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| Let Your Life Speak : Listening for the Voice of Vocation
ISBN: 9781394235124
Platform/Publisher: Ebook Central / John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Limited; Download: 7 Days at a Time
Subjects: Religion;
A gifted academic who formerly combined a college teaching career with community organizing, Palmer took a year's sabbatical to live at the "intentional" Quaker community of Pendle Hill in Pennsylvania. Instead of leaving at year's end, he became the community's dean of studies and remained there for 10 years. Palmer (The Courage to Teach) shares the lessons of his vocational and spiritual journey, discussing his own burnout and intense depression with exceptional candor and clarity. In essays that previously appeared in spiritual or educational journals and have been reworked to fit into this slim volume, he suggests that individuals are most authentic when they follow their natural talents and limitations, as his own story demonstrates. Since hearing one's "calling" requires introspection and self-knowledge (as suggested by the eponymous Quaker expression), Palmer encourages inner work such as journal-writing, meditation and prayer. Recognizing that his philosophy is at odds with popular, essentially American attitudes about self-actualization and following one's dreams, Palmer calls vocation "a gift, not a goal." He deftly illustrates his point with examples from the lives of people he admires, such as Rosa Parks, Annie Dillard and Vaclav Havel. A quiet but memorable addition to the inspirational field, this book has the quality of a finely worked homily. The writing displays a gentle wisdom and economy of style that leaves the reader curious for more insight into the author's Quaker philosophy. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Parker J. Palmer was born in 1939 in Chicago. He attended Carleton College where he studied Philosophy and Sociology and graduated in 1961. He then went on to complete his Phd in Sociology at UC Berkeley. After graduation, he took a teaching position at Georgetown University and became involved with the Religious Society of Friends at Pendle Hill. He is the founder and Senior Partner of the Center for Courage and Renewal which operates the "Courage to Teach" program for K-12 educators across the country. He has published over one hundred essays and eight books. He has also been recognized with thirteen honorary degrees, two Distinguished Achievement Awards from the National Educational Press Association, and grants from the Danforth Foundation and the Lilly Endowment. Parker Palmer's title's include: The Promise of Paradox: A Celebration of Contradictions in the Christian Life, To Know As We Are Known: Education as a Spiritual Journey, and On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Old. (Bowker Author Biography) |
