John Gale

John Gale is a philosopher and psychotherapist educated at the universities of Kent and London, and in Rome. Formerly a Benedictine monk, he lectured in philosophy and patristics before leaving the priesthood. For thirty years he worked in therapeutic communities for the treatment of psychosis and ran a programme for traumatised and homeless ex-soldiers in conjunction with the Tavistock Clinic, London. He is the President of the International Network of Psychotherapeutic Practices (INPP) and before he retired was a board member of a number of other organisations including the International Society for the Psychological and Social Treatment of Psychosis (ISPS UK). He also sat on the editorial advisory boards of a number of journals. He has edited a number of books, including Insanity and Divinity. Studies in Psychosis and Spirituality (Routledge, 2014) and is the author of many scholarly articles at the interface of philosophy, psychoanalysis and spirituality. He has a particular interest in the work of Lacan. The main references in his work include the notions of language, silence, tradition, absence, mysticism, madness, place and dwelling. Foremost literary references in his writings are to Stoic and Neoplatonic texts, Evagrius Ponticus, Clement of Alexandria, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine; the work of Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Pierre Hadot, Michel Foucault and Michel de Certeau. He is the Editor-in-chief of the online journal Vestigia.