On this episode, Bayo Akomolafe joins Dr. Barbara Holmes and Donny Bryant for this episode of The Cosmic We. Bayo Akomolafe is the grateful life-partner to ‘EJ’, father to Alethea Aanya and Kyah Jayden Abayomi, son of Olufunmilayo Ibidapo Akomolafe and Ignatius Abayomi Akomolafe, and descendant of Yoruba fields of archetypal becomings and mythopoeic landscapes. He is an author, celebrated speaker, teacher, and self-styled trans-public intellectual (a concept imagined together with and inspired by the shamanic priesthood of the Yoruba healer-trickster)- whose vocation goes beyond justice and speaking truth to power to opening up other spaces of power-with, and queering fond formulations and configurations of hope. To learn more about him, check out his website.

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Barbara Holmes and Donny Bryant welcome Dr. Peter Gathje for this episode of The Cosmic We. Dr. Gathje is a founder and co-director of Manna House, a place of hospitality in the Catholic Worker Tradition located in Memphis. He helps with Room in the Inn, a shelter program involving area churches. He is active with a number of peace and justice organizations including Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. He frequently speaks at local churches on a variety of topics, including various traditions of Christian spirituality, hospitality for persons who are housing deprived, holiness, and issues of social justice. He is currently serving as Professor of Christian Ethics and Vice President of Academic Affairs/Academic Dean at Memphis Theological Seminary.

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This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would love to support the ongoing work of the Center for Action and Contemplation and the continued work of our podcasts, you can donate at cac.org/podcastsupport Thank you!

On this episode, Dr. Monica A. Coleman joins Dr. Barbara Holmes and Donny Bryant for this episode of The Cosmic We. Dr. Monica A. Coleman is Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Delaware. She spent over ten years in graduate theological education at Claremont School of Theology, the Center for Process Studies and Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Coleman has earned degrees from Harvard University, Vanderbilt University and Claremont Graduate University. She has received funding from leading foundations in the United States, including the Ford Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Foundation, among others.

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This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would love to support the ongoing work of the Center for Action and Contemplation and the continued work of our podcasts, you can donate at cac.org/podcastsupport Thank you!

Barbara Holmes and Donny Bryant welcome James (Jim) Finley for this episode of The Cosmic We. Jim was a student of Thomas Merton and is a retired clinical psychologist. Dr. James Finley teaches how connecting to our Divine indwelling can transcend fear and shame and awaken to our True Self. He is the author of Merton’s Palace of Nowhere and The Contemplative Heart, as well as the host of the podcast Turning to the Mystics. Jim is a faculty member with Dr. Barbara Holmes at the Center for Action and Contemplation

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This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would love to support the ongoing work of the Center for Action and Contemplation and the continued work of our podcasts, you can donate at cac.org/podcastsupport Thank you!

On this episode, Belvie Rooks joins Dr. Barbara Holmes and Dr. Donny Bryant in conversation for this episode of The Cosmic We. Belvie Rooks' work weaves the worlds of spirituality, feminism, cosmology and social justice with a passion for dialogue. She is the co-founder of Growing a Global Heart, a project to plant a million trees along the Trans-Atlantic Slave Route in West Africa and the Underground Railroad in the U.S. to honor the millions of lives lost during the slave trade. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Anthropology and an MA in Inter-disciplinary Studies in Education and has taught and lectured at a number of colleges and universities including, the State University of New York at Old Westbury, University of the District of Columbia and University of California, Santa Cruz.

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This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would love to support the ongoing work of the Center for Action and Contemplation and the continued work of our podcasts, you can donate at cac.org/podcastsupport Thank you!

On this episode, Billy Mark joins Dr. Barbara Holmes and Dr. Donny Bryant in conversation for this episode of The Cosmic We. Billy Mark is an interdisciplinary artist who lives and works in Detroit. He’s married to fiber artist, Sarah Mark. His areas of exploration lately have been embodied poetics, experimental liturgies, site-specific music and poetry, and the creative and spiritual resources found in monasticism. 

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This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would love to support the ongoing work of the Center for Action and Contemplation and the continued work of our podcasts, you can donate at cac.org/podcastsupport Thank you!

On this episode, Dr. Walter Earl Fluker joins Dr. Barbara Holmes and Dr. Donny Bryant in conversation for this episode of The Cosmic We. Dr. Fluker serves as Dean’s Professor of Spirituality, Ethics, and Leadership at Candler School of Theology at Emory University; Professor Emeritus of Ethical Leadership (formerly the Martin Luther King, Jr Chair) and at Boston University the editor of the Howard Thurman Papers Project. 

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This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would love to support the ongoing work of the Center for Action and Contemplation and the continued work of our podcasts, you can donate at cac.org/podcastsupport Thank you!

On this episode, Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs joins Dr. Barbara Holmes and Dr. Donny Bryant in conversation for this episode of The Cosmic We. Alexis Pauline Gumbs is a Queer Black Troublemaker and Black Feminist Love Evangelist and an aspirational cousin to all sentient beings. Her work in this lifetime is to facilitate infinite, unstoppable ancestral love in practice. She is the author of several works, including her most recent book Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals; series of meditations based on the increasingly relevant lessons of marine mammals in a world with a rising ocean levels and part of adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy Series. To read the full bio, visit Dr. Gumbs's website.

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This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would love to support the ongoing work of the Center for Action and Contemplation and the continued work of our podcasts, you can donate at cac.org/podcastsupport Thank you!

On this episode, Rev. Sonia Walker joins Dr. Barbara Holmes and Dr. Donny Bryant in conversation for this episode of The Cosmic We. Pastor Sonia’s professional and civic pursuits include service and leadership roles in education, and social work in agency, medical and religious settings. She is currently the Associate Pastor at First Congo in Memphis where she uses her gifts in worship services, congregational nurture, outreach ministries, community network and collaboration. She is a graduate of Memphis Theological seminary and is ordained at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church, (Disciples of Christ), she was called as Associate Pastor at First Congo. Her late life call and ordination were no surprise to those who knew her on her other career paths.

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This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would love to support the ongoing work of the Center for Action and Contemplation and the continued work of our podcasts, you can donate at cac.org/podcastsupport Thank you!

Barbara Holmes and Donny Bryant welcome Mikael Owunna in conversation for this episode of The Cosmic We. Mikael Owunna is a queer Nigerian American multi-media artist and engineer based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Exploring the intersections of visual media with engineering, optics, Blackness, and African cosmologies, his work seeks to elucidate an emancipatory vision of possibility that pushes Black people beyond all boundaries, restrictions, and frontiers. Learn more about Mikael at mikaelowunna.com.

This generative conversation is followed by a cosmic reflection by Barbara and Donny on one of the evocative threads offered by Mikael during this episode.

Connect with us:

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would love to support the ongoing work of the Center for Action and Contemplation and the continued work of our podcasts, you can donate at cac.org/podcastsupport Thank you!