Leadership Institute Book Clubs
About Our Book Clubs
The Leadership Institute will offer book clubs throughout the year. They will be virtual and supported by centers and Leadership Institute partners. The aim of the Leadership Institute Book Clubs is to create multicultural, intergenerational spaces where participants can delve further into texts, while learning alongside people from a multitude of social locations.
The registration fee for each book club will be $40.
Those who participate in book club meetings may earn CEUs. Please contact Chris Burton if you would like a certificate of completion at the end of each book club.
Current Book Clubs
Jan 21 – Feb 11
How to Say Babylon: A Memoir by Safiya Sinclair
Led by Rev. Dr. Chris Burton
With echoes of Educated and The Glass Castle, How to Say Babylon is a “lushly observed and keenly reflective chronicle” (The Washington Post), brilliantly recounting the author’s struggle to break free of her rigid religious upbringing and navigate the world on her own terms.
Register HERE.
March 4 – March 25
Led by Rev. Dr. Chris Burton
A modern-day civil rights champion tells the stirring story of how he helped start a movement to bridge America’s racial divide.
Register HERE
June 3 – June 24
Led by the author, Rev. Dr. Melanie Jones Quarles
With insights into politics, Christology, and biblical interpretation, this book boldly calls Black women to unbend their bodies and reclaim their moral agency in the face of crooked systems that attempt to constrain their freedom.
Register HERE
Past Book Clubs
Practicing Resurrection Book Club
This book club read Practicing Resurrection: The Gospel of Mark and Radical Discipleship, a book by Janet Wolf.
The book club leader was Dr. Chris Burton, and the author, Janet Wolf, also participated in the book club.
In five chapters, the book club examined different passages in Mark and readers were challenged to discover what radical discipleship looks like in their context.
Living Resistance Book Club
This book club read Living Resistance, by Kaitlin Curtice
The book club leader was Dr. Chris Burton.
This group read about embodied ways of resisting, remembering, and becoming more aware of how connected we are.
Preaching the Headlines Book Club
This book club read Preaching the Headlines: Possibilities and Pitfalls, by Lisa Thompson.
The book club leader was Leah Jordan.
This book club, presented in partnership with the Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership, was for anyone interested in reflecting theologically on this relationship between Scripture and the world around us.
Howard Thurman Book Club
This book club read Jesus and the Disinherited, by Howard Thurman.
The book club leader was Dr. Chris Burton.
They explored the relevance of Jesus’ teachings for marginalized people. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. kept this book on his person and would cite it often.
Theopoetics Book Club
This book club read Terraform: Building a Better World, by Propaganda.
The book club leader was Rev. Dr. de’Angelo DIA.
In this debut collection of essays and poetry, Propaganda—musician, speaker, and activist—inspires readers to create a better, more equitable world.
