Brilliant new posting by William Stafford under Recollections

I am very happy to report that, after several months of queries, we finally succeeded in securing permission to reprint one-time United States Poet Laureate (1970) William Stafford’s captivating account of his January 1943 stay at Trabuco College. Stafford’s prose is scintillating, as his vivid descriptions bring to life the daily routines at Trabuco. He paints a portrait of Trabuco College founder Gerald Heard that makes Gerald come alive in ways I’ve never read before. I highly encourage you to read through this chapter from the 2006 Oregon State University Press reprint edition of William Stafford’s original 1947 post-war masterpiece, Down In My Heart: Peace Witness in War Time. I am most grateful to Oregon State University Press for generously granting us permission to post the chapter, “We Built a Bridge” in its entirety. Here is the link to our newest Gerald Heard “Recollection” by William Stafford. Here is the link to the OSU Press webpage where you may purchase a copy of William Stafford’s fascinating book.

Wipf and Stock Titles, Part II

This is the second installment of our overview of the Gerald Heard books that are currently in print by Oregon-based publisher Wipf and Stock. This time we’ll feature Gerald’s well-received 1940 title, The Creed of Christ: An Interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer. Below is a thoughtful summary by Rev. Edmund A. Opitz (1914-2006), which he penned in 1958. Here is the link to our Creed of Christ webpage.

“In the year 1940 Gerald Heard published a highly original study of The Lord’s Prayer entitled The Creed of Christ. Of all modern books on The Lord’s Prayer, this is one of ‘two which have something distinctively new to say,’ writes Lumsden Barkway, Bishop of St. Andrews. In The Creed of Christ he says that ‘The Sermon on the Mount tells us what to do, what will happen if we do it, and what must happen if we don’t. But it does not tell us how to do it. … It therefore will never work unless there is a method whereby we may learn to work it. … Beside the new commandments … there is, put even more briefly and tersely, a master instruction, a set of key rules as to how that law may be kept.’ This is The Lord’s Prayer. ‘The Lord’s Prayer is the authentication, the signature, the demonstrating formula of all His (Christ’s) teaching; it is the master recipe for producing His demands, for reproducing His acts, for adopting not only His methods but, if we will make this system our life, His nature. Here in epitome are the essential means and ends of His faith. Here is the practice, the exercise, whereby He was able to call himself the Son of Man, at last man as God wills, and to call us through the same exercise and practice to rise to such sonship.’ In other words The Lord’s Prayer contains a recipe for training in spiritual development, and the six chapters of this book unveil many new meanings in the old prayer.” - Rev. Edmund A. Opitz

2024 - Counting the Years

On October 10, 1924, Gerald Heard published his first book, Narcissus. On January 6, 1964, Gerald published his last book, The Five Ages of Man. During those whirlwind 39.25 intervening years, Gerald wrote another 36 books, producing an astonishing total of 38 books in nearly 40 years. In addition, he penned numerous articles, essays, short stories, monographs, and reviews, and he wrote episodes for radio and television, among the varied activities undertaken during his incredibly productive life. We acknowledge and honor Gerald Heard’s many written contributions during this significant year of his publication centenary, which marks Gerald’s first book 100 years ago and his last book 60 years ago.

John Roger Barrie