Teaching to Live

Wright provides the most important work on religious education in a generation. The religious activist educator grounded in the lives and histories of Black faith and justice leaders is an identity and vocation that will be taught, shared, and lived by future generations of religious educators. * Patrick B. Reyes, Ph.D., Dean, Auburn Theological Seminary *Teaching to Live convenes a gathering of heroic and prophetic educators across the boundaries of history and ideology. Wright’s selection of people such as Baptist Burroughs, Congregational Cleage, Episcopal Cooper, and Methodist Lawson also underscores the ecumenical undercurrent that has nurtured the Black Church as a force for social change. This book is a rich exploration of the intersections of biography, history, and social structure in the lives of these African American Christian educators, all of whom provide models for engaging current struggles involving faith and social justice. * Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Sociology and African-American Studies, Emerita *It is not overly dramatic to say that teaching can be a matter of life and death when it is done in the face of endangerment and affliction to thwart debilitating injustice. The Black activist­educators profiled in Teaching to Live lived to teach as a way toward freedom. A book about them is warranted not simply as a tribute to their accomplishments but as a formative text for educators of all backgrounds-one that teaches how urgent it is to follow in the footsteps of these venerable leaders. This impeccably researched work is driven by Almeda Wright’s passion to inspire in young people a grander sense of the impact they can have. * Susan Willhauck, The Christian Century *Almeda Wright poses an important and extremely relevant question also for us today: “what would it mean for us to have a wider and more expansive vision and understanding of the sacred task of education and transformation, particularly religious education that goes beyond learning facts about one’s religious tradition to educating for the wholeness and flourishing of all people?” * Siebren Miedema, International Journal of Christianity & Education *

Almeda M. Wright is Associate Professor of Religious Education at Yale Divinity School. Her research focuses on African American religion, Womanist spirituality, adolescent spiritual development, and the intersections of religion, education, and public life. She is the author of The Spiritual Lives of Young African Americans and editor of Children, Youth, and Spirituality in a Troubling World (with Mary Elizabeth Moore).