The Writer
I am a retired newspaper editor and columnist who spent my professional life in newsrooms or classrooms in Pennsylvania, Indiana, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Vermont, Japan, and Maryland. I left doctoral studies in the psychology of religion at Boston University’s School of theology after two years to devote myself to journalism. I hold master’s degrees in psychology (Duquesne U.) and theology (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) and have completed a 14-month Creative Writing specialization program offered online by Wesleyan University of Connecticut. (a)
As a journalist, I have always held an interest in religion journalism–an interest that has eluded many newspaper editors and continues to do so. Now a retiree, my part-time jobs have included teaching English/Writing at a community college and as a part-time information librarian in a county public library. I also do freelance editing and am a laboring poet. (http://poetrybyara.wordpress.com).
An active Episcopalian confirmed in 1974 in the Diocese of Massachusetts, I have been a mentor for EfM (Education for Ministry, an international program administered by The University of the South in Sewanee, TN). I mentored in the Diocese of Maryland for 12 years. After a break for retirement and relocation, I am again mentoring in Georgia, where my wife is a Middle School administrator. I have led discussion classes in the Adult Formation Program of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Augusta, Georgia.
And I’m working on improving my blogging.
My blog is a journal of reflective writing as I explore some of the spaces between religion, education, psychology, journalism, spiritual formation, and leisure with lots of philosophical, theological, and popular culture musings inserted in my somewhat whimsical reflections along the way.
I’m an avid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, who–as did I–began life in Brooklyn, New York.
I am the youngest of four children born to immigrants from Newfoundland, a fate that often forces me to confess I’m a closet Canadian who’s prone to lyrics from Gordon Lightfoot, Stan Rogers, Joni Mitchell, Ian Tyson, Ann Murray, Leonard Cohen, Raffi, Connie Kaldor, Dave Gunning, the Ennis Sisters, The Wailin’ Jennys, and some old-timers such as Hank Snow, Wilf Carter, and Dick Nolan. I should add another native Canadian from a different genre: the late and beloved George Beverly Shea.
If you’re a first-time visitor to faith@ease, I urge you to read the opening post I wrote in 2007 that attempts to spell out what I’m encouraging in this blog. You can get to it quickly in the sidebar archive for February 2007 or by clicking < href="https://faithatease.com/2007/02/faith_at_ease/">here. During the years with this blog, my postings have leaned toward a greater focus on Memoirs and Christian Spirituality.
(I also urge all to read the writings of the German Catholic philosopher Josef Pieper, especially his 1948 book,
Leisure: The Basis of Culture, published in English in 1998 by St. Augustine’s Press in
South Bend, IN.
(a) During my last four decades I have become an ardent “lifelong learner” with certificates completed online from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley; the U. of North Carolina; The University of Notre Dame; California Institute of the Arts (CalArts); Education to Go through The University of South Carolina in Aiken; the University of Wisconsin–Madison (continuing ed); Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA; the Commonwealth Education Trust of New Zealand; and Wesleyan University. I’m probably not finished yet.
My children often mock me with the question, “How many colleges did you attend, Dad?” I keep the answer a guarded secret and share that I’ve found learning to love greater than loving to learn.
I will respond to all comments made to posts in this blog. (You can leave a comment by clicking the “Comments” item at the end of each post.)
I am also available via email at aroyandrews@gmail.com, but it may take some time for me to respond to emails.
–Allan Roy Andrews, Augusta, GA
Please drop a note and do share the link to this blog where you go online. Thanks.
