Continuing Education Events and Courses

Join us for the launch of Practical Theology Amid Environmental Crises, edited by Pamela R. McCarroll (vice-principal and associate professor of practical theology , Emmanuel College) and HyeRan Kim-Cragg (principal and Timothy Eaton Memorial Church Professor of Preaching, Emmanuel College).

Featured respondents: Prof. Bonne Miller-McLemore (Vanderbilt) and Prof. Hilda Koster (University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto).

The field of practical theology has been slow to address the realities of environmental crises in its teaching, research and practice. The present volume seeks to change this reality by bringing together key voices in the field from across the world to engage with the theme of practical theology amid environmental crises.  

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The School of Earth & Soul – Celtic Wisdom 3: Sacred Imagination

July 25–27, 2023

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In Celtic wisdom the sacred is as present on earth as it is in heaven, as immanent as it is transcendent, as human as it is divine, as physical as it is spiritual.
                                             –John Philip Newell, Sacred Earth Sacred Soul

In 2016, John Philip Newell began a teaching initiative that is called The School of Earth & Soul. Its purpose is to reawaken awareness of the sacred in all things through the recovery of Celtic wisdom for today and to help translate this awareness into compassionate action. The school follows a three-year cycle of teaching in its annual retreats. Participants may join at any stage in the three-year cycle and attend any of the Earth & Soul venues across the country.

In July, Emmanuel College's Centre for Religion and Its Contexts is hosting the Celtic Wisdom 3: Sacred Imagination retreat, where participants will be invited to reawaken to the sacredness of the human imagination and compassionate action through the teachings of Alexander John Scott, George MacLeod and Kenneth White. For details about the three-year cycle, visit The School of Earth & Soul's website.

This commuter retreat includes both teaching and spiritual practice over three days. Each day begins and ends with meditative prayer and chant. John Philip teaches from the wisdom of Celtic prophets over the centuries, applying this ancient wisdom to today's most critical challenges. Cami Twilling invites us into spiritual practice bringing our inner attention to the presence of the sacred within us and within all things. In the early afternoon, there is silence and free time for resting and walking. Our meals are shared in common and on the evening of the second day we have a party to celebrate our time together at the school. On the final morning before lunch, we share together in a closing ritual of thanksgiving. Click here for the full schedule.

The essential text for the three-year program is John Philip Newell’s Sacred Earth Sacred Soul. And the shared prayer book of the school is Sounds of the Eternal: A Celtic Psalter.

Registration Fee: $365 (CAD) + 13% HST
The fee includes retreat participation on all three days (July 25-27), light refreshments during the retreat, a boxed lunch (July 26), and a reception with cheese/crudités and 1 drink ticket (July 26, evening). The fee does not include accommodation, meals outside of what was indicated above, or travel to-and-from Victoria University/Toronto.

If you live outside of Toronto and will require accommodation (hotel, B&B, etc.), the Centre for Religion and Its Contexts has arranged for a block of summer accommodation units at Victoria University (steps away from the retreat) to be held for retreat participants until April 25, 2023. Details are available when you register.

If you live outside of Toronto and are travelling to join us for the retreat, we strongly advise that you purchase flight/travel cancellation insurance.

 

 John Philip Newell is a Celtic teacher and author of spirituality who calls the modern world to reawaken to the sacredness of Earth and every human being.

Canadian by birth, and a citizen also of Scotland, he resides with his family in Edinburgh and works on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2016 he began the School of Earth and Soul and regularly teaches in the United States and Canada as well as leading international pilgrimage weeks on Iona in the Western Isles of Scotland.

His PhD is from the University of Edinburgh and he has authored over fifteen books. His latest award-winning publication, Sacred Earth Sacred Soul, was the 2022 Gold Winner of the Nautilus Book Award for Spirituality and Religious Thought of the West. In 2022 he received the Sacred Universe Award from the Well Center for Spirituality in Chicago in recognition of his significant work in furthering humanity's relationship with the sacredness of Earth.

Newell speaks of himself as ‘a wandering teacher’ following the ancient path of many lone teachers before him in the Celtic world, seeking the wellbeing of the world. He has been described as having ‘the heart of a Celtic bard and the mind of a Celtic scholar’, combining in his teachings the poetic and the intellectual, the head as well as the heart, and spiritual awareness as well as political and ecological concern.

Cami Twilling, based in Colorado, is the Director of Earth & Soul (a Celtic initiative of study, spiritual practice and compassionate action inspired by the teachings of John Philip Newell). As well as heading up the overall work of Earth & Soul, she facilitates the spiritual practice component of the School of Earth & Soul. Previously she was the head of the Contemplative Spirituality and Youth Ministry at Trinity UMC in downtown Denver. She has studied meditation in the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition of Shambhala and received Spiritual Direction certification from the Hesychia School of Spiritual Direction in Tucson, Arizona. In addition to leading mountain and urban retreats, she has led international pilgrimage groups to Iona in the Western Isles of Scotland and work teams to Guatemala to build houses in communities that have suffered from political strife and economic hardship. Cami is passionate about the relationship between spirituality and action and believes that spiritual vision and practice can play a vital role in helping to heal and transform our lives both individually and together.

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