Fresh Courage: A Conversation with Dr. Lerita Coleman Brown

Dr. Lerita Coleman Brown is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Psychology at Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA. She studied psychology as an undergraduate at the University of California, Santa Cruz and received her Ph.D. in social psychology from Harvard University. In 2008 she completed the Spiritual Guidance Program at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation. She is a Howard Thurman Devotee and serves as a spiritual companion/director, writer, retreat leader, and speaker. Her first full length book, When the Heart Speaks, Listen—Discovering Inner Wisdom was released in January, 2019, which tells the story of her heart transplant and the dialogue within. In this episode she talks about our need of being more expansive with definitions and says “mysticism is just one of those kinds of things that happens... I hope that we will abandon this idea that mysticism only happens to special people."

Lerita Coleman Brown has retired as Distinguished Professor Emerita of Psychology at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, GA. Now, in addition to her academic work, she has pursued a life in ministry, becoming a spiritual director and leading workshops and prayer groups promoting contemplative spiritual practices and the life and work of Howard Thurman. More than 25 years ago, she underwent a heart transplant, which led to her strong advocacy for organ and tissue donation and the contemplative practices of stillness and living in the present moment. "I consider each day to be a walk of faith and hope," she says.

Dr. Coleman Brown has contributed essays to Embodied Spirits: Spiritual Directors of Color Tell their Stories and Living into God’s Dream: Dismantling Racism in America. She completed the Spiritual Guidance Program at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation in 2008. Her book When the Heart Speaks, Listen—Discovering Inner Wisdom tells the story of her heart transplant.

In this episode, she and I talk about our need of being more expansive with definitions of contemplation and mysticism. "Mysticism is just one of those kinds of things that happens," she says. "I hope that we will abandon this idea that mysticism only happens to special people.”