Over the past few weeks a number of friends and colleagues have experienced the death of someone close to them. Whether the person is famous or a solitary unknown, whether the room is crowded at death or the person dies alone, a rich and complex life is coming to a close. Everything has changed. Rearranging the […]
My God My Godde
No matter how hard I trydespite the theology I’ve doneI can’t separate God from the bloke in the skysomewhat disinterestedremoved and impenetrablein league with earthly patriarchy. If I say Goddeis it different?Sometimes, but not always. What I mean is thatat the very least a reflection of me rises not a mirror image more a sense […]
No fancy phrases
The thing is Godde when I speak to you I find that I’m pretty incoherent. No fancy phrases, or lucid lines as if I’m not even sure what I’m doing. It’s as though, without wanting to be rude that I’m talking to myself, you being completely silent and all. About then I worry that you […]
Oh Godde, my mum is dying
Oh, Godde, whatever you are and I don’t know; my mum is dying. Maturity disappeared in one phone call when she said, I have something to tell you. No! I’m not ready. Too many memories of being held hurt soothed and pain kissed away. Now, it’s my turn to wrap her suffering in the space […]
Flinging open doorways to The More
There’ll be no return to church, said The Analyst in reflective mode, ‘until they get rid of the homily.’ He was musing, not on the lapsed art of stylish rhetoric, but the tendency to use a pulpit to tell people what to think, believe and do. Rejecting a dictatorial approach to spirituality is probably one […]
Full immerson: Jungian slow release from the Christian ties that bind
A workshop at Common Ground Conference Progressive Christianity Aotearoa Saturday 8th September 2018 Abstract Blogging about spirituality drew sharp criticism from church authorities who determined my theology ‘not Christian’. I responded by destroying my website, home to myriad articles that explored spirituality one word at a time. Still unaware I was colluding in my own […]
Reimagining the Christian myth in Palmerston North
The Illness The We Are: A Jungian Critique of Christianity by John P. Dourley A creative reading group for explorers Dates and times Thursday evenings, 7-8.30pm. 4, 11, 18, 25 Oct & 1, 8 November 2018. Venue A café in Palmerston North, the exact location yet to be determined, depending on the group. Facilitator Sande […]
Reimagining the Christian myth: a tribute to John P. Dourley
When I was at theological college I was fascinated by how it was perfectly acceptable to see the first chapters of Genesis as mythology but not necessarily the Gospel of Mark, an action-packed narrative that forms the bare bones of the Jesus story, embroidered on by the later writers of Matthew and Luke then given […]
Out of the blue God
Can you close the curtain? Sure. We call them the blue soundproof ones. Yeah, nah, not, it’s an illusion. (He laughs) So, what does God look like for you today? See that blue? Yeah. It’s like the sky and the sea. So, God comes to you out of the blue? Far out! I thought of […]
Who’s boss of God?
‘You’re not boss of me,’ could be the petulant response from a junior God not yet clear of its identity, to the Episcopalian Church’s intention to change their prayer book. Quite! If God continues to live and breathe, then Godde might want to have a say, particularly when the Episcopalian’s are keen on presenting God […]