Description: An American ethicist and a South African theologian reflect on their work with wood and how it has helped them find creativity and meaning in experiences of both loss and transformation. Through their friendship, correspondence, and work together they have developed a rich narrative about the way this craftwork has shaped their relationships with family, friends, and their natural environment. Their conversation invites both craftspeople and religious seekers to join them on a spiritual journey toward fresh insight and inspiration.
Brief description: William Johnson Everett taught Christian social ethics for over thirty years in theological schools in the US, Germany, India, and South Africa, before turning to fiction, poetry, and other forms of creative writing. His many books and articles in ethics have been followed by an eco-centric work of historical fiction, Red Clay, Blood River (2008) and Turnings: Poems of Transformation, which appeared from Wipf and Stock in 2013. With the publication of Sawdust and Soul: A Conversation on Woodworking and Spirituality (Wipf and Stock, 2014) written with John De Gruchy, he is now working on a memoir about his grandfather's work at a copper mine on Cyprus in the 1920s. When not writing, he constructs furniture for worship settings. His online journal is at www.WilliamEverett.com and his gallery, shared with his wife Sylvia is at www.WisdomsTable.net. .