourselves a little – to resist the temptation to speak from an imagined (and illusory) abstract, objective or…
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Doing Theology Through the Feathers: Reflecting on Practical Theology as a Student with OCD
“Why are you researching theology?” the Parrot asks me, as I submit the application forms for my PhD. He is mocking me. I already know everything he is about to say to me. We’ve been here before, he and I. The Parrot is always there – he is the voice that my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) takes. He is the voice of every doubt, every intrusive thought, every repeating phrase that gets lodged in my mind. He will bring up the fears I have that I’m not religious enough, as though that disqualifies me from studying theology. He will tell me that I can’t sit in that space of doubt…
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“Dear God, I want a unicorn”: A young person’s experience of Faith and Theology
One of my earliest memories is of walking down the driveway with my Dad on the way to church, when I was around three. Since then, I was raised by a religious parent (a Professor of Theology) who encouraged my journey of faith, and a parent who was indifferent to my experience, based on their own agnosticism. As the youngest of three children, I also had the participation of my siblings to observe in church services; watching them take Communion when I wasn’t yet old enough, or being asked to deliver readings to the congregation weekly. These are things that I desired to be a part of, regardless of the…
