SEPTEMBER 5-7, 2008

THE 3RD ANNUAL NASHVILLE PATH & PEN WRITERS’ CONFERENCE brings writers and would-be-writers together to explore writing as a spiritual practice. Held at Scarritt Bennett Center, the conference is a hands-on encounter with various forms of spiritually oriented writing, including memoir, poetry, liturgy, inspirational writing, and creative nonfiction. Our goal is to write and to learn new skills to deepen our writing and its capacity for emotional and spiritual healing.

Please c heck back for more info as it becomes available.

WHAT IS SPIRITUAL WRITING?
Spiritual writing explores your sense of the sacred, your quest for meaning and purpose, your encounters with God or Absolute Reality, and your wrestling with faith, doubt, belief, and the ordinary wonder of your everyday life. Such writing may or may not be overtly religious, deal explicitly with religion, or be associated with any traditional faith or belief system.

WHAT IS WRITING AS A

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE?
Writing can tap the deepest recesses of your being, and reveal wisdom not otherwise available to you. Writing in this way is a spiritual practice. Spiritual writing includes journaling, spiritual autobiography, “Morning Pages,” interpretive translation of and commentary on sacred texts, and similar practices that use writing as a means to access the deeper layers of one’s heart, mind, and soul.

WHY A CONFERENCE?
Spiritual writing and the community of writers engaged in it merit and can benefit from the interaction that a conference provides. To date there is no national conference devoted to writing as a spiritual practice, and it is our aim to correct this oversight. We believe that Nashville with its rich tradition of spiritual book and music publishing and its spiritually cosmopolitan flavor, is uniquely suited for this kind of gathering.

TheThird Annual Nashville Path & Pen Writers Conference is co-sponsored by the Scarritt–Bennett Center and the One River Foundation.

Scarritt-Bennett Center is a conference, retreat, and education center committed to empowerment through cross-cultural understanding, education, creativity and spiritual renewal. The Center is located in the heart of Nashville, TN, on ten tree-filled acres. The ten
buildings, constructed of crab orchard stone in collegiate gothic architectural style, give the grounds a peaceful, nurturing atmosphere. The compact setting means that it’s a short walk to well-equipped meeting rooms, delicious meals, and restful sleeping rooms.

The One River Foundation promotes peace, justice, and personal awakening through interspiritual study,
dialogue, and contemplative practice.