MSI Press Blog

  Not everyone who seeks God sits in a sanctuary on Sunday morning. Across the country, a quiet shift is unfolding: people who identify as deeply spiritual are stepping outside traditional church walls. They’re not abandoning faith. They’re reimagining it. Who Are They? They’re the “spiritual but not religious.” They’re the “dones”—those who once belonged to a church but left. They’re mystics, meditators, wanderers, and wounded believers. They’re people who still pray, still seek, still listen for the sacred—but not in pews. Where Are They? Nature trails and quiet gardens , where the wind feels like a benediction. Online communities , where spiritual conversations unfold without dogma. Living rooms and coffee shops , where small circles gather for reflection, storytelling, and shared silence. Retreat centers , where solitude and soul work replace sermons. Art studios, yoga mats, and journals , where creativity becomes communion. Why Did They Leave? The reasons are as ...

  Every February invites us to pause and honor the storytellers whose words have shaped not only Black history, but American history itself. Black authors have long carried the dual burden and blessing of truth-telling—documenting joy, exposing injustice, preserving memory, and imagining futures that once seemed impossible. Their work is not a sidebar to literature; it is literature. Then: The Voices Who Carved the Path From the earliest narratives of enslavement to the Harlem Renaissance and beyond, Black writers have used the written word as both refuge and resistance. Frederick Douglass showed the world that literacy is liberation. Harriet Jacobs revealed the intimate, gendered realities of bondage. Zora Neale Hurston captured the beauty and complexity of Black Southern life with unmatched ear and eye. James Baldwin insisted that America confront its own reflection. Toni Morrison gave us language for the interior lives of Black women—language that still reverberates...