Book Presentation and Round Table: Ralph Craig, “Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner”
On October 7, 2025, Georgetown Humanities hosted a book talk and roundtable featuring Ralph H. Craig III, 2025-2026 Numata Visiting Scholar at Princeton University and Assistant Professor of Religion at Whitman College.
The talk introduced a full room to Professor Craig’s book, Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Eerdmans Publishing, 2023), which explored the place of religion in the life and career of Tina Turner, tracing her Afro-Protestant Christian upbringing, her engagement with metaphysical religious ideas, and her conversion to Soka Gakkai Nichiren Buddhism in order to provide a genealogical study of Turner’s religious influences and examine her development as a Black Buddhist teacher.
Following his talk, Professor Craig was joined by Georgetown faculty Francisca Cho, Richard Desinord, and Erika Seamon for a roundtable discussion that addressed topics of conversion and the role of female practitioners in Black religions.
The event was organized and moderated by Professor Michelle C. Wang and co-sponsored by the Departments of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Performing Arts, Theology and Religious Studies, Art and Art History, and the American Studies Program.