What does it mean to experience holy awe? Some thoughts from Genny Rowley

July 24, 2013

Awe (the word itself is enough!)
At this midpoint in a busy week, it might be a good idea to pause and think about the grandeur of the world our Creator has given us.  Genny Rowley suggests we look at a time lapse video of Yosemite (the link is included in her blog post) and consider how the sense of awe experienced in viewing such beauty sometimes “jolts us out of the ordinary and familiar.” Something seems to shift deep within us at such moments.  At other times, we may experience awe in the midst of the very ordinary happenings of everyday life, and everything becomes sacred.  Genny Rowley is a Ph.D. candidate in Bright Divinity School’s Pastoral Theology and Pastoral Care program in Fort Worth, Texas.  She is also a part-time chaplain and liturgist.  She writes, “My work focuses on the intersection of spiritual practices, justice work, and how these things connect to personal and planetary well-being.” My thanks to Jann Aldredge-Clanton for telling me about Genny and introducing me to her work.

Letha Dawson Scanzoni is an independent scholar, writer, and editor, and is the author or coauthor of nine books. In 1978, she and Virginia Ramey Mollenkott wrote Is the Homosexual My Neighbor?, one of the earliest books urging evangelical Christians to rethink their views on homosexuality (updated edition, 1994, HarperOne). More recently, Letha coauthored (with social psychologist David G. Myers) What God Has Joined Together: The Christian Case for Gay Marriage (HarperOne, 2005 and 2006). Another of Letha’s most well-known books is All We’re Meant to Be: Biblical Feminism for Today, coauthored with Nancy A. Hardesty (Word Books, 1974; revised edition, Abingdon, 1986; updated and expanded edition, Eerdmans, 1992). Letha served as editor of Christian Feminism Today in both its former print edition (EEWC Update) and its website for 19 years until her retirement in December 2013.

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