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Graeme Chapman Spirituality for Ministry (1998) |
THE AUTHOR
I am an Australian. I was born and grew up in Sydney. I have spent sixteen years as a parish minister in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria and twenty-one as a seminary lecturer.
I began my academic career as a historian but in more recent years I have turned my attention to spirituality, which has been a life-long passion.
I enjoy writing, making furniture and spending time with friends. I have three daughters and five grandchildren. My wife and I live in Selby, in a rain forest in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne.
I enjoy art, particularly oil painting. When I was in my teens I wanted to be an artist but my father argued that making a living as an artist would be difficult. He convinced me and I enrolled instead in law school!
Venturing into my more mature years, I am guided by two principles--following my bliss and flowing with the rhythms of my body.
I have always loved writing poetry. During a difficult period in my life I made the promise to myself that I would release the muse whenever I was moved by a feeling response to life or by strong emotion. Writing poetry, birthed deep in my body, has been both a creative exercise and a catharsis. I am also aware that when I feel most deeply is when I write my best poetry.
I have reached that stage in life that Erickson argues gives us opportunity to contribute to others from the store of wisdom we have acquired. I do not consider my store to be all that capacious, but what I have I offer to others in the hope that it may assist them. Poetry is one means of sharing the runes that are the gift of my journey.
Graeme Chapman
[Table of Contents] [Previous] |
Graeme Chapman Spirituality for Ministry (1998) |