Biographies
Taken at Giverny, home of Claude Monet, on our recent
trip to France
Norman King,
B.A., M.A., Ph.D., has taught,
written, and lectured over a wide range of themes and topics for the
past
thirty years. He was educated at Toronto
and Laval
Universities,
in Western literature and philosophy, with doctoral studies in
systematic
theology and contemporary religious thought and spirituality. He has
focused
especially on the human quest for meaning in the twentieth century, in
its
personal, interpersonal and social dimensions, with some emphasis on
the work
of German theologian Karl Rahner and American essayist Thomas Merton.
His
courses have included themes in religion and spirituality in dialogue
with
ritual studies, literature, psychology, and sociology,
More recently he expanded his teaching areas
to include Greek mythology and Canadian multiculturalism. Norman has
authored two books and numerous
articles, chiefly in the area of contemporary spiritual thought, and
continues
to write on this subject, as well as in the area of ethics and business.
Jane
Ripley,
B.Mus., CHM, has recently recorded an
instrumental CD [link], which attempts to speaks to and
from the heart and touch the spirit. After several years of teaching
elementary
school and having a private piano studio, she returned to university
where she
completed a music degree (vocal major) and a diploma in church music.
She was
awarded the Board of Governors’ medal for the highest standing in her
degree
program. Jane currently teaches piano, voice, and theory in her music
studio. and serve as
director of music at a local church. She has found in music a profound
avenue
and expression of a genuine spirituality, with its power to express the
whole
range of human feelings, and its ability to bring people together into
community.
Jane and Norman have discovered that they share
a similar orientation of mind and spirit, and have come to collaborate
on a
number of projects, including a book of poetry [link]. They sense that these undertakings
are an occasion to draw
together the strands of their life’s work to date. Yet they feel these
tasks
not only as a labour of love, but also as a responsibility to share in
some
small way and in wider circles the gifts they have received. This
outreach has
taken the form of workshops, lectures, and seminars.
A
unifying thread in both their life and work
has been the notion of presence, and its articulation in both words and
music.
To be present is to “be with,” to be in touch with one’s own silent,
sacred
core, and to be attuned and responsive to the silent, sacred core of
another.
Their work together echoes this thought and, they hope, reflects,
speaks to,
and encourages the voice of the spirit and the music of the heart.