I have a Doctorate in Humanities with an emphasis in African American Philosophy and Religion from Clark Atlanta University and I’ve taught there and at Morehouse College, Spelman College, Paine College, and currently I teach at Mississippi State University.
As a philosopher, I am particularly concerned with understanding the problems that surround the stratification of human existence. In order to create a foundation from which to begin my search for wisdom, I have read and taken courses in philosophical theology, political philosophy, Africana studies, and humanistic inquiry. I have taken a particular interest in the writings and sermons of Howard Washington Thurman, who spent much of his career in an attempt to understand the possibilities of all humans living together peacefully, why this coexistence is necessary, and upon what common ground this coexistence can be had. Just as Thurman, I have found the mystic tradition within philosophy to offer great support for the realization of many possibilities for living a good life in spite of the stratification of human existence. Unlike Thurman, I remain critical of this tradition's ability to provide answers for situations that necessitate an immediate solution because the loss of life or the loss of humanity may be imminent. In light of this critique, it is my contention that the literature that arises from the modern era of the African American Freedom Struggle (1896-1975) goes a long way in providing answers to the crises that occur within human existence.
As a philosopher, I am particularly concerned with understanding the problems that surround the stratification of human existence. In order to create a foundation from which to begin my search for wisdom, I have read and taken courses in philosophical theology, political philosophy, Africana studies, and humanistic inquiry. I have taken a particular interest in the writings and sermons of Howard Washington Thurman, who spent much of his career in an attempt to understand the possibilities of all humans living together peacefully, why this coexistence is necessary, and upon what common ground this coexistence can be had. Just as Thurman, I have found the mystic tradition within philosophy to offer great support for the realization of many possibilities for living a good life in spite of the stratification of human existence. Unlike Thurman, I remain critical of this tradition's ability to provide answers for situations that necessitate an immediate solution because the loss of life or the loss of humanity may be imminent. In light of this critique, it is my contention that the literature that arises from the modern era of the African American Freedom Struggle (1896-1975) goes a long way in providing answers to the crises that occur within human existence.
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Neal, Anthony Sean, Howard Thurman’s Philosophical Mysticism: Love Against Fragmentation, (Lexington Press: Feb, 2019).
Neal, Anthony Sean, Common Ground: A Comparison of the Ideas of Consciousness in the Writings of Howard Thurman and Huey Newton, (Africa World Press: 2015).
Photographs Courtesy of Gary Freedman/Camera Press and BU Photography.
Photographs Courtesy of Gary Freedman/Camera Press and BU Photography.
Neal, Anthony Sean, “Imposing Morality: Cultural Perspectives on Truth, Apologies, and Forgiveness in the U.S.A.,” in Crimes Against Humanity in the Land of the Free: Can a Truth and Reconciliation Process Heal Racial Conflict in America?, (Praeger: August 2014), 73-89
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