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Below are details and links to a selection of writings about silence by Dr Alison Woolley, Director of Seeds of Silence.
Some are based on her PhD research, whilst others have appeared in popular Christian media, such as The Church Times or Retreats 2017, published by The Retreat Association. |
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Click the image to read the 'Back Page Interview' with Alison in The Church Times from the beginning of Lent in March, 2017. 'A discipline of silence is hard work and often demands sacrifice on some level.'
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Click the image to read a pdf version of Alison's article, Exploring Silence, written for The Retreat Association's 2017 Handbook, below.
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The Retreats 2017 Handbook contains 11 further articles and information about over 230 retreat locations in the UK and beyond.
To order a copy of Retreats 2017, and to explore The Retreat Association website, click on the handbook image.
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This book contains Alison's chapter based on her PhD research into the role, value and impact of chosen practices of silence in contemporary Christian women's spiritual journeys. Alison Woolley, 'Silent Gifts: An Exploration of Relationality in Contemporary Christian Women's Chosen Practices of Silence', in Nicola Slee, Fran Porter and Anne Phillips, eds., The Faith of Women and Girls: Qualitative Research Perspectives (Farnham: Ashgate, 2013), 147-159.
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This book contains Alison's chapter about silences in research interviews. However, its focus on exploring how new self-knowledge emerges when silence is fostered in one-to-one relationships makes valuable reading for those involved in Spiritual Accompaniment and pastoral care. Based on the methodology she evolved for her PhD research, the chapter interrogates the importance of paying attention to periods of silence throughout all stages of the research process.
See Alison Woolley, 'Wholly Sound: A Feminist Reframing of the 'Problem' of Interview Silence as a Methodology for Discovering New Knowledge', in Nicola Slee, Fran Porter and Anne Phillips, eds., Researching Female Faith: Qualitative Research Methods, (London: Routledge, 2017), 155-170.
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Women Choosing Silence: Relationality and Transformation in Spiritual Practice, (London: Routledge, pending publication, Jan 2019).
This book will be published in Routledge's academic series, 'Explorations in Practical, Pastoral and Empirical Theology'. It will offer readers a detailed account of Alison's research into the role, value and impact of chosen practices of silence in the faith lives of contemporary Christian women. Including many accounts of women's descriptions of their engagement in practices of silence, and the ways that it transforms their relationship with God, with themselves and with others, it presents a moving portrayal of the impact of this ancient Christian spiritual discipline in women's lives today.
A description of the book:
Investigating practices of silence as a spiritual discipline in Christian women’s faith journeys, this book reveals the value and positive impact of silence in women’s lives today. Its substantive theological and empirical exploration of women’s practices of silence challenges the traditional associations between silence and solitude. Instead, it demonstrates that women perceive their disciplined silence as a place of encounter, where their relationships with God, with themselves and with others are examined and transformed. Proposing that feminist theology has insubstantially addressed women’s chosen, faith-based engagement in silence, and that practical theology has yet to attend to what is one of the oldest spiritual practices, this extensive, qualitatively rich inquiry counters prevailing feminist accounts of women being silenced and places women’s own words about their discipline of silence at its heart. By paying close attention to the vivid and captivating metaphors that women use to describe their practices, it presents compelling new insights into experiences of silence that, occurring ‘outwith’ language, are rarely discussed or documented. Illustrating the potential of practices of silence to facilitate personal growth and develop appropriate relational responsibility, this book argues for the affirming, empowering and transformational significance of silence in women’s spiritual journeys. It will be welcome reading for all with an interest in women’s faith development, practical theology, spiritual formation, pastoral care, theological education and spiritual direction.
This book will be published in Routledge's academic series, 'Explorations in Practical, Pastoral and Empirical Theology'. It will offer readers a detailed account of Alison's research into the role, value and impact of chosen practices of silence in the faith lives of contemporary Christian women. Including many accounts of women's descriptions of their engagement in practices of silence, and the ways that it transforms their relationship with God, with themselves and with others, it presents a moving portrayal of the impact of this ancient Christian spiritual discipline in women's lives today.
A description of the book:
Investigating practices of silence as a spiritual discipline in Christian women’s faith journeys, this book reveals the value and positive impact of silence in women’s lives today. Its substantive theological and empirical exploration of women’s practices of silence challenges the traditional associations between silence and solitude. Instead, it demonstrates that women perceive their disciplined silence as a place of encounter, where their relationships with God, with themselves and with others are examined and transformed. Proposing that feminist theology has insubstantially addressed women’s chosen, faith-based engagement in silence, and that practical theology has yet to attend to what is one of the oldest spiritual practices, this extensive, qualitatively rich inquiry counters prevailing feminist accounts of women being silenced and places women’s own words about their discipline of silence at its heart. By paying close attention to the vivid and captivating metaphors that women use to describe their practices, it presents compelling new insights into experiences of silence that, occurring ‘outwith’ language, are rarely discussed or documented. Illustrating the potential of practices of silence to facilitate personal growth and develop appropriate relational responsibility, this book argues for the affirming, empowering and transformational significance of silence in women’s spiritual journeys. It will be welcome reading for all with an interest in women’s faith development, practical theology, spiritual formation, pastoral care, theological education and spiritual direction.