Walking the Way of Harriet Tubman: Public Mystic and Freedom Fighter

by Therese Taylor-Stinson, Barbara A. Holmes (Foreword by)

Overview

Harriet Tubman, freedom fighter and leader in the Underground Railroad, is one of the most significant figures in U.S. history. Her courage and determination in bringing enslaved people to freedom have established her as an icon of the abolitionist movement. But behind the history of the heroine called "Moses" was a woman of deep faith.

In Walking the Way of Harriet Tubman, Therese Taylor-Stinson introduces Harriet, a woman born into slavery whose unwavering faith and practices in spirituality and contemplation carried her through insufferable abuse and hardship to become a leader for her people. Her profound internal liberation came from deep roots in mysticism, Christianity, nature spirituality, and African Indigenous beliefs that empowered her own escape from enslavement—giving her the strength and purpose to lead others on the road to freedom.

Harriet's lived spirituality illuminates a profound path forward for those of us longing for internal freedom, as well as justice and equity in our communities. As people of color, we must cultivate our full selves for our own liberation and the liberation of our communities. As the luminous significance of Harriet Tubman's spiritual life is revealed, so too is the path to our own spiritual truth, advocacy, and racial justice as we follow in her footsteps.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781506478333
Publisher:	1517 Media
Publication date:	02/14/2023
Pages:	172
Sales rank:	405,426
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 5.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Therese Taylor-Stinson is a writer, spiritual director, ordained deacon, and ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA). A graduate of the Shalem Institute and a member of the Shalem Society for Contemplative Leadership, she is also the Founding Managing Member of the Spiritual Directors of Color Network, Ltd. Taylor-Stinson is the editor of the award-winning collection Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around. Therese lives her life as a contemplative, and enjoys the natural world and the people and projects that are drawn to her as gifts. She and her husband live in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Barbara A. Holmes is president emerita of United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, as well as former professor of ethics and African American religious studies and vice president of academic affairs at Memphis Theological Seminary. Her other Fortress books include Liberation and the Cosmos: Conversations with the Elders (rev. ed., 2023) and Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church (2nd ed., 2017). She is also the author of Crisis Contemplation: Healing the Wounded Village (CAC, 2021) and A Private Woman in Public Spaces: Barbara Jordan's Speeches on Ethics, Public Religion, and Law (Trinity Press International, 2000).

Editorial Reviews

01/16/2023

Deacon Taylor-Stinson (Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around) disappoints with this thinly researched biography of Harriet Tubman. Casting the abolitionist as a “public mystic” who found “emotional emancipation through her... relationship with the Divine,” the author loosely sketches the events of Tubman’s life. Born into slavery in 1822 Maryland, Araminta Ross sustained a brain injury at 12 that left her with a form of epilepsy that spurred religious visions. She married John Tubman in 1844 and several years later escaped Maryland for Pennsylvania in search of freedom. There, she became an integral part of the Underground Railroad, using her skills and gifts—including, Taylor-Stinson writes, inspiration from “a deep connection with a Supreme Being”—to usher enslaved people to freedom. Taylor-Stinson weaves in meditations on indigenous African wisdom, her own spiritual journey, and social justice issues, and includes periodic sections entitled “Harriet’s Apothecary” that invite readers to “enter into the mystical” through practices like prayer. Taylor-Stinson leans heavily on conjecture, for example suggesting that “being acquainted with Mother Earth” helped Tubman guide enslaved people through the natural world, and does little to prove her role as a “public mystic.” There are plenty of better options for those interested in a Tubman biography. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"Taylor-Stinson's beautiful respect for Tubman's legacy is contagious" —Booklist

"We have known Harriet Tubman as a freedom fighter and abolitionist, whose exploits and courage are highlighted every Black History Month. Taylor-Stinson affirms Tubman's status as a 'freedom fighter' but awakens us to her role as a public mystic and spiritual exemplar." —from the foreword by Barbara A. Holmes, PhD, president emerita of United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities and author of Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church

"Racial healing and liberation work must be engaged both in the head and the heart, vividly demonstrated in this volume illuminating portions of Tubman's life as a mystic and freedom fighter." —Catherine Meeks, PhD, executive director of Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing and coauthor of Passionate for Justice: Ida B. Wells as Prophet for Our Time

"Therese Taylor-Stinson is a trailblazer, cutting a new path to freedom by giving us a unique perspective on the life of Harriet Tubman. This book will easily find a home in the library of teachers, students, and all seekers of freedom." —Rev. Dr. Paula Owens Parker, program associate at The Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership, Union Presbyterian Seminary, Richmond, Virginia

"The word 'mystical' almost immediately shifts one's focus away from here and now. There was no such needless diversion in the life of Harriet Tubman. Her mighty mystical experience was divinity in the dirt of it all. God's grace was more than sufficient for her to face both the unknown and the all too well-known terrors and horrors. This sacred possibility has never been more needed in our world than right here, right now." —Kirk Byron Jones, author of Soul Talk: How to Have the Most Important Conversation of All

From the Publisher