Conversatio Divina

Black Contemplative Spirituality: A Personal Journey

E. Trey Clark
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Table of Contents

  1. 01.  Introduction
  2. 02.  African American Contemplatives
  3. 03.  Why Black Contemplative Spirituality?
  4. 04.  Learn More

01.  Introduction

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to live a contemplative life—a life attentive and responsive to God’s presence in everyday moments. Yet, for years, I struggled to reconcile my contemplative longings with my African American heritage.

I was born and raised in a small Black church in Dallas, Texas. Ours was a vibrant community that often engaged in ecstatic, celebratory worship. It was not uncommon for our Sunday services to include loud singing, shouting, and even dancing. While our congregation at times encouraged meditative practices that guided us to be attentive and responsive to God’s presence, I often felt there was little space for quiet reflection. I enjoyed encountering God in ecstatic celebration (and still do today), but I also longed to meet God in silent meditation. Unfortunately, at the time, I concluded that contemplation conflicted with my ethnic and ecclesial background.

In my college years, I was formally introduced to some of the literature on contemplative spirituality in the Christian tradition. I was inspired by classics such as Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God and the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing. I also read works by contemporary leaders in spiritual formation, such as Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, and Ruth Haley Barton. Eventually, I learned new spiritual practices such as lectio divina and the prayer of examen. All of these were profoundly meaningful in shaping my journey with Jesus Christ. However, over time, I became increasingly aware that almost none of the spiritual guides that I was learning from looked like me. Like others, I began to wonder: Are there any African American contemplatives?Many Black people with an interest in contemplative spirituality have raised a similar question on their journey. See, for example, Lerita Coleman Brown, What Makes You Come Alive: A Spiritual Walk with Howard Thurman, (Broadleaf, 2023).

02.  African American Contemplatives

Fast forward several years. I am serving as a pastor at a multiethnic church in Southern California while completing doctoral studies. During my studies, I stumbled upon the Rev. Dr. Barbara Holmes’s (1943–2024) groundbreaking book entitled Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices in the Black Church. Dr. Holmes’s work offers an illuminating portrait of the contemplative practices within and beyond Black Protestant churches. For her, contemplation is any communal or personal practice that invites us toward greater “attentiveness to the Spirit of God.” Barbara A. Holmes, Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church, Second Edition, Second Edition, (Fortress, 2017), 5.More specifically, Black contemplative practices are often informed by the rich array of experiences of the African Diaspora. In other words, as the community Black Lives and Contemplation puts it, Black contemplation is a “non-dual, embodied experience” enriched by diverse expressions of Blackness. Black Lives & Contemplation, https://www.spiritualimagination.org/black-lives-and-contemplation/. Accessed December 18, 2025. For Black contemplatives, God can be encountered in Africana expressions of dance, art, and music as much as in silent prayer.

Moreover, Holmes presents a socially engaged vision of contemplation as a “reflective activity that is always seeking the spiritual balance between individual piety and communal justice seeking.” Holmes, Joy Unspeakable, 113. Hence, for her, there is no necessary bifurcation between prayer and protest, reflection and resistance, the vita contemplativa and the via activa. Rather, as Guesnerth Josué Perea notes, Black contemplation is committed to liberation for Black folks and all creation. Guesnerth Josué Perea, “Contemplation for Liberation,” Center for Spiritual Imagination, blog, February 11, 2025. https://spiritualimagination.substack.com/p/contemplation-for-black-liberation. Accessed December 18, 2025.

Like many others, Dr. Holmes’s book helped me to see and name the contemplative aspects of my own background and tradition. Moreover, it helped me to realize that there are countless contemplatives of African descent in the past and present. Some of these include Augustine of Hippo, Moses the Black, St. Mary of Egypt, Jarena Lee, Howard Thurman, and others. I have come to see that contemplation is indigenous to my Black church roots. In recent years, I have had dozens of conversations with others of African descent who have had a similar experience. Indeed, there is a small but growing movement of Christians exploring Black contemplative spirituality as part of their spiritual journey.

03.  Why Black Contemplative Spirituality?

I recognize that some may ask: Why should we speak about Black contemplative spirituality? Isn’t the Christian contemplative tradition inclusive of people from all backgrounds? My response to this important question is two-fold. First, all spirituality is shaped by our embodied experiences—including our cultural experiences. The incarnation of Jesus is a reminder that God meets us through particularity. There is something that we can uniquely learn from considering contemplative spirituality through the lens of Black embodied experiences in all their diversity.

Second, while Black contemplative spirituality is part of a larger tradition of Christian contemplation, it has been eclipsed in the past and present. There is value in explicitly mining the treasures of minoritized traditions to bring their gifts to minoritized communities and the broader Body of Christ. Of course, like anything else for Christians, Black contemplative spirituality should be placed in conversation with the wisdom of the Scriptures and the broader Christian tradition.

04.  Learn More

For those interested in learning more about Black contemplative spirituality, there are many different paths to explore. While one may or may not agree with everything advocated by Black contemplatives, below are a few regular gatherings, organizations, and books worth checking out. I encourage you to engage these resources with a posture of openness and curiosity. There is much to learn from Black contemplative traditions that can enrich the spiritual journey of anyone seeking to grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

 

Gatherings

  • Black Contemplative Prayer Summit. This annual virtual gathering hosted by Pastor Tia Norman brings together Black contemplative speakers and guides to explore prayer and the spiritual life. People of all backgrounds are welcome to attend. The next gathering is scheduled for February 21-22, 2026. You can register here.
  • “Centering Down: Meditations with Howard Thurman.” This hour-long virtual weekly meditation group is for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). The first 20 minutes are spent practicing centering prayer, and the final 30 minutes or so are spent engaging in a communal practice of lectio divina based on a meditation from the African American mystic, pastor, and theologian Howard Washington Thurman. The group meets on Mondays at 10:30 am (ET). Click here to join the gathering.
  • ‘Meditation is a Must’ Hip Hop Musica Divina. This monthly virtual gathering hosted by Black Lives and Contemplation invites participants to find stillness and discover new meanings through a musical meditation practice that uniquely blends contemplative practices with the profound lyricism of Hip Hop. The class will meet online on the third Thursday of each month until May 2026. You can register here.

 

Organizations

 

Books/Articles

Footnotes

E. Trey Clark is assistant professor of preaching and spiritual formation at Fuller Seminary. He is the author of Black Contemplative Preaching: A Hidden History of Prayer, Proclamation, and Prophetic Witness. He lives with his family in Southern California.