Interfaith memoir inspired by MLK Jr.’s Ideals won three gold medals and more.
The latest book from Dean Lawrence E. Carter Sr., “A Baptist Preacher’s Buddhist Teacher: How My Interfaith Journey With Daisaku Ikeda Made Me a Better Christian,” received three gold medals since its publication in November 2018 by Middleway Press.
The memoir has been awarded: a 2018 Gold Medal in the Nautilus Book Awards competition, which recognizes books that “transcend barriers of culture, gender, race, and class” (Religion/Spirituality of Western Thought category); a 2019 Gold Medal from the Illumination Book Awards, given to books that either illuminate, progress, or redirect thought (Biography/Memoir category); and a Gold Medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards, which are “intended to bring increased respect to the thousands of exemplary independent, university, and self-published books released globally each year” (Religion-Eastern/Western category).
In addition to the three gold medals, “A Baptist Preacher’s Buddhist Teacher” has also been selected as a finalist for the 2019 Montaigne Medal presented by The Eric Hoffer Project to the year’s most thought-provoking books. And the book was named a finalist for the da Vinci Eye Award, which recognizes books with superior cover artwork.
Carter’s book recounts how meeting Buddhist educator, Daisaku Ikeda, enabled Carter to carry out his mission to spread Martin Luther King Jr.’s teachings on peace and justice around the world.
“I feel like I never expected anything quite like this (the literary awards) because it has taken me all my career to improve my writing and my speaking,” said Carter a Morehouse College professor, protégé of King’s, and founding dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse, which is dedicated to teaching excellence, ethics, equality, and engagement, as well as encouraging and inspiring ambassadors of King’s beloved world community.
“When you get any academic recognition, it’s very satisfying,” Carter added. “But, you know, to teach students and to want excellence from them is kind of hypocritical if you’re not demonstrating it yourself, expecting it of yourself, and manifesting it.”
Carter has dedicated his life to sharing the teachings of King, a 1948 graduate of Morehouse, and to working to realize King’s vision for peace and justice through education and action. But in the ’90s, Carter found himself in despair. He felt that his own efforts to grow King’s global vision for justice and peace had failed until he discovered the work of Ikeda, a Buddhist philosopher. Ikeda—like both King and King’s Hindu inspiration, Gandhi—labored for a world without violence.
Carter felt a renewed sense of vigor as Ikeda and his work ushered the Morehouse dean of religion into the 21st century.
Carter has lectured at universities and seminaries around the world. Dedicated to interfaith dialogue, he has spoken to Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist communions, as well as to more than 18 Christian denominations. He is also a professor of religion at Morehouse, a Baptist minister, and the author of several books, including “Walking Integrity: Benjamin Elijah Mays, Mentor to Martin Luther King Jr.”
“A Baptist Preacher’s Buddhist Teacher: How My Interfaith Journey With Daisaku Ikeda Made Me a Better Christian” is available at the Morehouse College Bookstore, as well as on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other sites online. For more about the book from Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Gracie Staples, visit: https://on-ajc.com/2Y5D5Wx
ISBN: 978-0-9779245-9-2 / Memoir / Comparative Religion / Nov. 1, 2018
Paperback: $14.95 US / $18.95 CAN / 5.5 x 8.5 inches / 300 pp. / Kindle $8.99
Middleway Press / www.middlewaypress.com / Distributed by Independent Publishers Group
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