Jennifer Reek | University of Glasgow (original) (raw)

Books by Jennifer Reek

The theme of spiritual transformation is explored in a reading of Dennis Potter’s The Singing Det... more The theme of spiritual transformation is explored in a reading of Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective with the Book of Job, in which both protagonists move from places of great suffering into new life and insight. An existential poetics is initiated utilizing the method of autobiographical biblical criticism and Hélène Cixous’ reading and writing practices.

This innovative book aims to create a 'poetics of Church' and a 'religious imaginary' as alternat... more This innovative book aims to create a 'poetics of Church' and a 'religious imaginary' as alternatives to more institutional and conventional ways of thinking and being 'Church'. Structured as a spiritual and literary journey, the work moves from models of the institutional Catholic Church into more radical and ambiguous textual spaces, which the author creates by bringing together an unorthodox group of thinkers referred to as 'poet-companions': the 16th-century founder of the Society of Jesus, Ignatius of Loyola, the French thinkers Gaston Bachelard and Hélène Cixous, the French poet Yves Bonnefoy, and the English playwright Dennis Potter.

Papers by Jennifer Reek

International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, 2024

Jennifer Reek works at a hospital in the American Southwest. The hospital serves varied cultures:... more Jennifer Reek works at a hospital in the American Southwest. The
hospital serves varied cultures: Native American, Hispanic, white,
and various combinations of those, with an intriguing mix of reli-
gious and spiritual practice. The following reflections, on her experi-
ences as a hospital chaplain over the past several years, are at the
invitation of her former thesis advisor and now friend of many
years, David Jasper. They are an adaptation of weekly reflections
submitted over a year and a half of Clinical Pastoral Education training.

This article suggests that the sixteenth-century Basque saint Ignatius of Loyola and the French t... more This article suggests that the sixteenth-century Basque saint Ignatius of Loyola and the French thinker Hélène Cixous expe- rienced consolation in unexpected encounters with texts. For Ignatius, consolation came as a result of reading while recover- ing from a battle wound in 1521 the only texts available to him, of lives of the saints and Christ. For Cixous, it was the consoling birth of her writing life after the death of her father in 1948 and 30 years later a chance reading of the Brazilian novelist Clarice Lispector. These encounters serve here as a point of departure into a beginning exploration of reading and writing as consolation in the work and life of these two disparate yet essentially compatible figures. Taking a cue from Cixous’s reading and writing practices, personal criticism is used in the reading of their texts so that the writing of this essay may itself perform an act of consoling.

This article undertakes a reading of Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective and the book of Job th... more This article undertakes a reading of Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective and the book of Job that is informed by the work of Hélène Cixous. As such, it attempts to enact a way of reading and writing that is invitatory and relational, where texts and readers are engaged as conversation partners and the voices of the ‘poets’ and my own voice are listened to authentically. In line with Cixous’ reading and writing practice, which is influenced by Heidegger’s later writing on poetics, a path is allowed to unfold into the texts, without imposition of the author upon them, a process created in the interplay between the content and form of the work.

Chapters in Books by Jennifer Reek

From Visions and Vocations, the second volume of Catholic Women Speak, ed. Catholic Women Speak N... more From Visions and Vocations, the second volume of Catholic Women Speak, ed. Catholic Women Speak Network; Paulist Press, October 2018; timed to correspond with the Synod on Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment.

‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . .’ In his remarkable trilogy on theology, lite... more ‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . .’

In his remarkable trilogy on theology, literature, and the arts—The Sacred Desert, The Sacred Body, The Sacred Community—David Jasper often turns to the text of John’s prologue in what could be described as a decade-long meditation on the theme of ‘dwelling poetically’. The latter phrase originates in a Hölderlin poem, ‘Of lovely blueness . . .’: ‘Full of merit, yet poetically, man dwells on this earth.’ It is taken up by Heidegger, in his late poetic writings, to explore what it might be like to dwell poetically, which is, as Jasper puts it, ‘to move toward a new way of thinking itself and a new way of being—that is, finally, what it is to be fully human.’ Hélène Cixous, the French theorist, explores this same territory in her practice of écriture feminine, which includes a deeply incarnational component with its idea of ‘writing the body’. Cixous is also influenced by her readings of the later Heidegger, which cause her to take what has been called an ‘ascetic’ turn. In this essay I engage the work of these three thinkers to mark a place in-between two perspectives: Either word made flesh, or flesh made word. What Heidegger, Cixous, and Jasper do in their reading/writing practices is something that changes that ‘either/or’ to a ‘both/and’. They enact in their writing an embodied poetic textuality in which the form itself is as important as the content in transforming the way we think and live.

In this chapter I seek to disclose a kinship between poetry and prayer. My method, for such an un... more In this chapter I seek to disclose a kinship between poetry and prayer. My method, for such an unconventional task, must itself be unconventional. Inspired by the French thinker Hélène Cixous’s reading and writing practices, which were, in turn, influenced by Heidegger’s late poetic readings of poets, I proceed, in part, by listening and responding to phrases about hearing the voice of poets and by engaging them in conversation. The phrases appear in the work of two Jesuit scholars who were themselves attentive listeners to the word of poetry: Michel de Certeau and Karl Rahner. It is from the latter I borrow the notion of ‘inner kinship’, which he explored in his essay, ‘Poetry and the Christian’.

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Book Reviews by Jennifer Reek

The Hartford Catholic Worker, 2019

The Hartford Catholic Worker The Hartford Catholic Worker Established November 3, 1993 Volume 27 ... more The Hartford Catholic Worker The Hartford Catholic Worker Established November 3, 1993 Volume 27 Number 2 The Hartford Catholic Worker is published quarterly by the St. Martin De Porres Catholic Worker community.

Literature and Theology: 25th Anniversary Special Issue, Sep 2012

Talks by Jennifer Reek

The Gospel of John is both profoundly beautiful and extremely dangerous. It is a work that abound... more The Gospel of John is both profoundly beautiful and extremely dangerous. It is a work that abounds in language of hope and faith, yet it has also been the origin of much evil, especially in the form of an anti-Judaic violence that transmogrified into centuries of anti-Semitism. Can this text so often seen as exclusionary be relevant in our increasingly pluralistic times? How is one to proclaim what is life-giving in John to today’s world, one now considered to have moved so far and so fast beyond the universals of modernism that it is referred to as hypermodern? Despite our cultural circumstance of rapid flux and unclear values, the Gospel of John nevertheless forces us to confront the eternal ethical questions of who we are to be and how we are to live. It demands that we ask what in it contributes to human flourishing, what leads to human diminishing. This paper will touch on these questions, albeit briefly and incompletely, within a framework of three ethical concerns for the Gospel in the 21st century: its anti-Judaic bias, its neglect of the poor and marginalized and its exclusivism.

Profiles by Jennifer Reek

Three professors in Sacred Heart University's Department of Catholic Studies recently published b... more Three professors in Sacred Heart University's Department of Catholic Studies recently published books that explore aspects of Catholic intellectual tradition (CIT), a 2,000-year-old examination by theologians, philosophers, writers, artists and others seeking answers about God, humanity, society and nature. "The Catholic intellectual tradition is at the core of our mission statement and we have built our foundation around it here at Sacred Heart," said Michelle Loris, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and chair of the Department of Catholic Studies. She said the new books-written by Professors Brent Little, Jennifer Reek and Daniel Rober-are relevant to the interdisciplinary nature of Catholic studies. Brent Little, a lecturer at SHU, has co-edited Revelation and Convergence: Flannery O'Connor and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. He produced the collection of essays with theologian Mark Bosco, formerly of Loyola University in Chicago, who now serves as Georgetown University's vice president for mission and ministry. The essays originally were presented in abbreviated form at a 2011 conference dedicated to O'Connor, an American writer, at Loyola University. Little said the scholars included in this collection represent historical, literary and theological perspectives of O'Connor's life and work.

The theme of spiritual transformation is explored in a reading of Dennis Potter’s The Singing Det... more The theme of spiritual transformation is explored in a reading of Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective with the Book of Job, in which both protagonists move from places of great suffering into new life and insight. An existential poetics is initiated utilizing the method of autobiographical biblical criticism and Hélène Cixous’ reading and writing practices.

This innovative book aims to create a 'poetics of Church' and a 'religious imaginary' as alternat... more This innovative book aims to create a 'poetics of Church' and a 'religious imaginary' as alternatives to more institutional and conventional ways of thinking and being 'Church'. Structured as a spiritual and literary journey, the work moves from models of the institutional Catholic Church into more radical and ambiguous textual spaces, which the author creates by bringing together an unorthodox group of thinkers referred to as 'poet-companions': the 16th-century founder of the Society of Jesus, Ignatius of Loyola, the French thinkers Gaston Bachelard and Hélène Cixous, the French poet Yves Bonnefoy, and the English playwright Dennis Potter.

International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, 2024

Jennifer Reek works at a hospital in the American Southwest. The hospital serves varied cultures:... more Jennifer Reek works at a hospital in the American Southwest. The
hospital serves varied cultures: Native American, Hispanic, white,
and various combinations of those, with an intriguing mix of reli-
gious and spiritual practice. The following reflections, on her experi-
ences as a hospital chaplain over the past several years, are at the
invitation of her former thesis advisor and now friend of many
years, David Jasper. They are an adaptation of weekly reflections
submitted over a year and a half of Clinical Pastoral Education training.

This article suggests that the sixteenth-century Basque saint Ignatius of Loyola and the French t... more This article suggests that the sixteenth-century Basque saint Ignatius of Loyola and the French thinker Hélène Cixous expe- rienced consolation in unexpected encounters with texts. For Ignatius, consolation came as a result of reading while recover- ing from a battle wound in 1521 the only texts available to him, of lives of the saints and Christ. For Cixous, it was the consoling birth of her writing life after the death of her father in 1948 and 30 years later a chance reading of the Brazilian novelist Clarice Lispector. These encounters serve here as a point of departure into a beginning exploration of reading and writing as consolation in the work and life of these two disparate yet essentially compatible figures. Taking a cue from Cixous’s reading and writing practices, personal criticism is used in the reading of their texts so that the writing of this essay may itself perform an act of consoling.

This article undertakes a reading of Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective and the book of Job th... more This article undertakes a reading of Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective and the book of Job that is informed by the work of Hélène Cixous. As such, it attempts to enact a way of reading and writing that is invitatory and relational, where texts and readers are engaged as conversation partners and the voices of the ‘poets’ and my own voice are listened to authentically. In line with Cixous’ reading and writing practice, which is influenced by Heidegger’s later writing on poetics, a path is allowed to unfold into the texts, without imposition of the author upon them, a process created in the interplay between the content and form of the work.

From Visions and Vocations, the second volume of Catholic Women Speak, ed. Catholic Women Speak N... more From Visions and Vocations, the second volume of Catholic Women Speak, ed. Catholic Women Speak Network; Paulist Press, October 2018; timed to correspond with the Synod on Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment.

‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . .’ In his remarkable trilogy on theology, lite... more ‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . .’

In his remarkable trilogy on theology, literature, and the arts—The Sacred Desert, The Sacred Body, The Sacred Community—David Jasper often turns to the text of John’s prologue in what could be described as a decade-long meditation on the theme of ‘dwelling poetically’. The latter phrase originates in a Hölderlin poem, ‘Of lovely blueness . . .’: ‘Full of merit, yet poetically, man dwells on this earth.’ It is taken up by Heidegger, in his late poetic writings, to explore what it might be like to dwell poetically, which is, as Jasper puts it, ‘to move toward a new way of thinking itself and a new way of being—that is, finally, what it is to be fully human.’ Hélène Cixous, the French theorist, explores this same territory in her practice of écriture feminine, which includes a deeply incarnational component with its idea of ‘writing the body’. Cixous is also influenced by her readings of the later Heidegger, which cause her to take what has been called an ‘ascetic’ turn. In this essay I engage the work of these three thinkers to mark a place in-between two perspectives: Either word made flesh, or flesh made word. What Heidegger, Cixous, and Jasper do in their reading/writing practices is something that changes that ‘either/or’ to a ‘both/and’. They enact in their writing an embodied poetic textuality in which the form itself is as important as the content in transforming the way we think and live.

In this chapter I seek to disclose a kinship between poetry and prayer. My method, for such an un... more In this chapter I seek to disclose a kinship between poetry and prayer. My method, for such an unconventional task, must itself be unconventional. Inspired by the French thinker Hélène Cixous’s reading and writing practices, which were, in turn, influenced by Heidegger’s late poetic readings of poets, I proceed, in part, by listening and responding to phrases about hearing the voice of poets and by engaging them in conversation. The phrases appear in the work of two Jesuit scholars who were themselves attentive listeners to the word of poetry: Michel de Certeau and Karl Rahner. It is from the latter I borrow the notion of ‘inner kinship’, which he explored in his essay, ‘Poetry and the Christian’.

w w w . a s h g a t e . c o m w w w . a s h g a t e . c o m w w w . a s h g a t e . c o m w w w .... more w w w . a s h g a t e . c o m w w w . a s h g a t e . c o m w w w . a s h g a t e . c o m w w w . a s h g a t e . c o m w w w . a s h g a t e . c o m w w w . a s h g a t e . c o m w w w . a s h g a t e . c o m w w w . a s h g a t e . c o m © Copyrighted Material

The Hartford Catholic Worker, 2019

The Hartford Catholic Worker The Hartford Catholic Worker Established November 3, 1993 Volume 27 ... more The Hartford Catholic Worker The Hartford Catholic Worker Established November 3, 1993 Volume 27 Number 2 The Hartford Catholic Worker is published quarterly by the St. Martin De Porres Catholic Worker community.

Literature and Theology: 25th Anniversary Special Issue, Sep 2012

The Gospel of John is both profoundly beautiful and extremely dangerous. It is a work that abound... more The Gospel of John is both profoundly beautiful and extremely dangerous. It is a work that abounds in language of hope and faith, yet it has also been the origin of much evil, especially in the form of an anti-Judaic violence that transmogrified into centuries of anti-Semitism. Can this text so often seen as exclusionary be relevant in our increasingly pluralistic times? How is one to proclaim what is life-giving in John to today’s world, one now considered to have moved so far and so fast beyond the universals of modernism that it is referred to as hypermodern? Despite our cultural circumstance of rapid flux and unclear values, the Gospel of John nevertheless forces us to confront the eternal ethical questions of who we are to be and how we are to live. It demands that we ask what in it contributes to human flourishing, what leads to human diminishing. This paper will touch on these questions, albeit briefly and incompletely, within a framework of three ethical concerns for the Gospel in the 21st century: its anti-Judaic bias, its neglect of the poor and marginalized and its exclusivism.

Three professors in Sacred Heart University's Department of Catholic Studies recently published b... more Three professors in Sacred Heart University's Department of Catholic Studies recently published books that explore aspects of Catholic intellectual tradition (CIT), a 2,000-year-old examination by theologians, philosophers, writers, artists and others seeking answers about God, humanity, society and nature. "The Catholic intellectual tradition is at the core of our mission statement and we have built our foundation around it here at Sacred Heart," said Michelle Loris, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and chair of the Department of Catholic Studies. She said the new books-written by Professors Brent Little, Jennifer Reek and Daniel Rober-are relevant to the interdisciplinary nature of Catholic studies. Brent Little, a lecturer at SHU, has co-edited Revelation and Convergence: Flannery O'Connor and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. He produced the collection of essays with theologian Mark Bosco, formerly of Loyola University in Chicago, who now serves as Georgetown University's vice president for mission and ministry. The essays originally were presented in abbreviated form at a 2011 conference dedicated to O'Connor, an American writer, at Loyola University. Little said the scholars included in this collection represent historical, literary and theological perspectives of O'Connor's life and work.

Go, Rebuild My House, 2021

What do Michael Paul Gallagher and Ignatian tradition offer us in these dark times in America?

Go, Rebuild My House, 2020

In this post I take our blog title, 'Go, Rebuild My House', and begin to explore, in a roundabou... more In this post I take our blog title, 'Go, Rebuild My House', and begin to explore, in a roundabout way, what it might mean if the house we are meant to “rebuild” is ourselves, that is, to paraphrase Pope John Paul II, the human person as a living house of the divine.

Go, Rebuild My House, 2020

In the face of the pandemic what was once important falls away. We are left with basic questions.... more In the face of the pandemic what was once important falls away. We are left with basic questions. What is ‘church’ when we cannot gather together? When, paradoxically, by not going to church we are helping others, especially the elderly, who represent more than half of congregations and who are at greatest risk if exposed to the virus? Lately, with some insisting churches reopen regardless of risk, there has been a considerable amount of online discussion on the subject: A cartoon is circulating on social media of a simple drawing of a church. The caption reads: “The building is closed. The church is open.” “Our highest and holy calling is to be church, not to go to church,” states a meme. Catholic apologist and blogger Mark Shea remarks that “in this strange hour, it is mostly those who think they do not believe in Jesus who are proving themselves his disciples by the only measure he cares about: their actions which put the good of others first.”

Go, Rebuild My House, 2020

Go, Rebuild My House, Sacred Heart University blog, 2019

Go, Rebuild My House, 2019

Go, Rebuild My House, 2019

This is a blog post to the Sacred Heart University forum on Church reform, Go, Rebuild My House

Ethel, 2021

Flash memoir for Ethel, a twice-yearly limited-edition, handmade Zine of writing and art and a mi... more Flash memoir for Ethel, a twice-yearly limited-edition, handmade Zine of writing and art and a micro-press specializing in handmade and hand-bound chapbooks and mini-books.

Amethyst Review: New Writing Engaging with the Sacred, 2018

Amethyst Journal: New Writing Engaging the Sacred, 2018

Amethyst Journal: New Writing Engaging with the Sacred

The Banyan Review, 2020

Covid/Corvid, The Conductor, god man

Video of paper presentation at conference in honor of Michael Paul Gallagher: Dive Deeper: Explo... more Video of paper presentation at conference in honor of Michael Paul Gallagher:
Dive Deeper: Explorations in Faith, Poetry and Culture - Heythrop Institute for Religion and Society Annual Conference, 25th November 2016.