In December of 2021, I successfully defended my MTS (Masters of Theological Studies) thesis from Christian Theological Seminary. The thesis, “Awakening Mysticism with the Scholarship of three African American Women,” featured the work of Dr. Joy R. Bostic, Therese Taylor-Stinson, and the Rev. Dr. Barbara A. Holmes.

The scholarship featured continues to influence and inform the ways I encounter contemplative life and mystical experience/expression. In the thesis I consider the ways social action/activism and mysticism intersect. A brief excerpt:

“At this point one might question what the mystic and the activist have in common. Is it possible social justice activism could be itself considered a marker of mystical encounter? While one could easily deem the mystic as innately religious (or spiritual) and the activist as innately active, where do these roles intersect, if at all? In response to this question, one might consider the historical ways in which both the mystic and the activist have sought to subvert empire, disrupt the status quo, and pursue the common good. Both the mystic and the activist pursue lives disentangled from institutions, lives which pursue communal well-being, that great marker of mysticism: charity, previously mentioned as a marker of mysticism’s authenticity. An additional voice in this conversation comes from German Theologian Dorothee Sölle whose words on mysticism could be interchanged with the work of the activist when she writes, “Mutual dependence is the fundamental model that mysticism has put in place of domination.”[1]

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[1] Sölle, Silent Cry, 296.

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Hard copies available here. PDF copies available soon. For more info or questions, email me and let’s chat!