Can White Men Be Saved?
Ten Week Online Program
$425
Begins with
Intensive, March 18
then, 10 Mondays
starting March 20, 2023
9 am - 11 am & 2 pm - 4 pm
PACIFIC
Can White Men Be Saved?
“I will flatly say that the bulk of this country’s white population impresses me, and has so impressed me for a very long time, as being beyond any conceivable hope of moral rehabilitation. They have been white, if I may put it, too long…”
(James Baldwin, The New York Times, Feb. 2, 1969)
Addressing the Moral Wounds Caused by Whiteness
Can White Men Be Saved? addresses Baldwin’s fear that we have been white too long. We believe there is hope! If we do our work.
Who is this for?
This course was created for White men who are committed to the struggle to end white supremacy and who have begun to awaken to how the construct of Whiteness has profoundly damaged and distorted their own humanity.
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Why this course?
This immersive, transformational program provides a safe, sacred space for those who are aware of white supremacy's destructive existence and who seek to deepen into the necessary inner work of dismantling white (and species) supremacy.
Led by three White men, pastors within the Christian church, who have been deeply involved in anti-racism and their own soul recovery work over the past thirty years. They created this program for men who understand that a supportive community is essential for the work that is before them. The program offers a safe space for men to gather to face, grieve, and seek healing from their own moral and psychic wounds caused by Whiteness.
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The great harm and moral wounding from white supremacy culture must be healed on the way to moral rehabilitation and the restoration of the fullness of one's humanity. This anti-racism, healing work calls us to uncover and face wounds and wounding, confess and lament privilege and power experienced, and join in the Spirit's and land's invitation to rehabilitate body and soul that we may live more fully into our call to love God, the natural world, and our neighbors as we love ourselves. Doing our own work is good work for all!
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We hope you join us as we gather online in community, wander to offer and receive from Spirit and earth, and experience restorative healing to better join in co-creating the anti-racist, just and harmonious world as Spirit dreams it to be.
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Wendell Berry, in his book, The Hidden Wound, describes a profound psychic trauma that white male supremacy inflicts not only upon people of color, on women, and on the land, but also upon the psyches of those who are privileged within the system.
This crucial work not only restores one’s own humanity but prepares participants to be better allies in the systemic battle for racial, gender and environmental justice.
What do topics & sessions include?
The annihilation of white European tribal culture
The tragic creation and blessing of White supremacy
Grieving the moral injury and wounding caused by White supremacy
Healing our relationship with our own emotions
Healing our relationship with the natural world
Where do we go from here? &
Commitment Ceremony
Small group "council" gatherings
REV BRYAN SMITH MDiv, Bryan Smith is Co-founder of Seminary of the Wild and a PCUSA pastor for over 30 years has been involved in anti-racism work for the past twenty years. He was a member of the Detroit Presbytery’s anti-racism team for several years and was a founding member of the Beloved Community in Canton, Michigan, which worked to promote justice and equity in the township public school system and police department. He has been a trainer in anti-racism work in various capacities throughout the metro Detroit area.
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REV CLAY BRANTLEY participated in the first cohort of the Seminary of the Wild. He was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana and attended Texas A&;M, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and Perkins School of Theology. He has been a Presbyterian pastor for 36 years, serving churches in Malvern, Arkansas and five churches in Texas—Sherman, McKinney, Garland, Whitesboro, and Denton.
Clay’s passion for those who are Other so that they are Other no more has taken him on mission trips to Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, the U.S.–Mexico border, Cuba, Israel/Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria. He has participated in a Civil Rights Pilgrimage in this country and speaks and leads conversations around racism, particularly at the Retreat House Spirituality Center in Richardson.
Five years ago, Clay left the local church he was serving to follow a mystical path, a call into a deeper following of Christ. This journey has led him into deep soul work, to being a Wild Mustang and to the Retreat House. He is an artist, speaker, spiritual director, and published author. Clay serves as a participant and director of Retreat House where he is the guide for two monthly meetings – Contemplative Painting and the Writer’s Gathering. Both of these monthly meetings allow Clay’s soul to dance in unexpected ways. He serves on the board at Gilmont Conference Center. Clay is married to Crysta. They have two children, Drew and Michaela, two dogs, and a turtle.
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REV GREG TURK received a certificate from Seminary of the Wild after completing the first SOW yearlong. He has pastored Disciples of Christ and United Church of Christ churches for a dizzyingly long time. Serving urban congregations, he has pastored a Spanish speaking, Texas congregation of mostly undocumented people from Mexico and Central America, as well as a predominantly black church in South Central, Los Angeles. Greg has eighteen years of experience working with gang members, participating in urban peace efforts, creating micro-businesses and employment programs, and spending a lot of time just hanging out. Greg has recently received his final initiation as an Andean Paqo (shaman) in a long ancestral lineage in high Andes of Peru. His new project is found at 2treestalking.com.
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Bryan Smith
Clay Brantley
Greg Turk