Instructor publishes book based on volunteer work in Nashville prisons
Grace Mestad |
Michael McRay (’11), a Lipscomb adjunct professor and advocate for nonviolent resolution, recently released his second book, which explores what can be learned about forgiveness by exploring the stories of people in prison.
Where the River Bends, inspired by McRay’s work as a volunteer chaplain in a Nashville prison, presents the perspectives and stories of fourteen Tennessee prisoners.
McRay challenges his audience to learn about the nature of forgiveness from individuals who have both dealt and endured some of life’s most painful experiences. The book explores what happened before prison in the lives of the convicted; what has happened after prison; how people in prison have dealt with the harm they have caused and the harm they have suffered; what forgiveness means to them; and what outsiders can learn about the nature of forgiveness.
Where the River Bends includes a foreword by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu and has been endorsed by Shane Claiborne, author of Irresistible Revolution.
“My first book Letters from “Apartheid Street” was written, for the most part, as journal-like reflections on the stories and questions I encountered while working with Christian Peacemaker Teams in Palestine. Where the River Bends is more academic, it emerged from my master's thesis,” McRay said.
While completing his Master of Philosophy, McRay noticed that literature on forgiveness had little engagement with the experiences of currently incarcerated people, so he set out to review and analyze current forgiveness conversations in literature and to tell the stories of the prisoners.
McRay noted that his experiences in working in Palestine were not unlike those of working within the prison. “Both places are places of confinement, extreme restriction and control by people who do not inhabit the precise space they ‘govern’,” McRay said, “thus making entry, exit and re-entry extremely difficult.”
Although there were numerous hoops to jump through in order to be able to tell the stories of those confined in the prison, McRay knew that the rewards would far outweigh the difficulties. He felt that their stories were confined with them and knew that it was his calling to free them through the writing of his book.
“I hope people who read Where the River Bends will understand more fully that there are no single stories, that prisoners--like all of us--are more than the worst things they've done; that readers will have a firmer grasp on the terribly complex concept of forgiveness,” said McRay, “I hope that readers will see more clearly the destructive dynamics of American incarceration; and that readers will be drawn to shorten the distance between those of us that are free and those of us awaiting liberation.”
McRay is a writer, advocate, adjunct professor, and storyteller who earned his Master of Philosophy in conflict resolution and reconciliation at Trinity College Dublin at Belfast. He is the co-founder of No Exceptions Prison Collective and is founder and co-host of Tenx9 Nashville Storytelling.