Growing in the Spiritual Life
September 7-9, 2006
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Marjorie J. Thompson
Marjorie is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church USA.
She 
received
her Bachelor of Arts in religious studies from Swarthmore College, and her Master
of Divinity degree from McCormick Theological Seminary. Following a post-graduate
pastoral internship, she became a Research Fellow at Yale Divinity School where
she studied Christian spirituality with Henri Nouwen and did independent research
in ecumenical traditions of prayer.
Before moving to the Nashville area, Ms. Thompson served the First Presbyterian Church of Stamford, Connecticut, as Associate Pastor for education and small group life. For the first ten years in Nashville, she developed a ministry in spiritual formation comprised of teaching, writing, retreat work, and spiritual guidance.
Marjorie has served as adjunct faculty for several seminaries, including McCormick, Auburn, Wesley, and Vanderbilt Divinity School. She has taught in The Upper Room’s Academy for Spiritual Formation, and directed the foundational program for Stillpoint (Programs in Spiritual Direction and Contemplative Prayer) in Nashville.
Her first book, Family, the Forming Center, published by The Upper Room in 1989, was reprinted in a revised and expanded edition in 1996. Her Second book, Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life, was published by Westminster/John Knox Press in 1995. Her writings have also appeared in Weavings, Worship, The Upper Room Disciplines, The Abingdon Preacher's Annual, and, A Reader’s Companion to Crossing the Threshold of Hope: Sixteen Writers on the Pastoral Writings of Pope John Paul II.
In 1996, Marjorie took a full-time position with The Upper Room as Director of the Pathways Center for Spiritual Leadership, which is now called Pathways for Congregational Spirituality. She has served as chief architect of a major new resource in congregational spiritual formation (for small groups) called Companions in Christ. Marjorie has subsequently authored articles for other volumes in the Companions series, entitled “The Way of Forgiveness” and “The Way of Blessedness, The Way of Grace, and “Exploring the Way”. She is a widely sought retreat leader, teacher, and speaker in the area of Christian spirituality.
Marjorie enjoys hiking, creative cuisine, music, and watercolor painting when time allows. She and her husband John live in Kingston Springs, Tennessee, with John’s mother and two cats.
