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One of the first guests on this podcast was Dr. Lerita Coleman Brown, who joined us on our episode #9 in 2018. Today we are delighted to welcome her back to the podcast. You can hear Professor Brown’s previous conversation with us here.
Lerita Coleman Brown, PhD is the author of When the Heart Speaks, Listen: Discovering Inner Wisdom, detailing her remarkable spiritual journey as a heart transplant recipient. She has also contributed essays to books including Embodied Spirits: Stories of Spiritual Directors of Color, Living Into God’s Dream: Dismantling Racism in America, and Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around — Stories of Contemplation and Justice.
Professor Brown is the Ayse I. Carden Distinguished Professor Emerita of Psychology at Agnes Scott College. She has survived over 25 years with her transplanted heart, and 14 years with a transplanted kidney as well. She has also endured a heart valve replacement and a pacemaker implant. In addition to her work as a psychologist and educator, she is a spiritual director and retreat leader who often shares her love for the contemplative wisdom of the renowned African-American mystic, Howard Thurman. You can learn more about her online at www.peaceforhearts.com.
Our answers are in the silence. — Lerita Coleman Brown, PhD
Given the extraordinary moment that we find ourselves in, and especially our commitment here at the podcast not only to celebrate the gift of silence (and to dismantle all forms of toxic silence, including racism), it seemed natural to invite Lerita back — not only for her insight into the towering contemplative genius of Thurman, but also for her own perceptive words of wisdom about how we can spiritually navigate the urgency for fighting racism and other forms of injustice in our time.
One of the problems with white and black is that they’re totally constructed sociopolitical identities… disinherited people have no protection from the state. — Lerita Coleman Brown, PhD
You’ve got to be able to center down and feel that sense of renewal from the Spirit, and I think it’s really important to learn to listen… We’re all called to do something to help restore God’s beloved creation… Every single person has a role to play. What is your role in this? — Lerita Coleman Brown, PhD
Some of the resources and authors we mention in this episode:
- Lerita Coleman Brown, When the Heart Speaks, Listen: Discovering Inner Wisdom
- Sherry Bryant-Johnson (ed.), Embodied Spirits: Stories of Spiritual Directors of Color
- Cathering Meeks (ed.), Living Into God’s Dream: Dismantling Racism in America
- Therese Taylor-Stinson (ed.), Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around — Stories of Contemplation and Justice
- Howard Thurman, Essential Writings
- Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited
- Howard Thurman, The Living Wisdom of Howard Thurman: A Visionary for Our Time (audio recordings of sermons on a 6-CD set)
- Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart
- Howard Thurman, The Centering Moment
- Howard Thurman, Disciplines of the Spirit
- Howard Thurman, Footprints of a Dream
- Howard Thurman, The Luminous Darkness
- Howard Thurman, The Creative Encounter
- Howard Thurman, Deep is the Hunger
- Howard Thurman, The Papers of Howard Washington Thurman
- Howard Thurman, The Inward Journey
- Howard Thurman, A Strange Freedom
- Howard Thurman, With Head and Heart: The Autobiography of Howard Thurman
- Martin Doblmeier (director), Backs Against the Wall: The Howard Thurman Story (DVD)
- Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation
- Billy Graham, Angels
- Gustavo Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation
- James Cone, The Cross and the Lynching Tree
- Luther Smith, Jr., Howard Thurman: The Mystic as Prophet
- William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience
- Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope
- Debby Irving, Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race
- Resmaa Menakem, My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies
- Kelly Brown Douglas, The Black Christ
- J. Deotis Roberts, A Black Political Theology
- Augustine of Hippo, Confessions
- The Desert Fathers and Mothers, Early Christian Wisdom Sayings
- Mahatma Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments With Truth
- Quinton Dixie, Visions of a Better World: Howard Thurman’s Pilgrimage to India and the Origins of African American Nonviolence
- Bernard A. Alvarez, The Book Of One: Returning To Source Wisdom
- Ava DuVernay (director), Selma
- Kasi Lemmons (director), Harriet
- Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration
- Prince, The Beautiful Ones
- Michael Jackson, Moon Walk: A Memoir
- Barbara A. Holmes, Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church
- Walter Earl Fluker, The Ground Has Shifted: The Future of the Black Church in Post-Racial America
- Kai Jackson Issa, Howard Thurman’s Great Hope
Find Dr. Lerita Coleman Brown online at her website, www.peaceforhearts.com.
To learn more about Howard Thurman (and to hear online audio files of his sermons), visit the website for the Howard and Sue Bailey Thurman Center at Boston University.
Episode 103: Silence, the Disinherited, and the Wisdom of Howard Thurman for Our Time: A Conversation with Dr. Lerita Coleman Brown
Hosted by: Carl McColman
With: Cassidy Hall and Kevin Johnson
Guest: Lerita Coleman Brown, PhD
Date Recorded: June 5, 2020
Featured photo by Cassidy Hall.
