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Doug and Norvene
often work together as husband and wife, having co-led numerous
workshops and twelve pilgrimages to Europe, as well as working out
many ideas collaboratively. Both are authors and spiritual
directors, interested particularly in ongoing life formation in
the spirit. Both are oblates (affiliates) of St. Andrew’s Abbey
in Valyermo, CA, and are deeply committed to Benedictine values.
The Vests
embrace inclusivity, bridge-building, and peace-making in their
teaching and learning.
Douglas
is a poet, priest, and research physicist. His
passion is the Mystery of God, and he finds the poetic genre a
way to express Mystery in an “approachable” and earthy way. He
describes himself as a generalist, curious about life in all its
myriad forms, expressed in part in the range of graduate degrees
he holds in Formative Spirituality, Divinity, Physics and
Engineering. As priest, Doug was pastoral minister in two
program sized parishes (9 years); administrative priest for one
corporation sized parish (6 years); and diocesan chaplain to
clergy and seminarians (8 years). Since 1982 he has focused on
spiritual formation as spiritual director, retreat leader,
consultant to congregations, and author/poet. See our
books/literature page for his recent books.
Norvene's
primary
focus is on deepening our relationship with God, both
drawing on ancient Christian practices (especially
Benedictine spirituality) and adapting them in light of
contemporary demands. Dr. Vest is particularly
interested in a progressive Christian third way between
conservative orthodoxy and secular disbelief. She
grounds this interest not only in discernment, but also
in her range of scholarship, in mythology/depth
psychology, theology and political theory. She is an
Episcopal laywoman and a founding member of the Center
for Christian Spirituality-West.
Norvene is
intentionally reflective in this liminal or threshold
time, both personally and sociologically, as she
discovers ways to live creatively with chaos and
uncertainty, grounded in spiritual practice and
community. She is a feminist theologian, emphasizing
embodied, relational theology and images of the divine
feminine. Dr. Vest is a spiritual director, speaker and
workshop leader, and author of five books on Benedictine
spirituality for the common life, as well as
editor/contributor to two books on contemporary issues
in spiritual direction (see our books and literature
page). Her newest book will be available in 2010 on
re-visioning theology in the light of imagination,
feminist values, and the philosophy of Paul Ricoeur.
How humbling!
Impassioned prayer,
ostensibly beyond myself,
is filled with self-concern.
Or is this one more reminder
of two lives truly joined?
Whatever homecoming ensues,
I shall recall this night,
without knowing
whether intercession
arises
from the part of me which dwells in her
or she in me
or both
in each of us. |
God must have felt confident
in a mega-gamble
that emptiness was ready;
universes could evolve
from “Let there be,”
addressed to the chaos-filled abyss
of nothing.
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