Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Shalem Institute, this collection of experiential and academic essays offers modern contemplative reflections from new and renowned voices in spiritual leadership.

Founded in 1973 by the Rev. Dr. Tilden H. Edwards, Jr., Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation offers retreats, workshops, and groups centered around contemplative spirituality. The culmination of half a century of charitable ministry, this commemorative anthology features essays written by Shalem graduates, as well as current and former board members and program directors. Its release will coincide with the Shalem Institute's 50th anniversary.

Co-edited by Shalem graduate and board member Westina Matthews, Shalem's Executive Director Margaret Benefiel, and Jackson Droney, Shalem's Director of Operations and Online Learning, Soul Food takes an inclusive and contemporary approach to contemplative living and leadership. Designed in alignment with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, this vital book spotlights authors of different ethnicities, faith backgrounds, and gender identities, while consistently centering the development of day-to-day practices designed to deepen engagement with the divine. With essays from notable contributors from Shalem's past and present, such as Tilden Edwards, the institute's founder and former director; Gay Byron, Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Howard University; and Carl McColman, well-known Christian mystic and spiritual director, this collection looks to the future, set to serve as an invaluable resource in spiritual formation for the next 50 years, and beyond.

About the Author
WESTINA MATTHEWS is an adjunct professor for the Center for Christian Spirituality at General Theological Seminary. Matthews is an author, theologian, public speaker, and retreat leader whose practice reflects contemplative living through "holy listening." Her latest book is This Band of Sisterhood. A graduate of Shalem Institute's Spiritual Guidance Program, she currently serves on the Shalem board. She lives in Savannah, Georgia. MARGARET BENEFIEL, Executive Director of the Shalem Institute, has served as Chair of the Academy of Management's Management, Spirituality, and Religion Group, as Co-chair of the Christian Spirituality Program Unit of the American Academy of Religion, and in various leadership roles in Spiritual Directors International. Over 3,000 executives, managers, and other leaders have participated in her seminars and courses. She directs Shalem's Soul of Leadership program and has written extensively on various aspects of contemplative leadership and spirituality at work, including Crisis Leadership, The Soul of Higher Education, The Soul of Supervision, The Soul of a Leader, and Soul at Work. She lives with her husband in Greenbelt, Maryland. JACKSON DRONEY is the Director of Operations and Online Learning at the Shalem Institute. He is a graduate of Shalem's Personal Spiritual Deepening Program, Young Adult Life and Leadership Initiative, and Soul of Leadership program. At Shalem, Jackson also serves on the faculty of the Crossing the Threshold program and leads Shalem pilgrimages to Spain. He is an M.Div. student at Luther Seminary and is a candidate for pastoral ministry in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). He lives in Washington, D.C. ALTHEA BANDA-HANSMANN is the Founding Director of Transforming Moments Consulting, where she offers spiritual direction, coaching and organizational development services. She is part of Luther Seminary's spiritual direction team in St. Paul, Minnesota where she offers online individual and group accompaniment. Althea is a graduate of Shalem's Soul of Leadership Program. She lives in South Africa. THE REV. WINSTON BREEDEN CHARLES is a spiritual director, teacher, and poet, who as an Episcopal priest served churches for thirty-five years. Through Shalem, he discovered the rich Wisdom tradition of contemplative spirituality and was for several years director of Shalem's program for clergy, Going Deeper: Clergy Spiritual Life and Leadership. ANITA-YVONNE (AY) BRYANT holds a doctorate in Clinical/Community psychology from the University of Maryland and has served over thirty years as a psychologist, administrator and equity advocate in higher education. She and is a graduate of Shalem Institute's Soul of Leadership program and serves as a co-director of the Heart Longings: An Invitation to the Contemplative Path program. KOLYA BRAUN-GREINER is an interfaith educator, facilitator, and curriculum writer focused on the intersection of faith and environmental justice, encouraging people to explore their own faith tradition finding inspiration to act for a healing and a reverent relationship with God's Creation. She is a certified Work That Reconnects facilitator. GAY L. BYRON is Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Howard University School of Divinity. She is the author of Symbolic Blackness and Ethnic Difference in Early Christian Literature, Womanist Interpretations of the Bible (coedited with Vanessa Lovelace), and Black Scholars Matter: Visions, Struggles, and Hopes in Africana Biblical Studies (coedited with Hugh R. Page Jr.). MELANIE DOBSON is an assistant professor and the Lefler and Wohltmann Chair in Methodist Studies at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary (LTSS) of Lenoir-Rhyne University. She also directs the seminary's two-year Spiritual Direction Certification Program. Dobson also is a registered yoga teacher and incorporates yoga into her ministry and community service. LERITA COLEMAN BROWN is a professor emerita of psychology, spiritual director, and retreat leader. She promotes contemplative spirituality and the renown mystic, Howard Thurman. She is the author of several articles, chapters and two books, including her latest, What Makes You Come Alive-A Spiritual Walk with Howard Thurman. SARAH FORTI is a contemplative ministry leader, songwriter, and fencer. She has a B.A. in Religious Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University, an M.Div. from George Fox Evangelical Seminary, and is a graduate of the Shalem Institute. Sarah resides in Ashland, VA with her husband Nik and their son Thomas. AMANDA LINDAMOOD is a postpartum doula, organizational consultant, creative educator and freelance writer with multidisciplinary experience and training. She brings to contemplative leadership a commitment to Black feminisms, womanism, spiritual depth, community organizing and children's liberation, and lived and professional experience in complex trauma. MARCELLE MARTIN has led workshops across the U.S. and was a resident teacher at Pendle Hill. She is the author of Our Life is Love: The Quaker Spiritual Journey, A Guide to Faithfulness Groups, and the blog A Whole Heart. Swarthmore Friends Meeting supports her ministry of spiritual nurture. CARL MCCOLMAN is a graduate of Shalem's Personal Spiritual Deepening Program (1986) and Leading Contemplative Groups program (1987), a popular contemplative blogger, podcast host (Encountering Silence), and author of books including The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism, Unteachable Lessons, and Eternal Heart. LEAH MORAN RAMPY is a Shalem graduate who has served as board member, Executive Director, program leader, and pilgrimage guide. Founder of Church of the Wild Two Rivers, she leads retreats and writes about the call to reweave Earth and soul. Leah and her husband David live in Shepherdstown, WV. DANALEE SIMON, a Lutheran Pastor and Spiritual Director, lives with her husband and two sons in Salt Lake City, UT. When she's not out communing in nature, she can be found teaching self-compassion, connecting with people in Spiritual Direction, writing, or driving a carpool. PHILLIP STEPHENS is the Director of Nurturing the Call, The Shalem Institute's Spiritual Guidance Program. He is an Episcopal lay-person and graduate of the 2006 Spiritual Guidance Class. In addition to being an associate of the Order of the Holy Cross, he serves as a spiritual guide and retreat facilitator. His interests include cross-cultural studies and inter-spirituality. JOANNE YOUN is a published author and speaker with a passion for collaboration among diverse demographics both within the U.S. and abroad. Although she has lived and served in various locations around the world, she currently resides with her husband Tom and their three children outside of Washington, D.C. ELAINE VOCI is a life coach, grief group facilitator, and the author of Bridge Builders: Ordinary Women Doing Extraordinary Things and Creating the Work You Love: A Guide to Finding Your Right Livelihood. She lives in the Midwest with her spouse. J. M. SMITH lives in Washington, D.C. and enjoys writing at the intersections of social justice and contemplative life.

Reviews

"Established by Tilden Edwards those many years ago, the Shalem Institute has continued to offer a safe space for diverse individuals to engage with the sacred and restore the divine image of an abundant, loving God. An illuminating addition to any spiritual library, Soul Food is a testament to the institute's rich history and commitment to transformative spiritual growth." - Fr. Richard Rohr, author of Falling Upward and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation

"Exploring numerous rich perspectives on contemporary Christianity-from gender identity and theological languaging to issues of recovery, welcome and inclusion, decolonization, and social action, among others-the authors are unafraid to tackle new perspectives, all the while staying firmly rooted in the core of their faith. Anyone interested in immersing themselves in these topics will be well served here." -Rev. SeiFu Singh-Molares, Executive Director, Spiritual Directors International

"This celebratory volume for the Shalem Institute is less commemorative than exuberant. It marks a rich history of leadership in spiritual formation by offering challenging and visionary reflection on the future of contemplation. The feast offered is varied, rich, and engaging-some of it stimulating, some soothing, all providing much-needed nourishment that defies ready categorization, except for its quality. This is a further gift to all who have benefitted from the work of Shalem, and all who should." -The Very Rev. Dr. Andrew McGowan, Dean and President, Berkeley Divinity School, McFaddin Professor of Anglican Studies, Yale Divinity School

"For fifty years, the Shalem Institute has fostered contemplative living and leadership. I'm one of tens of thousands of people who've admired and benefited from its work. Today, in a "post-truth" world, contemplation is crucial. It gives us the tools to penetrate the cultural illusions that divide us, and stay in touch with the love that has always made us one. With this book, Shalem sets forth a radical agenda for the next fifty years where we must do all we can to bend the arc of the moral universe toward love, truth, and justice. If you have any affinity for the contemplative life, you'll find this book a compelling companion as we work and pray for the Beloved Community." -Parker J. Palmer, author of Let Your Life Speak, The Courage to Teach, and On the Brink of Everything

"This book is a spiritual gamechanger. Soul Food demonstrates that the life of prayer and contemplation is never detached from the urgent issues of the day, reminding us that the foundation of the spiritual life is all about contemplation and leadership. These essays will make you pray, think, see, act, and live differently. Their voices are the tongues of fire calling us into a new experience of Pentecost and sacred living." -The Rev. Dr. Mark Francisco Bozzuti-Jones, Priest and Director of Spiritual Formation at Trinity Retreat Center and author of Absalom Jones and Face to the Rising Sun

"Fifty years ago, the year Nixon was sworn in for his second term as President, awe was a rarely used word. The disastrous course of world events, since then, shows Tilden Edwards' wise foresight in founding Shalem as a place of awe. Today, if there is one word that says what our human family most urgently needs to recover, awe is that word. Experiencing awe makes us one. Awe is the magic wand that can transform I-thinking into We-thinking and rescue us from self-destruction. That Soul Food devotes so much space to awe honors Shalem's finest tradition and makes it a most timely book of hope for the world." -Br. David Steindl-Rast, Benedictine monk, author, and co-founder of Grateful Living

"Soul Food is a worthy guide for those who seek to walk in the light and share that light with others. Thoughtful and engaging on many levels, it is indeed a nourishing book." -Sophfronia Scott, author of The Seeker and the Monk: Everyday Conversations with Thomas Merton

"For an everyday, this-worldly perspective on contemplative life and leadership, read Soul Food. Any one of the essays will be worth the whole book."-Keith Kristich, Meditation Teacher and Founder of the online, interspiritual community Closer Than Breath

"Soul Food is a feast! An inclusive collection brimming with nourishing essays honestly exploring the ways to be a loving human in an inhuman system, Soul Food features a community of contemplative authors compassionately addressing the ailments of our society. Their work offers us new wineskins of openheartedness, which can help us create a larger table where everyone is invited to sit and have plenty.

Grounded in silence, this welcoming book of healing words provides readers with vibrant poetry, thought-provoking essays, and experiential activities. From its opening reflection on gender as "profound mystery" and on gendered pronouns and their relationship to our image and view of God, to its explorations of what Martin Luther King Jr. named our "inescapable network of mutuality," this collection celebrates Divine Diversity. It invites all to savor Love, "the {Ancient} New," and it gives us contemplative ways to do that in a world of collective and personal trauma.

These essays present accessible, embodied paths back to our interconnectedness with the earth, each other, and all creatures-the "all my relations" of Native American prayers, as one author reminds us. This wise book speaks directly to the very human needs of our times, and it feeds us all, every one." -Dr. Carmen Acevedo Butcher, poet and translator of Br. Lawrence's Practice of the Presence and The Cloud of Unknowing

Book Information
ISBN 9781640656345
Author Westina Matthews
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Church Publishing Inc
Publisher Church Publishing Inc