Emma Pavey
I have studied Linguistics (PhD), Theology (ThM), Restorative Justice and Adult Education (adult PGCE).
I have professional experience and skills in administration, facilitative, post-secondary, adult teaching and training (live and online), research, editing and writing, curriculum development, and graphic design/social media.
In my research and reading I'm most recently interested in menopause and theology. Other areas of interest include discussions of cross-disciplinary and holistic ideas, especially the themes of imagination, healing/flourishing, somatic theology, liminality, theopoetics, open and process theology, creative practice, discernment and vocation.
Art website: artbetwixt.weebly.com
I have professional experience and skills in administration, facilitative, post-secondary, adult teaching and training (live and online), research, editing and writing, curriculum development, and graphic design/social media.
In my research and reading I'm most recently interested in menopause and theology. Other areas of interest include discussions of cross-disciplinary and holistic ideas, especially the themes of imagination, healing/flourishing, somatic theology, liminality, theopoetics, open and process theology, creative practice, discernment and vocation.
Art website: artbetwixt.weebly.com
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Videos by Emma Pavey
An introduction to some ideas within process theology (relationality, non-coercive love, and change and potential) and and how these intersect with thinking about power and freedom as shared capacities rather than attributes.
Animation made using Animaker.
Books by Emma Pavey
Papers by Emma Pavey
Article is open access at https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/4/306/html
There are arguments over whether deconstruction is a good tool for Christian theology to use. Sometimes, however, deconstruction is a process that just seems to happen of its own accord. There may be some who sit down and say, ‘Right, I shall now deconstruct my faith’. More commonly, I suspect, life events and new questions whip the theological rug out from under one’s feet and it’s not clear what, if anything, is underneath. To shift analogies, once crisp theology cracks apart, oozing love starts to matter more than truth, the game changes, life changes, faith changes, and one’s feet get sticky. In this paper I describe something of my own journey of deconstruction and towards a newborn, creative faith, a journey that could be described as a move towards open, relational theology. In that move, observations from psychologist Abraham Maslow provide a descriptive correlation for the kind of faith that emerges, and towards which I continue to toddle.
Though best known for his hierarchy of needs, psychologist Abraham Maslow writes in his later book ‘Towards a Psychology of Being’ about what characterizes ‘creativeness’ in his clients. Maslow’s discussion of creativeness resonates with my journey into an authentic, poetic, healthy faith centred in love and it works as a metaphor for that process when viewed through a theological lens and in conjunction with the psychological development of creativity. This is surely no coincidence. It is perhaps ironic then that Maslow takes pains in the preface to describe his work as following a scientific method towards truth: he argues that while, “poets, prophets, priests, dramatists, artists or diplomats…may have wonderful insights, ask the questions that need to be asked…may even be correct and true much of the time…Science is the only way we have of shoving truth down the reluctant throat”. In a therefore intriguing collaboration with this approach, his findings nonetheless provide a fascinating correlation with a return to faith, to a practical theology that is grounded in a relationship with a God of relational love.
Continue reading here:
Center for Open and Relational Theology:
https://c4ort.com/essays/a-first-rate-soup/
“Not all who wander are lost.”—J. R. R. Tolkien
In this article, I examine the theme of wilderness in a secular, post-Christendom age from a theological perspective, incorporating inter-disciplinary insights from sociological and cultural sources to synthesize a practical, pastoral application for this theme. I use Charles Taylor's book A Secular Age as a prompt to think about the place of wilderness in the context of such a secular age, both in terms of its literal and metaphorical meanings. I look at some of the ways in which this context impacts the pastoral work of the church, and then at the crucial role of the wilderness motif in Christian Scripture and tradition. We not only discover there the inherent struggles of wilderness experiences, but – crucially – also reveal the wilderness to be a place of spiritual encounter and unique learning where we are accompanied in struggle and offered particular wisdom. Once elaborated in this way as a dangerous yet holy place, we see, finally, how the wilderness theme can be reimagined to mediate the gap between faith and what Taylor calls the immanent frame of the secular age, informing the church's pastoral response to our contemporary cultural context.
http://www.crucibleonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Pavey-Personhood-Community-and-Solitude-Crucible-6-1-November-2014.pdf
In this article I examine the role of community and solitude for human personhood from a trinitarian perspective. As well as discussing issues of particularity and freedom as they relate to personhood, I look at the way narrative story-telling in community, and divine encounter in solitude work together to develop a sense of personhood grounded in a relationship with the Triune God. I propose that, despite rightful moves away from isolationist individualism, there is the potential for trinitarian theology to encourage a healthy, positive exploration of human solitude. There are grounds for arguing that a Christian experience and understanding of solitude can speak missionally into the postmodern experience of isolation. While firmly grounded and centred in theology, I dialogue with psychological and sociological perspectives on the role of solitude, never as an end in itself, but as a means of creating healthy faith communities.
An introduction to some ideas within process theology (relationality, non-coercive love, and change and potential) and and how these intersect with thinking about power and freedom as shared capacities rather than attributes.
Animation made using Animaker.
Article is open access at https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/4/306/html
There are arguments over whether deconstruction is a good tool for Christian theology to use. Sometimes, however, deconstruction is a process that just seems to happen of its own accord. There may be some who sit down and say, ‘Right, I shall now deconstruct my faith’. More commonly, I suspect, life events and new questions whip the theological rug out from under one’s feet and it’s not clear what, if anything, is underneath. To shift analogies, once crisp theology cracks apart, oozing love starts to matter more than truth, the game changes, life changes, faith changes, and one’s feet get sticky. In this paper I describe something of my own journey of deconstruction and towards a newborn, creative faith, a journey that could be described as a move towards open, relational theology. In that move, observations from psychologist Abraham Maslow provide a descriptive correlation for the kind of faith that emerges, and towards which I continue to toddle.
Though best known for his hierarchy of needs, psychologist Abraham Maslow writes in his later book ‘Towards a Psychology of Being’ about what characterizes ‘creativeness’ in his clients. Maslow’s discussion of creativeness resonates with my journey into an authentic, poetic, healthy faith centred in love and it works as a metaphor for that process when viewed through a theological lens and in conjunction with the psychological development of creativity. This is surely no coincidence. It is perhaps ironic then that Maslow takes pains in the preface to describe his work as following a scientific method towards truth: he argues that while, “poets, prophets, priests, dramatists, artists or diplomats…may have wonderful insights, ask the questions that need to be asked…may even be correct and true much of the time…Science is the only way we have of shoving truth down the reluctant throat”. In a therefore intriguing collaboration with this approach, his findings nonetheless provide a fascinating correlation with a return to faith, to a practical theology that is grounded in a relationship with a God of relational love.
Continue reading here:
Center for Open and Relational Theology:
https://c4ort.com/essays/a-first-rate-soup/
“Not all who wander are lost.”—J. R. R. Tolkien
In this article, I examine the theme of wilderness in a secular, post-Christendom age from a theological perspective, incorporating inter-disciplinary insights from sociological and cultural sources to synthesize a practical, pastoral application for this theme. I use Charles Taylor's book A Secular Age as a prompt to think about the place of wilderness in the context of such a secular age, both in terms of its literal and metaphorical meanings. I look at some of the ways in which this context impacts the pastoral work of the church, and then at the crucial role of the wilderness motif in Christian Scripture and tradition. We not only discover there the inherent struggles of wilderness experiences, but – crucially – also reveal the wilderness to be a place of spiritual encounter and unique learning where we are accompanied in struggle and offered particular wisdom. Once elaborated in this way as a dangerous yet holy place, we see, finally, how the wilderness theme can be reimagined to mediate the gap between faith and what Taylor calls the immanent frame of the secular age, informing the church's pastoral response to our contemporary cultural context.
http://www.crucibleonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Pavey-Personhood-Community-and-Solitude-Crucible-6-1-November-2014.pdf
In this article I examine the role of community and solitude for human personhood from a trinitarian perspective. As well as discussing issues of particularity and freedom as they relate to personhood, I look at the way narrative story-telling in community, and divine encounter in solitude work together to develop a sense of personhood grounded in a relationship with the Triune God. I propose that, despite rightful moves away from isolationist individualism, there is the potential for trinitarian theology to encourage a healthy, positive exploration of human solitude. There are grounds for arguing that a Christian experience and understanding of solitude can speak missionally into the postmodern experience of isolation. While firmly grounded and centred in theology, I dialogue with psychological and sociological perspectives on the role of solitude, never as an end in itself, but as a means of creating healthy faith communities.
Open access and available here:
https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/epdf/10.3828/mb.2022.15