Godfrey John
{{short description|Christian Science practitioner and poet}}
Godfrey John, C.S.B., was a poet, writer, lecturer, and teacher.
Biography
Godfrey John was born and grew up in Wales. He served in the Royal Air Force, and graduated from Cambridge University,[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=110&dat=19910613&id=AA1QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=o1UDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1887,5828488 "Christian Science Lecture Scheduled for Monday"] Ludington Daily News, Ludington, Michigan (June 13, 1991). Retrieved November 19, 2013 where he was boxing team captain and a "light blue", and was a British amateur heavyweight boxing champion. For more than 40 years, poems and essays by John were published in the Christian Science Monitor.[http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0724/p22s02-hfpo.html "Thanks awfully"] Christian Science Monitor (July 24, 2003). Retrieved November 19, 2013
Godfrey John moved to the United States in 1958, where he lived and worked and received a first award from the Academy of American Poets.Biographical notes, back cover. Five Seasons (1977) He was a professor of English at several colleges in the United States, including Principia College,[http://www.principiaalumni.org/sites/default/files/alumni/attachments/2009SummerPrincipiaPurpose.pdf "Unforgettable Faculty: College English Professor, Godfrey John"]. 2009. Principia Purpose. p. 28. and later worked as an arts critic for the Christian Science Monitor. He became a public practitioner of Christian Science.Kim Shippey (September 19, 2005). [https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/13eyncz4612 "Writing... a kind of prayer"] The Christian Science Sentinel. Retrieved November 19, 2013 In 1970, he moved to Canada, where he became a dual citizen (Canadian and British). In Canada, he also became a Christian Science teacher and served briefly on the Christian Science Board of Lectureship.{{cite news |title=Midnight is Our Noon (How Christ Dissolves Crisis) |issue=6 |publisher=Lariat |date=18 October 1990|volume=21 }} For many years he was also active as a voluntary probation and parole officer.John, Godfrey (2001). Compassion Wins: Collected Poems and Essays 1977-2000. Thomson-Shore, Inc. inside cover. He had two children with his wife Rosalind, and lived in Toronto.[https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAR19901018.2.33.3&srpos=1&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Godfrey+John%22+Christian+Scientist-------1 "Midnight is Our Noon (How Christ Dissolves Crisis)"] Lariat, Vol. 21, Num. 6, 18 October 1990.
Publications
Godfrey John was widely published in the Christian Science periodicals, including the Monitor, for over 40 years.{{cite web |title=Five Seasons by Godfrey John |url=https://store.longyear.org/product/BOOK-500-907/five-seasons-by-godfrey-john |website=longyear.org |publisher=Longyear Museum}} He published a collection of poems and essays in the books Five Seasons (Foursquare Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1977) and Compassion Wins (Thomson-Shore, Inc., Dexter, Michigan, 2001). The foreword of his first book was written by Henrietta Buckmaster, and the second by Rushworth Kidder.Henrietta Buckmaster. Forward, Five Seasons, p. xv. (1977)Rushworth Kidder. Foreword, Compassion Wins, pp. v-vi. (2001) {{ISBN|0-9707341-0-7}} He is also published in a number of anthologies including Boundless Light: Poems of Healing.Boundless Light: Poems of Healing. Boston: CSPS. p. 120.
Some of his poems are in the Welsh cywydd form.
References
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External links
- [http://jsh.christianscience.com/content/search?SearchText=godfrey+john Writings of Godfrey John on Christian Science JSH-Online]
- [http://www.moodesigns.com/john.htm Godfrey John poems on Moodesigns] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150619195043/http://www.moodesigns.com/john.htm |date=2015-06-19 }}
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Category:British Christian Scientists
Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Category:Welsh emigrants to Canada
Category:The Christian Science Monitor people