Welcome!
Thanks for visiting my new website. I hope it will help inform you about my writing and about the topics that interest you. Right now, it focuses primarily on my forthcoming book, The Elements of Prayer: learning to pray in real life. This is the first book I’ve published and it has been quite an experience. I’ve learned a lot and have enjoyed almost all of it.
But my website concerns more than the new book. It also contains information about programs I present called Everyday Theology, a prayer of the week, and an exercise for developing the skills of praying based on part of The Elements of Prayer.
It will also have information about upcoming projects and hopefully, dates of my appearances.
So, enjoy what’s here and feel free to contact me with questions and comments.
Joe
The Elements of Prayer:
learning to pray in real life
“You will be surprised to discover how much praying is like writing--and how well Joe Jewell does both. The Elements of Prayer is that rare book that both teaches and inspires while calling us to a deeper relationship with God.”
-Edward L. Beck, author of God Underneath: Spiritual Memoirs of a Catholic Priest
Based on over 25 years of pastoral experience, The Elements of Prayer confronts one of the most persistent questions of the life of faith: How does prayer work? Using the classic The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White as its model, the book approaches the question from a fundamental direction, namely, prayer like writing is a form of communication and can be developed and improved. It avoids doctrine and focuses on the individual finding ways to enhance this essential part of religious life.
“An entertaining and provocative approach to the life of prayer, full of wonderful stories to guide the reader in the spiritual life.”
Father Paul Keenan, author of Good New for Bad Days and co-host of Religion on the Line
The Elements of Prayer is published by New World Library and will be released in October. It is currently available for pre-order on Amazon.com.
“Jewell masterfully transmutes the principles of Strunk and White
theologically, providing a framework for a pilgrimage into a
thoughtful and practical prayer life.”
Bishop Robert H. Spain, United Methodist Church
About Joe
Joe is a native Tennessean who has lived in the Northeast for over thirty years. He attended a military high school in his hometown and graduated from Vanderbilt University, majoring in philosophy. He went to Boston University School of Theology gaining a Th.M. with a major in Social Ethics and Boston University Graduate School where he participated in an interdisciplinary program and studied Religion and Literature. His master’s thesis was a study of the image of light and its religious connotations in American literature.
Joe served seven United Methodist pastoral appointments in New York and Vermont during his career. He was active in his annual conference participating on the Board of Global Ministries, the Interpretation Committee, the editorial board of the conference newspaper, and as chair of the Communications Committee. He currently is devoting his time to writing.
Joe is married to Carla Neggers, a New York Times best selling author. They have two children: Kate, working on her Ph.D. at Boston University and married to Conor Hansen, and Zachary, a sophomore at Lyndon State College.
Presentations
Looking for an interesting, enlightening program for your next meeting, dinner or event?
How about exploring Everyday Theology?
Joe B. Jewell, an ordained minister for 33 years, offers a series of what he calls “interactions” based on the idea that real theology, good theology is integral to everyday life; that the best theology happens across the kitchen table.
This series will help people recognize and consider the theological in everyday life. It will help them to think theologically and ultimately faithfully.
Joe doesn’t believe this kind of thinking has to be arcane or esoteric and will make the experience entertaining, maybe even fun!
Some sample topics:
- “Theology is Alive and Well and Living in…:” examining how we think theologically without realizing it
- “Naming the Demon:” How to recognize a real religious experience
- “How Not to be a Magician:” How faith orders our lives and not vice versa
- “Don’t Myth Behave:” Why Myths Matter
Contact Joe by email jbjvt@yahoo.com;
A Good Time will be had by all!!!
Prayer of the week
All through this day, O Lord, by the power of thy quickening Spirit, let me touch the lives of others for good, whether through the word I speak, the prayer I speak, or the life I live. Amen.
The elements of prayer exercise
(This is based on #’s 3 and 15 in The Elements of Prayer)
Take an issue, any one will do, but say, religious tolerance. How do you pray about or for religious tolerance? To pray for religious tolerance is almost so vague as to be meaningless. Narrow it down some. Make a list of five things that you can do to advance or promote religious tolerance. To make it interesting try to make each one more specific than the prior one. Send me your results and the prayer you create at jbjvt@yahoo.com.
Send me a prayer
If you have a prayer you would like to share or one that you would like help with feel free to send it me via email.
Links
I hope you find these useful and/or informative:
www.newworldlibrary.com
www.amazon.com
www.beliefnet.com
www.explorefaith.org
www.worldprayers.org
Contact Joe
Please feel free to contact me by email jbjvt@yahoo.com.