Monday Meditation: “Esther: Beauty as Revolutionary Healing Practice”
Dr. Ramona Hyman, professor of English at Oakwood University, gave the Sabbath message at the Adventist Society for Religious Studies conference church service late last year. The conference’s theme was “Mediating (W)holeness in a Broken World,” and Hyman’s presentation was titled “Esther: Beauty as Revolutionary Healing Practice.”
“I want to testify as a Black woman, who is American, who is Christian, who is making her way through this world,” Hyman said. “For me, Esther, specimen of the beautiful, is her activism. I am her. Because she is such a beautiful example that is wholly committed to the sacrifice in order to save and heal people, I want to be her.”
A poet who has published two collections of poetry, including I Am Black America, Hyman was recently appointed a Governor’s appointee for the Alabama State Council on the Arts. In her ASRS presentation, she speaks about the story of Esther with prose that is an extension of her poetry. You can watch the full video below, or on YouTube.
Alex Aamodt is managing digital editor of Spectrum
Title image: screenshot from ASRS / YouTube
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