Writing and the Pastoral Life
Workshop Description
Held June 16 - 23, 2008
Writing and the Pastoral Life: A Week with Eugene Peterson aims to help pastors integrate writing into their vocational lives. Participants may wish to pursue various writing projects: memoir, spiritual reflection, pastoral letter, theological essay, or exegetical reflection, among others. They may also wish to engage in collaborative or joint exercises, such as writing pastoral letters or exploring how a community's life may be illuminated through writing. The common focus, however, will be on discovering and deepening a sense of how writing and the pastoral life inform each other. Reflection on one's pastoral life will be sharpened and deepened through the discipline of writing. The writing that emerges from this reflection will feed peer discussion about the pastoral life. Should this writing be published, it will assist others in thinking more deeply about their vocation. The group will be open to pastors of various ages and stages of ministerial work. Admission will be by application and nomination. Pastors who demonstrate an interest in and capacity for writing will be the most likely candidates.
Participants will have a long, unbroken stretch of time to write every day. In the mid-afternoons, they will gather to talk about their individual projects. The Collegeville Institute, through a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc., will cover travel expenses to and from the workshop, as well as room and board. In addition, each participant will receive a $500.00 stipend for the week. Those who join us for the workshop will be expected to reside at the Institute throughout the entire week. Participants will share apartment space, though each person will have a private bedroom.
Eugene Peterson, pastor, scholar, author, and poet, exemplifies the integration of writing and the pastoral life. He has written some 30 books, among them The Message, his renowned translation of the Bible into contemporary English. Peterson began his career as pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland in 1962. He served there for 29 years before retiring. He has also taught spiritual theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is currently working on a five-volume spiritual theology, of which three volumes have been published: Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology; Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading; The Jesus Way: A Conversation on the Ways That Jesus Is the Way. (The series is published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Group.)
Eugene Peterson Photo by Tenneyson Williams