Ordained to the ministry in 1986, Burleson has served Baptists as teacher, pastor, administrator, missionary, deacon, adviser, and chaplain. He is a founding board director for Africa Exchange, a mission-affiliate of Cooperative Baptists and is a member of Seventh and James Baptist Church, a progressive fellowship focused on the arts and social justice. He was ordained in 2013 as an abbot in the Oriental Orthodox Order in the West, an ecumenical monastic order; Blake practices centering prayer, lectio divina, the Anglican rosary, and chanting as a part of his daily office. He uses contemplative praxis in the classrooms in order to help students cultivate attention and develop listening skills. In 1982 he married Sandy Evans. Sandy, also a Baylor graduate, is a computer programmer, a master gardener, and stencil artist. They have two grown children, both of whom are married. Blake’s hobbies include carpentry, painting, backpacking, and hiking.
In his role as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies, Burleson serves the 26 departments of the College of Arts and Sciences and their 6,500 undergraduates. He is responsible for strategic development, implementation, and oversight of systems and programs to improve the College's recruitment, retention, and graduation of undergraduates.
Jungian Studies, African religions, Contemplative Studies, and the Wisdom Traditions
Advisory Board Member, Spring: A Journal of Archetype and Culture
Advisory Council, World Prayers Project
Member of the International Association of Jungian Studies
Member of American Academy of Religion
Member of the African Studies Association
2011 University Research Committee Grant, Baylor University
2007 Summer Research Sabbatical, Baylor University
2005 University Research Committee Grant, Baylor University
2002 University Research Committee Grant, Baylor University
1998 Summer Research Sabbatical, Baylor University
1995 Summer Research Sabbatical, Baylor University
1995 University Research Committee Grant, Baylor University
1995 Faculty Development Grant, Baylor University
1992 Faculty Development Grant, Baylor University
1991 Teaching Fellowship, Summer Teaching Institute, Baylor University
1985-86 Dissertation Fellowship, Baylor University
Christosophic Poems: An Anthology of the Wisdom Jesus (2016)
A Contemplative Approach to Understanding World Religions: C. G. Jung as Phenomenologist of the Soul (2014)
Entempling: Baptist Wisdom for Contemplative Prayer (2012)
Jung in Africa (2005)
Pathways to Integrity: Ethics and Psychological Type (2001)
"The Baynes Film of Jung's 1925-1926 Expedition to East Africa" in Spring: A Journal of Archetype and Culture Vol. 85, Spring, 247-303.
"Jung in Africa: The Historical Record" in Journal of Analytical Psychology, Vol. 53, 2008; pp. 209-223;
"The Branch Davidians from a Jungian Perspective," Jung Journal: Culture and Psyche (formerly The San Francisco Jung Institute Library Journal), Vol. 16, No. 2, 1997, pp. 5-27;
"Fishing for Our Souls: David Duncan's The River Why as Masculine Individuation" in Aethlon: The Journal of Sport Literature, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 41-54.