Author: James Woodward

I have spent some considerable time over the past three decades writing about building communities where age, and the wisdom of age is valued and celebrated. All of us need to both narrate our story and have it heard and even valued. Sometimes we need to tell that story to o

I have never met Heather Walton but her writing has had a significant influence on my teaching and ministry. Her book written in 2015 Not Eden: Spiritual Life Writing for this World published by SCM Press was transformative in the shaping of my reflective practice and indeed pa

I have just returned home from a weekend at Sarum College in Salisbury where a number of people from across the country gathered to explore the poetry of George Herbert. We were certainly fortunate to have as our guide Professor Helen Wilcox who is an important intellectual figu

How do you manage your Netflix subscription? How does it manage you with its clever diagnostics predicting your viewing patterns, and making links with their predictions of your interests? Starved of 'nourishing'viewing I was pointed in the direction of this six part series

East Hetton Pit, Kelloe, County Durham I was born in Kelloe in 1961, a mining village sitting about eight miles south east of Durham City. This was my home until I left for `University in 1979 thanks to a solid education at Spennymoor Secondary School which had managed t

Thursday, the 24th of July will mark the second anniversary of my father's sudden death. Though at 84 it was a good stretch of living. I have will keep that free simply to create some space to reflect on these months and remember with affection both of my parents who have in

Philip Hensher The Missing Ink : The Lost Art of Handwriting ( and Why it Still Matters) Macmillan 2012 Book collectors tend to buy more books than they are able to read and I am no exception to this general rule of thumb. I entertain the slightly delusional fantasy that

Didier Eribon I have become much more disciplined in recent times about buying new books. This is partly related to the number of books that are waiting to be read when I find the time ! I am also beginning to think about what's on my shelves and what might happen to

Being Interrupted by Al Barrett and Ruth Harley London SCM Press, xvi + 262 Pb, £25.00 ISBN 978- 0-33405-862-5  There are several interconnecting ‘disciplines’ at work in the crafting of these 16 chapters which work together in the offering of an integrated and prac

Present in Every Place?: The Church of England’s new churches, and the future of the parishWill FoulgerSCM Press £25(978-0-334-06203-5) 117pp I live and work in Salisbury with a population of about 70,000. There are seven benefices and at least eighteen places where An

Reimagining Ministerial FormationDavid HeywoodSCM Press £25 2021 xii + 181pp(978-0-334-06042-0) The middle over fast flowing river with some unpredictable storm clouds on the horizon is not the best vantage point from which to stand back to discern and evaluate. I read this

Light to Those in Darkness Total Pain and the Body of Christ Charlie Bell SCM Press 2023 978-0-334-06400-8 £25.00 Charlie Bell is a force of nature. Indefatigable, passionate, intelligent, and grounded are some of the virtues and characteristics that have shaped

There can be no doubt that these recent weeks have been traumatic and testing for the Church of England and for the public face of religion. Two things have occurred that bear upon the shape, processes and content of this book which make it important for these debates. T

I have been sorting through files and bits of writing and I thought that this was worth sharing again ! The Living Fountain: Remembrances of Quaker Christianity Benjamin Wood,  John Hunt Publishing 2023 Many of the readers here will have experienced Quakerism in an

Christian B. Miller, The Character Gap: How Good Are We? (OUP, 2017) Two conversations about character and choice shaped the reading of this short and illuminating exploration of the nature of character. The first, with a High Court judge with long experience of

Talking about Dying  - Help in Facing Death and Dying Philip Giddings, Martin Down, Elaine Sugden, Gareth Tuckwell Wilberforce Publications, 2017, 182pp., pbk , £8.00 It remains somewhat of a persistent paradox that despite our faith in a crucified and ri

Andrew Roots biography reads - Andrew Root, PhD (Princeton Theological Seminary) is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary. He is most recently the author of Evangelism in an Age of Despair and the six volume Ministry in a Se

Many of us would do well to engage in some theological reflection on the way in which our Christian faith has been shaped and formed. Listening to the ongoing debates within the General Synod of the Church of England has been both illuminating and disturbing in equal measure

This article first appeared in a book by Helen Orchard exploring spirituality in healthcare contexts. It draws heavily on my doctoral research. I share it here simply because I think it still has something to say as we consider the nature of ministry particularly when working