Mission with Prophetic Power: The Journal of John Woolman (SRSC 12)

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Mission with Prophetic Power: The Journal of John Woolman

conversion while recovering from a battle wound and the founding of the Jesuits in his Autobiography . 4 A number of slave narratives, such as those of Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and Olaudah Equiano describe not only their traumatic experience of slavery, but also their profound experiences of Jesus. 5 As we have already seen, keeping a journal can serve a number of functions: taking notes to revise for a public statement, recording memories to aid in processing life with God, writing words of prayer, and more. John Woolman incorporated a number of different elements in his Journal : memories of childhood events, descriptions of recent travels, records of the operations of God in his life or the lives of others, questions for personal self-review, reflections on relationships and conversations, beliefs, decision-making processes, letters, and public documents of relevance. We could include other elements in our own journals. I know people who keep separate journals for different purposes (planning, prayers, topics of interest). Some keep memorable pictures to remind them of events or people. Others write poetry or paste bits and pieces of stuff from special locations along with drawings and writings to remember times, people, or places. I keep a special file dedicated to resources I might like to explore and another for the purpose of “networking.” Of course, you cannot do everything all at once. Indeed, the point of a journal is that it is selective . What is 4 Ignatius of Loyola, “The Autobiography,” trans. Parmananda R. Divarkar, in Ignatius of Loyola: Spiritual Exercises and Selected Works , ed. George E. Ganss (New York: Paulist Press, 1991), 65–112. 5 Henry Louis Gates Jr., ed., The Classic Slave Narratives , Reissue edition (New York: Signet Classics, 2002).