On the Lived Theology Reading List: The Improbable Community

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Camp Woodland And the American Democratic Ideal

What is the American democratic ideal?

At its core, it is the aspiration of equality, inclusion, and mutual respect. While these principles may appear simple, true examples of communities that have embodied them are rare. Camp Woodland is one of those rare examples. Its founder, Norman Studer, shaped by the social and political upheavals of World War II, sought to create a summer camp that would model cultural inclusion, progressive education, and democratic values. For more than two decades, Camp Woodland stood as a folk-singing institution that carried these ideals through the postwar years, the Cold War and McCarthyism, and into the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement. Bill Horne, a camper deeply influenced by the lessons he learned there, later chronicled the camp’s importance within the broader sweep of American history in his book The Improbable Community.

With personal anecdotes of his time in the Catskills, Horne describes the origins and ideals of Camp Woodland that Norman Studer envisioned when he opened the camp in 1939. Through daily chores, hikes, and group activities, the culture of Camp Woodland fostered inclusion and shared responsibility, nurturing an environment of camaraderie and trust not defined by cultural or racial barriers. A key feature of Studer’s vision was bringing together campers and staff from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Additionally, the camp held reverence for the land it stood on by preserving local traditions in its educational program. Anti-war ballads such as “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” echoed throughout the grounds, binding campers to larger struggles for peace and justice. While Horne acknowledges that the social turmoil of the 20th century inevitably affected the camp, he emphasizes that conflicts were resolved through collective decision-making and mutual respect. Though the camp eventually ended in 1962, its legacy clearly resonates with each camper to this day, and its vision of democracy remains a hopeful reminder that the American ideal can be achieved.

Bill Horne is an attorney in trade regulation Wasington D.C., and civil rights law in Boston, Massachusetts. Groing up in Queens, New York, he was a camper for a decade at Camp Woodland.

Reviews and Endorsements of this Publication include the following:

“Tells the story of a remarkable summer camp in the Catskill Mountains of New York. From 1939 to 1962, Camp Woodland created an educational experience that fostered a unique community …”

-Joe Hickerson, Archive of Folk Song Culture and former Camp Counselor

“In this excellent telling, author (and former camper) Bill Horne weaves a complex story that describes how John Dewey’s educational philosophy merged with democratic ideals and the political witch hunts of the 1950s to create the world of Camp Woodland set in the natural beauty of the rugged mountains.”

– John Cohen, filmaker, photographer, and musician for New Lost City Ramblers

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On the Lived Theology Reading List: My Family and I

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A Mississippi Memoir

Narratives about Mississippi often focus on segregation and discrimination in the Magnolia State; however, Adam Gussow’s story chronicles love and reexamines race relations. Without dismissing Mississippi’s tumultuous history, Gussow shares his own experience, in which an interracial couple is embraced by their community in the midst of racial protests and the Black Lives Matter movement.

The memoir repeatedly returns to the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., whose vision of America was a colorblind nation built on a foundation of love. As the book traces Gussow’s journey to Mississippi as both a professor and blues harmonica player, he reverently tells the story of his life with his wife, Sherrie, and their son, Shaun. The quiet simplicity of their happiness is central to Gussow’s narrative, as it challenges the dominant image of racial division in Mississippi.

At its core, Gussow’s memoir is infused with love and hope, qualities that endure even during the turbulence of the Black Lives Matter movement. Gussow himself remains committed to the vision of Martin Luther King Jr. and hopes readers will leave with a renewed belief in the possibility of a colorblind world.

Adam Gussow is a Professor at the University of Mississippi and a professional blues harmonica player and teacher. In addition to his current work, he is the author of the blues novel, “Mister Satan’s Apprentice: A Blues Memoir and Beyond the Crossroads: The Devil and the Blues Tradition.”

Reviews and Endorsements of this publication include the following:

“In an America increasingly divided by the clash between those who seek power in the reductive, skin-deep world of identity politics and those who wish to remain within our greater humanity, Adam Gussow’s My Family and I offers a powerful argument for the latter. Gussow’s refusal to betray his humanity for this nefarious ideology is what gives this book of his its enduring and enlightening power. Most of all, it gives us hope.”

– Eli Steele, filmmaker and director of Resegregating America (2021), What Killed Michael Brown? (2020), and How Jack Became Black (2018)

“Gussow’s harrowing account of attending an anti-racist workshop is an edgy parable on the dangers of thinking in racial categories. He is a first-rate scholar whose earlier work probed racial wounds in the American past, but his stimulating new study lets us see that racial healing can be on the horizon in our society.”

– Charles Reagan Wilson, editor-in-chief, The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture

“My Family and I: A Mississippi Memoir is an unflinchingly challenging, provocative book that demands nuanced, careful thought. As an Ashkenazi Jewish and Black woman, I am grateful for the challenge that Adam Gussow’s book provides, and for the ways in which I was forced to consider my own belief systems as I read. What a gift.”

– Marra B. Gad, author of The Color of Love: A Story of a Mixed-Race Jewish Girl

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On the Lived Theology Reading List: Deadheads and Christians

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You Will Know Them by Their Love

“Music is my religion,” Jimi Hendrix.

Music and religion are often intertwined for the emotional connectivity, catharsis, and fulfillment that an individual song offers; however, rarely is a band’s cultural impact compared to biblical foundations. Finding parallels between the rise of Deadhead communities and the early Christian movement, Coogan urges readers to consider the depth of spiritual energy as it pertains to other walks of life.

As a self-proclaimed Deadhead, Coogan found similarities in the counterculture community the Grateful Dead fostered and the rise of early Christianity. Unlike many bands, the legacy of the Grateful Dead culture has persisted past the death of the lead singer, Jerry Garcia, into new generations. In addition, the membership of a Deadhead supersedes social boundaries, bringing together a community of people guided by a shared love and fostering a culture rooted in empathy, grace, and spirituality. Coogan himself admits to juxtaposing the archetypal Deadhead with his longstanding religious background; however, this serves to further connect Christianity and the Deadhead community, as both are built on a foundation of love and spiritual curiosity.

While the novel offers an insightful perspective on a music culture that spans generations, Coogan’s aim is for readers to walk away finding faith in all walks of life and seeking out grace in everyday mundanity.

Thomas Coogan is a deacon and member of the Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey. He holds degrees from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Reviews and Endorsements of this publication include:

“Inviting the faithful to come, reason, and even jam together, Tom Coogan helps us have ears to hear what many a neighbor has been listening to. Should we follow to that fountain not made by the hands of men, what a long, strange, and redemptive trip it is sure to be. Would you hear his voice come through the music? For Christ is Lord of the living and the Dead.”

—Mark James Edwards, author of Christ Is Time: The Gospel According to Karl Barth (and the Red Hot Chili Peppers)

“Thomas Coogan has done a masterful job of examining the Grateful Dead in light of the Christian gospel. As someone who knew little about the ‘Deadheads,’ I learned a lot to my surprise and delight.”

—George Hunsinger, McCord Professor of Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary

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On the Lived Theology Reading List: From the Heart

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A Memoir and a Meditation on a Vital Organ

At a young age, Jeff Kosky was diagnosed with a congenital bicuspid valve defect—his heart didn’t function properly. The persistent back-and-forth between hospital visits escalated into an internal struggle between hope and anxiety. For Kosky, this instability formed a deep existential uncertainty about the philosophy of healing and what it truly means to have a heart. His memoir deepens these philosophical explorations by weaving together personal narrative and the experience of living with a chronic heart condition to ask fundamental questions about human existence: What does it mean to lose a heart?

Kosky begins by chronicling his childhood experience with his heart defect, showing how the condition shaped his identity and worldview. This journey led him to theology and philosophy, such as St. Augustine, who links one’s spiritual and physical identity to the heart. In Confessions, Augustine explores paradoxes such as the need to open and even wound the heart in order to heal the soul. Kosky expands on these ideas within the biomedical world of surgery, asking what it means to cut open the chest while trying to preserve the self. For him, the heart isn’t just functionally important, it spiritually and symbolically sustains our sense of self. A heart defect, then, imposes more than just physical limitations; it carries emotional and existential weight.

Drawing from the philosophical minds of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Marion, and Weil, Kosky ultimately invites readers to live with “heartfulness”: to be emotionally present, vulnerable, and grateful. Acknowledging and honoring the heart—both as organ and metaphor—is, he admits, an ongoing process. Nevertheless, his memoir is a beautiful reflection on the power of the body and its deep connection to our spiritual being.

Jeffrey Kosky has been a professor at Washington and Lee University since 2003. He earned his bachelor’s from William’s College and his PhD from the University of Chicago’s Divinity School. In addition to this novel, he has written “Arts of Wonder: Enchanting Secularity.

Reviews and Endorsements of this Publication include:

“Kosky has written a book unlike any other I know. In this meditation on having, losing, and regaining his heart, he sometimes wears his heart on his sleeve, sometimes scrutinizes it from a distance. He tells a philosophical story that creates a space in which you, too, can meditate on what happens to your heart for as long as it beats, until it stops.” – Lars Svendsen, author of A Philosophy of Hope

“Jeffrey L. Kosky has a congenitally hurt heart. When that hurt became acute, surgery saved him—but for how long, and to what end? He engages those questions with a blend of intimacy and unsparing introspection that recalls Augustine’s Confessions. Have you, like me, survived heart surgery? This is a book for us. And even if you haven’t, it will do your heart a world of good.” – Jack Miles, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of God: A Biography

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On the Lived Theology Reading List: When in Romans

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An Invitation to Linger with the Gospel according to Paul (Theological Exploration for the Church Catholic)

“When in Rome” is a well-worn phrase that encapsulates the tourist experience. Similarly, it reflects how most people engage with Paul’s letters—fleeting moments with worthwhile highlights. As a metaphor for the book of Romans, Gaventa’s work “When in Romans” invites readers to venture off the beaten path, making Romans accessible to new audiences without undermining the complexity of the letters.

Gaventa begins by introducing the cosmic vision of conception, pushing back against an individualized view of God’s liberation for a universal freedom against spiritual bondage. Sin and death are portrayed as supra-human captors, and salvation is defined by their defeat through Jesus Christ. In the same way, Gaventa moves away from individualizing theology by reframing Abraham. In Gaventa’s eyes, he acts not as a model of personal character, but as an example of God’s faithfulness.

The metaphor of Abraham further leads into a discussion of Paul’s ethics, reframing its previous individual framework. Instead, Gaventa describes a theocentric ethic that is rooted in the Gospel’s cosmic purposes. The book concludes by describing Paul’s “universal horizon,” calling for a communal church marked by gentleness and humility that reflects God’s universal grace. 

Overall, “When in Romans” presents Gaventa’s conception of Paul’s vision, encouraging deeper engagement with his letters and offering a fresh perspective for new audiences.

Reviews and Endorsements of this publication include:

“Using contemporary cultural illustrations from sources as varied as Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life and Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Land of Hope and Dreams,’ Beverly Roberts Gaventa delightfully clarifies Paul’s complex message in Romans. In beautifully written prose that is as compellingly clear for the novice as it is exegetically convincing for the scholar, Gaventa reminds us of the cosmic, liberative power of Paul’s message. Here is that book of uncommon quality: easily accessible and utterly indispensable. Reading Romans today? Start here.”
-Brian Blount, Union Presbyterian Seminary

“This is a book the church has long needed. Professor Gaventa pulls back the thin veneer of familiarity to introduce us to the high drama in Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Her writing is both scholarly and accessible, ancient and contemporary, theological and pastoral.”
-M. Craig Barnes, Princeton Theological Seminary

“From the beginning of the Christian era until the present day, Paul’s Letter to the Romans has been the source of revolutionary rethinking. Nowhere do we come closer to the radical heart of the gospel. The universal and cosmic notes of the Pauline symphony are sounded in this book by one of our most esteemed interpreters of the apostle’s letters. Beverly Gaventa has written a book for ordinary parish clergy and laypeople that is fun to read and full of spicy references to popular culture, and that will jolt readers into a new appreciation for the great apostle and his unique place in the history of Christian theology.”
-Fleming Rutledge, author of Not Ashamed of the Gospel: Sermons on Romans and The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ

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On the Lived Theology Reading List: Black Religion in The Madhouse

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Race and Psychiatry in Slavery’s Wake

Between the 18th and 19th centuries, a significant number of African Americans were institutionalized for a psychosis known as “religious excitement.” During this Jim Crow era, Black spirituality was often pathologized by white psychiatrists as a form of mental illness. Where a white Christian might have been praised as pious, a Black Christian would be considered delusional or deranged. Weisenfeld’s book, Black Religion in the Madhouse, explores the religious institutionalization of Black Americans and draws powerful connections to contemporary racism, particularly within mental health systems and police encounters.

Weisenfeld begins her book with a case study on Judy B., whose Black spiritual behaviors were disregarded as superstition and pathologized as “religious excitement.” Her experience reflects a larger issue in 19th-century southern psychiatry, where Black spirituality was viewed as fanatical, irrational, and dangerous. This racialized psychiatric framework, Weisenfeld argues, was used to suppress Black autonomy and characterize Black religious practitioners as mentally unfit for society.

However, the rise of Black psychiatrists and mental health activists challenged these oppressive frameworks. By reframing mental health away from racialized diagnoses, figures such as Rosa Kittrell became voices against a discipline dominated by white practitioners. Despite these efforts, the ramifications of past practices remain prevalent in contemporary culture. Today, Black individuals are disproportionately stereotyped as aggressive or unstable, which only further propels cases of police brutality.

What begins as a historical study of the spiritual institutionalization of Black Americans evolves into a powerful narrative of spiritual strength and resilience. Weisenfeld’s work not only chronicles religious medical racism but also tells the story of Black Americans’ spiritual endurance in the face of enormous challenges.

Judith Weisenfeld is an Agate Brown and George L. Collord Professor in the Department of Religion at Princeton University. In addition to her current work, she is the author of “New World A-Coming: Black Religion and Racial Identity during the Great Migration,” which explores racial entanglements of new religious movements in the early 20th-century urban north.

Judith Weisenfeld is Agate Brown and George L. Collord Professor in the Department of Religion at Princeton University and author, most recently, of New World A-Coming: Black Religion and Racial Identity during the Great Migration.

Reviews and Endorsements of this publication include:

“Breaks new ground by documenting how American psychiatry institutionalized a specific form of racism―one that pathologized black religious expressions. The book’s genius is showing how these diagnostic categories evolved over time and reached beyond asylums, shaping African American experiences after the Civil War. Weisenfeld skillfully recovers and uplifts individuals from the sparse historical records of African American psychiatric cases, honoring them in powerful vignettes. This book is a game changer for our historical understandings of religion, race, and mental health.” — Kristy L. Slominski, author of Teaching Moral Sex: A History of Religion and Sex Education in the United States

“Illuminates the often-overlooked intersection of religion, race, and psychology at the birth of U.S. psychiatry. Weisenfeld tells a compelling narrative of the historical pathologization of African American religiosity and how psychiatric ideas about rationality and irrationality came to shape dominant understandings of Black religions. . . . Both a monumental achievement of historical scholarship and deeply moving. . . . Invaluable for scholars U.S. religions but deserves to be read by practicing psychotherapists as well. . .I cannot recommend this book highly enough!” — Ira Helderman, author of Prescribing the Dharma: Psychotherapists, Buddhist Traditions, and Defining Religion

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