Meet Member Josephine G.: The Theology of Possibility
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Note from the Editor
Today, we’re shining the spotlight on one of our talented member writers!
Introducing member Josephine G.!
Hello, I am Josephine Griffiths. I am an author, mentor and retreat facilitator. Born in London, I came to Perth as an adolescent and started work here at 14. I began my tertiary education when I was forty; loved university and did three degrees in rapid succession because it was such fun! My first love, from my earliest years, was with Christianity, and theology remains my primary passion. I love writing what I call ‘the theology of possibility’, finding ways of making the whole Christian thing make sense in the now rather than continuing to promote a religion that many people outside find medieval!
Two thousand years of teaching and devotion, covering an endless and ever-changing variety of beliefs, needs and circumstances, have solidified Jesus, the Point of it all, into a distant and largely irrelevant figure whose words and their ‘meaning’ seem to have little to say to us.
Now, it is fascinating to explore new, equally valid interpretations that turn the old familiar ones on their heads, bring a new flavour to the stories, and reconnect to the genuine delights to be found in the teaching of Jesus. No way am I claiming to present ‘the real Jesus’; I am simply looking at His words with new eyes, a woman’s eyes, and seeing possibilities in the symbols that can show a more attractive and appealing figure who seems to have enjoyed His life, and wanted others to do the same.
The Gospel accounts were written by men and for men at a time when considering women’s experience as potentially different had not come onto any agenda. Today, we find that many points in the traditional teaching, which Christian women have devotedly tried to live by, are simply not true to women’s experience and only contort their sense of self and emphasise guilt, or better still, confirm the irrelevancy of the Christian story for women in real life.
contemporaryspirituality.com.au is my website, and on it, you will find lots of blogs around this subject as well as my growing collection of pieces I call ‘Things that only Grandmothers know’.
For many years, I have been aware that my generation, today’s elderly grandmothers, are a historical curiosity, a kind of bridge generation such as had never been seen before. Our childhood was spent under a firmly patriarchal regime then, when we had barely reached adulthood, everything changed. We found ourselves with one foot in our predictable, familiar everyday world while the other was tentatively trying to find a place to land in a foreign and often disturbing world. In this new world, things were getting to be very different for women, suddenly even the respect one might have received for being a mother was torpedoed, and for grace, one exchanged shame as being ‘only a mother’. Our daughters were sexually liberated and happily breaking all the codes we’d been brought up to believe were immutable. There was a great deal of adjustment to be made, for which, on the whole, there was little understanding and no credit. This is indeed an extraordinary generation to be celebrated!
The present-day elderly grandmother is the last link with the line of countless generations of women, back to the dawn of time. Her mother’s life, expectations and function could be easily recognisable in any century back almost to the beginning. Her primary meaning was the continuance of the race; for this purpose, women existed and were tolerated and cared for.
This is the pattern of womanhood to which our present grand-mothers are the last witnesses. Never again will women be what they have ‘always’ been. There is immense value to be gained by observing, listening to and recording what is in the process of becoming extinct. However, sincerely, we applaud that extinction we lose a great deal that is significant to present understanding if we neglect to register what is passing.
My 'grandmother blogs' present material that is wondrous, astounding and truly incredible to today’s young women, material that at any other time in history would have been so obvious as to be not worth stating. Now, that is worth recording.
The books I’ve published reflect these passionate interests. I wrote my first one when I studied the tradition of God as feminine in the Christian tradition and felt more people might like to know about it as it doesn’t get mentioned in church! I write for ordinary readers who might find this stuff interesting, which is very different from writing for an academic audience.
That’s what I write, but I read British crime authors of the golden era, mid-twentieth century, for relaxation. I have several hundred books of the genre in my collection and still counting!
Finally, to complete the story, I still see clients who want someone to natter to about whatever is troubling them. I conduct two silent retreats for women each year, and I do online retreats for people who cannot get to the in-person events. I have four gorgeous, clever, beautiful daughters, two fantastic, delicious granddaughters and three handsome, charming grandsons. Life is very good.
My Books:
The Reclaiming of Wisdom: The Restoration of the Feminine in Christianity
Seeking Sophia: Meditations and Reflections for Women Who No Longer Go to Church
This Year for Joy: A Day by Day Guide to Care for the Soul
This Above All: Hamlet and the Art of Ageing Brilliantly
It Depends What You Mean by God
This Royal Throne: A Romp through the Kings and Queens of England from the Definite Coming of Julius Caesar to the Probably Coming of Charles III
Grief’s Hermitage: A Book of Comfort and Consolation for the Bereaved
From the Editor:
You can read more from member Josephine G. here:
Things That Only Grandmothers Know: The Bridge Generation Part 1
Things That Only Grandmothers Know: Celebrating the Bridge Generation Part II
Today, we’re shining the spotlight on one of our talented member writers!
Introducing member Josephine G.!
Hello, I am Josephine Griffiths. I am an author, mentor and retreat facilitator. Born in London, I came to Perth as an adolescent and started work here at 14. I began my tertiary education when I was forty; loved university and did three degrees in rapid succession because it was such fun! My first love, from my earliest years, was with Christianity, and theology remains my primary passion. I love writing what I call ‘the theology of possibility’, finding ways of making the whole Christian thing make sense in the now rather than continuing to promote a religion that many people outside find medieval!
Two thousand years of teaching and devotion, covering an endless and ever-changing variety of beliefs, needs and circumstances, have solidified Jesus, the Point of it all, into a distant and largely irrelevant figure whose words and their ‘meaning’ seem to have little to say to us.
Now, it is fascinating to explore new, equally valid interpretations that turn the old familiar ones on their heads, bring a new flavour to the stories, and reconnect to the genuine delights to be found in the teaching of Jesus. No way am I claiming to present ‘the real Jesus’; I am simply looking at His words with new eyes, a woman’s eyes, and seeing possibilities in the symbols that can show a more attractive and appealing figure who seems to have enjoyed His life, and wanted others to do the same.
The Gospel accounts were written by men and for men at a time when considering women’s experience as potentially different had not come onto any agenda. Today, we find that many points in the traditional teaching, which Christian women have devotedly tried to live by, are simply not true to women’s experience and only contort their sense of self and emphasise guilt, or better still, confirm the irrelevancy of the Christian story for women in real life.
contemporaryspirituality.com.au is my website, and on it, you will find lots of blogs around this subject as well as my growing collection of pieces I call ‘Things that only Grandmothers know’.
For many years, I have been aware that my generation, today’s elderly grandmothers, are a historical curiosity, a kind of bridge generation such as had never been seen before. Our childhood was spent under a firmly patriarchal regime then, when we had barely reached adulthood, everything changed. We found ourselves with one foot in our predictable, familiar everyday world while the other was tentatively trying to find a place to land in a foreign and often disturbing world. In this new world, things were getting to be very different for women, suddenly even the respect one might have received for being a mother was torpedoed, and for grace, one exchanged shame as being ‘only a mother’. Our daughters were sexually liberated and happily breaking all the codes we’d been brought up to believe were immutable. There was a great deal of adjustment to be made, for which, on the whole, there was little understanding and no credit. This is indeed an extraordinary generation to be celebrated!
The present-day elderly grandmother is the last link with the line of countless generations of women, back to the dawn of time. Her mother’s life, expectations and function could be easily recognisable in any century back almost to the beginning. Her primary meaning was the continuance of the race; for this purpose, women existed and were tolerated and cared for.
This is the pattern of womanhood to which our present grand-mothers are the last witnesses. Never again will women be what they have ‘always’ been. There is immense value to be gained by observing, listening to and recording what is in the process of becoming extinct. However, sincerely, we applaud that extinction we lose a great deal that is significant to present understanding if we neglect to register what is passing.
My 'grandmother blogs' present material that is wondrous, astounding and truly incredible to today’s young women, material that at any other time in history would have been so obvious as to be not worth stating. Now, that is worth recording.
The books I’ve published reflect these passionate interests. I wrote my first one when I studied the tradition of God as feminine in the Christian tradition and felt more people might like to know about it as it doesn’t get mentioned in church! I write for ordinary readers who might find this stuff interesting, which is very different from writing for an academic audience.
That’s what I write, but I read British crime authors of the golden era, mid-twentieth century, for relaxation. I have several hundred books of the genre in my collection and still counting!
Finally, to complete the story, I still see clients who want someone to natter to about whatever is troubling them. I conduct two silent retreats for women each year, and I do online retreats for people who cannot get to the in-person events. I have four gorgeous, clever, beautiful daughters, two fantastic, delicious granddaughters and three handsome, charming grandsons. Life is very good.
My Books:
The Reclaiming of Wisdom: The Restoration of the Feminine in Christianity
Seeking Sophia: Meditations and Reflections for Women Who No Longer Go to Church
This Year for Joy: A Day by Day Guide to Care for the Soul
This Above All: Hamlet and the Art of Ageing Brilliantly
It Depends What You Mean by God
This Royal Throne: A Romp through the Kings and Queens of England from the Definite Coming of Julius Caesar to the Probably Coming of Charles III
Grief’s Hermitage: A Book of Comfort and Consolation for the Bereaved
Image Credit: Member Josephine G.
From the Editor:
You can read more from member Josephine G. here:
Things That Only Grandmothers Know: The Bridge Generation Part 1
Things That Only Grandmothers Know: Celebrating the Bridge Generation Part II
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