Meet the Reverend Margaret Bullitt-Jonas
The Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, Ph.D. has served as a Priest Associate
of Grace Church since September 2004. A writer, retreat leader,
and climate activist she has traveled around the country since 1986 to
lead spiritual retreats, conferences, and training programs in spiritual
direction. She served for several years as a chaplain for the bishops
of the Episcopal Church. From 1992 until 2005 she was a Lecturer
in Pastoral Theology at Episcopal Divinity School, in Cambridge, Mass.,
where she taught courses on prayer, the spirituality of addiction, and
environmental ministry.
Margaret received her B.A. in Russian literature at Stanford University
(1974) and her M.A. (1977) and Ph.D. (1984) in comparative literature
at Harvard University. She is a graduate of Episcopal Divinity School
(M. Div., 1988) and of the Spiritual Guidance program of the Shalem Institute
for Spiritual Formation (1988).
Margaret's memoir, Holy Hunger (Vintage, 2000), tells the story
of her recovery from an eating disorder, and explores the spiritual longing
behind addiction. Her second book, Christ's Passion, Our Passions
(Cowley Publications, 2002) reflects on the power of Christ's last words
from the cross. Her latest publications include "When Heaven
Happens," a chapter in the anthology Heaven, ed. Roger Ferlo
(Seabury, 2007), and an interview in Feeding The Fame: Celebrities
Tell Their Real-Life Stories of Eating Disorders and Recovery, ed.
Gary Stromberg and Jane Merrill (Hazelden, 2006).
Margaret has also published articles in such journals as The Boston
Globe Magazine, Comparative Literature, Comparative Literature Studies,
Cowley, Episcopal Times, Fellowship in Prayer, Human Development, Review
for Religious, Russian Review, Self Magazine, The Sign, Spirituality &
Health, and Stanford Magazine. She has published book reviews
in Anglican Theological Review, Presence, and Russian Review,
and her work is included in anthologies of sermons, religious essays,
and prayers.
She is a member of the Leadership Council of Religious
Witness for the Earth, an interfaith activist network dedicated to
public witness in defense of creation. She was arrested in 2001
in an interfaith prayer vigil at the Department of Energy in Washington,
D.C., to protest oil drilling in the Arctic. She is principal author
of “To Serve
Christ in All Creation: A Pastoral Letter from the Episcopal Bishops of
New England”. She is a member of the steering committee of the Genesis
Covenant, an interfaith initiative to persuade the top leadership
of national religious groups across the country to commit to reducing
the greenhouse gas emissions from all the facilities they maintain by
50% within ten years.
Margaret lives with her husband Robert A. Jonas and son Sam in Northampton,
not far from her grandchildren.
Her website is Holy Hunger.
Phone 256-6754 x108