The Reverend Doctor Emilie Townes | |
---|---|
Born | Durham, North Carolina, U.S. | August 1, 1955
Occupation(s) | author, professor, theologian, American Baptist minister |
Academic background | |
Education | University of Chicago (BA) University of Chicago (MA, DMin) Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary & Northwestern University (PhD) |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Womanist theologian |
Institutions | Union Theological Seminary,Yale Divinity School,Vanderbilt Divinity School |
Emilie Maureen Townes (born August 1,1955,Durham,North Carolina) is an American Christian social ethicist and theologian. She was Dean,E. Rhodes,and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School. Townes was the first African-American woman to be elected president of the American Academy of Religion in 2008. [1] She also served as the president of the Society for the Study of Black Religion from 2012–2016.
Townes earned her Bachelor of Arts in Religion and the Humanities from the University of Chicago in 1977. She then earned her Master of Arts in Religion as well as her Doctor of Ministry from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 1979 and 1982. Townes earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Religious and Theological Studies from the joint Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary/Northwestern University Program in 1989. [2]
Townes has taught at a number of academic institutions,including Chicago Theological Seminary,McCormick Theological Seminary,Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary,DePaul University,Saint Paul School of Theology,Union Theological Seminary in New York,and Yale Divinity School,holding named chairs at both Union and Yale. [3] In 2013 she became Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School,and in 2018 she was reappointed for a second five-year term. In 2022 Townes announced that she will conclude her deanship at Vanderbilt Divinity School at the end of the 2022–2023 academic year. [2] Her accomplishments as Dean include the launching of the James Lawson Institute for the Research and Study of Nonviolent Movements,the Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative,and the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice,as well as curriculum reform and building renovations. [2]
Townes has been an ordained American Baptist minister since 1980. [4]
Townes has made major contributions to the field of womanist theology and ethics. She has been described as a "towering figure in theological education." [5] The connection between faith and activism is a hallmark of her scholarship. [6] Her research interests include health,interlocking forms of oppression,womanism,cultural studies,and postmodernism. [7] [8] She was awarded an honorary master's degree from Yale University in 2005,and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Christian Theological Seminary in 2022. [5]
Townes served as the president of the American Academy of Religion in 2008,and the president of the Society for the Study of Black Religion from 2012–2016. [2] In 2022,Townes was elected as the 2025 president of the Society of Christian Ethics. She will become the society's first Black woman president. [3]
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York is a private ecumenical liberal Christian seminary in Morningside Heights,Manhattan,affiliated with Columbia University. Columbia University lists UTS among its affiliate schools,alongside Barnard College and Teachers College. Since 1928,the seminary has served as Columbia's constituent faculty of theology. In 1964,UTS also established an affiliation with the neighboring Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Despite its affiliation with Columbia University,UTS is an independent institution with its own administration and Board of Trustees. UTS confers the following degrees:Master of Divinity (MDiv),Master of Divinity &Social Work dual degree (MDSW),Master of Arts in religion (MAR),Master of Arts in Social Justice (MASJ),Master of Sacred Theology (STM),Doctor of Ministry (DMin),and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).
The Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS) is a Christian ecumenical American seminary located in Chicago,Illinois,and is one of several seminaries historically affiliated with the United Church of Christ. It is the oldest institution of higher education in Chicago,originally established in 1855 under the direction of the abolitionist Stephen Peet and the Congregational Church by charter of the Illinois legislature.
Womanist theology is a methodological approach to theology which centers the experience and perspectives of Black women,particularly African-American women. The first generation of womanist theologians and ethicists began writing in the mid to late 1980s,and the field has since expanded significantly. The term has its roots in Alice Walker's writings on womanism. "Womanist theology" was first used in an article in 1987 by Delores S. Williams. Within Christian theological discourse,Womanist theology emerged as a corrective to early feminist theology written by white feminists that did not address the impact of race on women's lives,or take into account the realities faced by Black women within the United States. Similarly,womanist theologians highlighted the ways in which Black theology,written predominantly by male theologians,failed to consider the perspectives and insights of Black women. Scholars who espouse womanist theology are not monolithic nor do they adopt each aspect of Walker's definition. Rather,these scholars often find kinship in their anti-sexist,antiracist and anti-classist commitments to feminist and liberation theologies.
Garrett–Evangelical Theological Seminary (Garrett) is a private seminary and graduate school of theology related to the United Methodist Church and is ecumenical in spirit. It is located in Evanston,Illinois,on the campus of Northwestern University. The seminary offers master's- and doctoral-level degrees,as well as certificate,micro-credentialing,and lifelong learning programs. It has thousands of alumni serving in ministry,education,organizational leadership,and public service throughout the world.
The Divinity School at Duke University in Durham,North Carolina,is one of ten graduate or professional schools within Duke University. It is also one of thirteen seminaries founded and supported by the United Methodist Church. It has 39 regular rank faculty and 15 joint,secondary or adjunct faculty,and,as of 2017,an enrollment of 543 full-time equivalent students. The current dean of the Divinity School is the Rev. Dr. Edgardo Colón-Emeric,who assumed the deanship on Aug. 31,2021. Former deans include the prominent New Testament scholar Richard B. Hays,who stepped down in 2015.
Yale Divinity School (YDS) is one of the twelve graduate and professional schools of Yale University in New Haven,Connecticut.
The University of Chicago Divinity School is a private graduate institution at the University of Chicago dedicated to the training of academics and clergy across religious boundaries. Formed under Baptist auspices,the school today lacks any sectarian affiliations.
The Vanderbilt Divinity School and Graduate Department of Religion is an interdenominational divinity school at Vanderbilt University,a major research university located in Nashville,Tennessee. It is one of only six university-based schools of religion in the United States without a denominational affiliation that service primarily mainline Protestantism.
Lynda Serene Jones is an American theologian and academic. She is the president and Johnston Family Professor for Religion and Democracy at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. She was formerly the Titus Street Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and chair of gender,woman,and sexuality studies at Yale University.
Katie Geneva Cannon was an American Christian theologian and ethicist associated with womanist theology and black theology. In 1974 she became the first African-American woman ordained in the United Presbyterian Church (USA).
Prathia Laura Ann Hall Wynn was an American leader and activist in the Civil Rights Movement,a womanist theologian,and ethicist. She was the key inspiration for Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.
Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas is an American author and educator. She is associate professor of ethics and society at Vanderbilt Divinity School and the Graduate Department of Religion at Vanderbilt University in Nashville,Tennessee. Floyd-Thomas is a Womanist Christian social ethicist whose research interests include Womanist thought,Black Church Studies,liberation theology and ethics,critical race theory,critical pedagogy and postcolonial studies.
Monica A. Coleman is a contemporary theologian associated with process theology and womanist theology. She is currently Professor of Africana Studies and the John and Patricia Cochran Scholar for Inclusive Excellence at the University of Delaware,as well as the Faculty Co-Director Emerita for the Center for Process Studies. Her research interests include Whiteheadian metaphysics,constructive theology,philosophical theology,metaphorical theology,black and womanist theologies,African American religions,African traditional religions,theology and sexual and domestic violence,and mental health and theology. Coleman is an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Jacquelyn Grant is an American theologian,a Methodist minister. Alongside Katie Cannon,Delores S. Williams,and Kelly Brown Douglas,Grant is considered one of the four founders of womanist theology. Womanist theology addresses theology from the viewpoint of Black women,reflecting on both their perspectives and experience in regards to faith and moral standards. Grant is currently the Callaway Professor of Systematic Theology at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta.
Marcia Y. Riggs is an American author,the J. Erskine Love Professor of Christian Ethics,and the Director of ThM Program at Columbia Theological Seminary,a womanist theologian,and a recognized authority on the black woman’s club movement of the nineteenth century. She was one of six Luce Scholars named by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS) and The Henry Luce Foundation,Inc. as Henry Luce III Fellows in Theology for 2017-2018.
Renita J. Weems is an American Protestant biblical scholar,theologian,author and ordained minister. She is the first black woman to earn a Ph.D. in Old Testament studies in the United States. She was influenced by the movement in the last half of the 20th century which argues that context matters and shapes our scholarship and understanding of truth. She is best known for her contribution to womanist theology,feminist studies in religion and black religious thought. She is recognized as one of the first scholars to bring black women's ways of reading and interpreting the Bible into mainstream academic discourse. In 1989 she received a Ph.D. in Old Testament/Hebrew Bible studies from Princeton Theological Seminary making her the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in the field. Her work in womanist biblical interpretation is frequently cited in feminist theology and womanist theology.
Love L. Sechrest is Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Columbia Theological Seminary and was previously an associate professor of the New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary,Pasadena,California. Her research interests include race and justice in the New Testament,African American Christianity,and womanist biblical interpretation in the New Testament. She serves on the board of directors for Faith &Learning,International,a Christian mission and social entrepreneurship business incubator.
The Very Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas is an African-American Episcopal priest,womanist theologian,and interim president of Episcopal Divinity School. She was previously the inaugural Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary. She became interim president when EDS departed from Union in 2023. She is also the Canon Theologian at the Washington National Cathedral. She has written seven books,including The Black Christ (1994),Black Bodies and Black Church:A Blues Slant (2012),Stand Your Ground:Black Bodies and the Justice of God (2015),and Resurrection Hope:A Future Where Black Lives Matter (2021). Her book Sexuality in the Black Church:A Womanist Perspective (1999) was groundbreaking for openly addressing homophobia within the Black Church.
Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan is an African-American womanist theologian,professor,author,poet,and an elder in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. She is Professor-Emerita of Religion and Women's Studies and Director of Women's Studies at Shaw University Divinity School. She is the author or editor of numerous books,including the volume Women and Christianity in a series on Women and Religion in the World,published by Praeger.
Karen Baker-Fletcher is an American theologian and professor notable for her womanist scholarship,particularly on the crucifixion and resurrection. She is currently Professor of Systematic Theology at Southern Methodist University's Perkins School of Theology in Dallas,Texas.