Baptists hold book fair

Mille Fleurs will again be the venue for the Academy of Grace Institute of the Holy Spirit (AOG)’s Spiritual Baptist/Shouter Liberation Day observances.

On March 28, the institute, in collaboration with the National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago, will host Let’s Turn the Pages – Book Fair and Readings. The event will begin at 6.30 pm.

“The objective of the book fair is to let people explore more about our Spiritual Baptist faith tradition,” said Ingrid Ryan-Ruben, founder and pastor of the 14-year-old institute. “Let us get back to reading and filling our minds with the beauty and knowledge of who we are as Spiritual Baptists,” she said in the release.

Each author will have the opportunity to read an excerpt from his/her book.

Funded by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, the publications will be sent to Nalis, and other libraries in the Caribbean.

“We are doing the research work,” Ryan-Ruben said. “But just as important, this work is meant to positively impact communities, so that members of the faith are able to share with others and hopefully, expand their flock.”

Ryan-Ruben is the author of Cobalt the Blue Zone, which documents her journey in becoming a Spiritual Baptist Mother and leader of the Margaret Ryan Spiritual Sanctuary. It also traces growth and development of the Spiritual Baptist faith as a faith tradition established by the formerly enslaved who were exposed to the doctrine of Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Baptist/Shouter Liberation Day was declared a national holiday in 1996, it commemorates the repeal of the 1917 Shouter Prohibition Ordinance that prohibited the activities of the Baptist faith.