Judson Press, the publishing arm of American Baptist Home Mission Societies, releases Looking Back, Moving Forward: Wisdom from the Sankofa Institute for African American Pastoral Leadership, commemorating the first five-years of the institutes establishment. Dwight N. Hopkins, Professor of Theology, The University of Chicago Divinity School, served as editor of this historic volume. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / PRURGENT
Looking Back, Moving Forward is a collection of lectures from prominent African American professors, pastors, and academics affiliated with the Sankofa Institute for African American Pastoral Leadership, at Oblate School of Theology, through which the Institute offers graduate degrees. Founded by Sister Addie Walker, the Sankofa Institute offers interdisciplinary and multidimensional programs for the academic and professional development of pastoral leadership.
The programs focus on this key question: “How do we look back to learn as we move forward to celebrate and build new social relationships for our families, religious believers, communities, and the world?” While the Institute features annual lecture events, it is more fundamentally a process, which the book describes as, “Steeped in spirituality, relishing our cultural heritage, aware of political forces, and keen on the economic realities of the twenty-first century.”
“The project focuses on how the black church remains a key to building healthy communities and individuals and it offers visions and concretes on how to get there,” notes the editor, Dwight Hopkins. The volume features well-known voices, including Allan Boesak, Cheryl Kirk-Duggan, Alton Pollard III, J. Alfred Smith Sr., and Reggie L. Williams.
Founded in 1824, Judson Press is a publishing ministry of the American Baptist Home Mission Societies, American Baptist Churches USA. It is committed to producing Christ-centered leadership resources for the transformation of individuals, congregations, communities, and cultures.
American Baptist Home Mission Societies partners with American Baptists to promote Christian faith, cultivate Christ-centered leaders and disciples, and bring healing and transformation to communities across the United States and Puerto Rico.
American Baptist Churches USA is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with approximately 5,000 congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world. | 
