Contact: Sasha Steinberg

STARKVILLE, Miss.—An assistant professor in Mississippi State’s Department of Philosophy and Religion is a recent inductee of Morehouse College’s Martin Luther King Jr. Collegium of Scholars.

Anthony Sean Neal, who also is a Faculty Fellow in the university’s Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College, was selected through recommendation by current collegium members, as well as demonstrated commitment to the principles and practices embraced by King.

Reflecting on the significance of the honor, Neal said, “Teaching at State and living in Mississippi have sharpened my interests as a philosopher even more to what grounds an inclusive community. King drew upon Jewish, Christian and Hindu insights to develop his understanding of a foundation that communities locked in violent conflicts could share, particularly where violence makes reconciliation seem utterly impossible.”

Holding a Bachelor of Arts in religion and philosophy from the Atlanta, Georgia, liberal arts institution, Neal is an active member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity to which King also belonged. It was through reading his fraternity’s history book and preparing for the college’s annual King Day ceremony and other activities that Neal said he came to appreciate the effect of King’s ideas on others.  

A member of the American Philosophical Association and the Committee for the Status and Future of the Discipline, Neal is the former vice president and president of the Mississippi Philosophical Association. MSU has hosted the MPA conference for seven of the last 10 years.

Neal is the author of two books on King’s mentor Howard Thurman. These works include “Common Ground: A Comparison of the Ideas of Consciousness in the Writings of Howard Thurman and Huey Newton” (Africa World Press, 2015) and “Howard Thurman’s Philosophical Mysticism: Love against Fragmentation” (Lexington Press, 2019). He also has written a number of articles, op-eds and reviews, and contributed to chapters in several texts.

Neal’s teaching and research interests include ethics, African-American philosophy and African-American religious experience. He holds an Associate of Applied Science degree from the former State Technical Institute at Memphis and Master of Divinity in philosophical theology from Mercer University in Georgia. He also earned a doctorate in humanistic inquiry with an emphasis in African-American philosophy and religion from Clark Atlanta University.

Rick Travis, dean of MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences and professor of political science and public administration, said this honor is “richly deserved by Dr. Neal as a person who is making a difference in this community.”

“Like Howard Thurman, the subject of much of his research, Dr. Neal works at the intersection of philosophy, religion and social justice studies. We are fortunate to have him at MSU as the blending of these interests helps to foster an interdisciplinary richness that is evident in his research, teaching and mentorship of students,” Travis said.

Professor and Head John Bickle said Neal has had a significant impact on the intellectual life of the Department of Philosophy and Religion since joining the MSU faculty in 2016. Neal’s Collegium of Scholars induction is “a huge and very well-deserved honor,” Bickle said.

“Dr. Neal has become a noted figure nationally in his field, and his teaching contributions here at MSU have likewise been huge,” he said. “He’s highly in demand not only for his philosophy and religion courses, but also for his offerings to the Shackouls Honors College and the African-American Studies program. He’s been active in the public philosophy movement, publishing op-ed pieces in newspapers explaining the importance of philosophy for everybody.”

Bickle continued, “With two books already in his published corpus, along with numerous journal articles and book chapters, I very much look forward to the future directions of his research.”

MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences includes more than 5,300 students, 300 full-time faculty members, nine doctoral programs and 25 academic majors offered in 14 departments. Complete details about the College of Arts and Sciences and the philosophy and religion department can be found at www.cas.msstate.edu or www.philosophyandreligion.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.