‘A Holy Joy of a Peculiar Kind’: Jarena Lee, Black Contemplative Preaching, and Bridging Racial Divides
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15695/hmltc.v49i2.5665Abstract
Jarena Lee (1783-185?), the first woman licensed to preach in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, is a well-established homiletical role model for women and persons of faith in multiple traditions. Her life and witness continue to be the subjects of study in many research venues through a variety of lenses, although less frequently through the lens of Black contemplative preaching. This paper offers a reappraisal of Jarena Lee as a Black contemplative preacher, with particular attention to what Professor Edgar “Trey” Clark III has called the “mystical hermeneutic” characteristic of Black contemplative preaching.[1] Such a reappraisal invites us to consider anew how Jarena Lee’s life and example may offer invitational models for bridging racial divides.
[1] Edgar “Trey” Clark III, “Hidden in Plain Sight: Reclaiming the Witness and Wisdom of Black Contemplative Preachers,” Homiletic Vol 47, no. 2 (2022): 6-8.
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