James Alexander Forbes, Jr. is the Senior Minister Emeritus of the Riverside Church, an interdenominational (American Baptist and United Church of Christ) church on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. He was the first African American minister to lead this multicultural congregation, and served it for 18 years.
James Forbes, Jr. was born in Burgaw, North Carolina, son of James Forbes and Mabel Clemmons Forbes. His family moved first to Goldsboro, North Carolina then to Raleigh, where he grew up.
Forbes attended college at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he earned a B.S. degree in Chemistry in 1957. He was called to the ministry in 1956 and in 1962 he completed a Master of Divinity Degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He earned a Doctor of Ministry Degree from Colgate Rochester Divinity School in Rochester, New York, in 1975, after beginning his pastoring and teaching careers.
Forbes became ordained in both the American Baptist Churches and the Original United Holy Church of America.
From 1976-1989, Forbes taught preaching at Union Theological Seminary. In 1985 he became the first Joe R. Engle Professor of Preaching. After being called as senior minister by Riverside Church, he became an adjunct professor. Dr. Forbes also teaches at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York.
On June 1, 1989, Forbes was installed as the fifth Senior Minister of the Riverside Church, succeeding the Rev. William Sloane Coffin. Forbes was the first African American to serve as Senior Minister of one of the largest multicultural congregations in the nation. The church stands on the border of the Morningside Heights and Harlem neighborhoods, and serves an interdenominational congregation.
He helped support Pernessa C. Seele's efforts with the first years of the Harlem Week of Prayer for Healing of AIDS, the start of a national movement to deal with public health issues through communities of faith. [1] She founded the Balm in Gilead, Inc., which continues the work with thousands of congregations such as Riverside Church.
Forbes also brought Riverside Church to play a role in the redevelopment of Harlem, with the consortium of churches in Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement.
He brought his charismatic gift of preaching to the congregation and attracted new members.
Rev. Forbes participated in a Drum Major Institute-sponsored event titled, "The Power of Restorative Justice with San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey". [2]
On June 1, 2007, after 18 years of service, Forbes officially retired from this position to become president of the Healing of the Nations Foundation, a national ministry of healing and spiritual revitalization.
In 2009, Forbes authored the book Whose Gospel: A Concise Guide to Progressive Protestantism, in which he offers a compelling vision of progressive social change and addresses the most crucial issues of our time—poverty, war, women's equality, racial justice, sexuality, and the environment.
Forbes hosted the radio program The Time Is Now , which aired weekends on the Air America Radio network until July 28, 2007.
He is a member of Chi Phi fraternity.[ citation needed ] He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.[ citation needed ]
He married Bettye Franks from San Antonio, Texas. They have one son, James A. Forbes III.
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (UTS) is a private ecumenical Christian liberal seminary in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, affiliated in Columbia University. 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. 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), and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).
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.
Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School is a Baptist seminary in Rochester, New York. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA.
Calvin Otis Butts III was an American academic administrator and a senior pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church, which historically was the largest black church in New York City. He led the Abyssinian Development Corporation, which focuses on Harlem, and was president of the State University of New York College at Old Westbury.
Gayraud Stephen Wilmore Jr. was an American writer, historian, ethicist, educator, and theologian, known for his role in the Civil Rights Movement and his scholarship related to the history of the African-American church and the history of African-American religious experience, as well as his contributions to black theology.
Frederick Boyd Williams was a religious leader of national importance in the United States. As Canon of the Church of the Intercession in Harlem, New York from 1971 to 2005, he led an influential congregation, the first in the nation to establish a programmatic response to AIDS. A patron of the arts, he provided the first home for the Boys Choir of Harlem. He was a co-founder of the Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement (HCCI), which coordinated 90 congregations to develop 2000 units of housing and retail space. While earning a doctorate from Colgate Rochester Divinity School, he led a congregation that worked for civil rights and social justice, both in the United States and Africa.
Preston Robert Washington was a prominent minister of Memorial Baptist Church in Harlem, New York. He was a co-founder of the Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement and held leadership positions from 1986 to 2001, bringing millions of dollars in development projects for housing and retail to the neighborhood.
Robert Morrison, D.D. was an American Presbyterian minister, educator, and editor who was the principal founder of the Phi Delta Theta international college fraternity, suggesting the fraternity's creation and co-authoring the fraternity document known as The Bond.
James Franklin Kay is the Joe R. Engle Professor of Homiletics and Liturgics Emeritus, and Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs Emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary.
William Henry Brackney (1948–2022) was the Millard R. Cherry Distinguished Professor of Christian Thought and Ethics Emeritus at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, and an ordained Baptist minister, accredited by the Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches and the American Baptist Churches, USA. He was previously the Dean of Theology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and published numerous books and articles dealing with post-Reformation Protestant thought, particularly the Baptist and Radical Reformation traditions. Brackney did significant work in the areas of global ethics and human rights, and was the director of the Acadia Centre for Baptist and Anabaptist Studies (2008–2018). He was also a regular columnist for websites focused on ethics.
Charles Edward Smith was an American author and Baptist ecclesiologist and apologist. He was the pastor of Fredonia, New York's Baptist Church from 1885 to 1900. Many of his sermons, works, and manuscripts were published posthumously.
Bishop Reginald Thomas Jackson is the 132nd elected and consecrated bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Jackson is the husband of Christy Davis-Jackson, Esquire and the father of two children, daughter Regina Victoria Jackson and son Seth Joshua Jackson. Jackson received a bachelor's degree in history from Delaware State University and a Masters of Divinity from the Interdenominational Theological Center.
David Lyon Bartlett was the J. Edward and Ruth Cox Lantz Professor Emeritus of Christian Communication at Yale Divinity School, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of New Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary, and an ordained minister of the American Baptist Churches, USA.
Stephen A. Hayner was an American Presbyterian minister who was the president of Columbia Theological Seminary, a professor, an author, and the former president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.
J. Lee Hill Jr., was the first Missioner, now Canon, for Racial Justice and Healing for The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, appointed by the XIV Bishop of Virginia. He has served in ministry since 1999, and is an ordained minister with recognized standing in the Alliance of Baptists and the United Church of Christ.
Ella Pearson Mitchell was a Baptist minister, preacher, educator, and author. She was one of the first African-American women to graduate from Union Theological Seminary, and was later ordained to the Christian ministry in 1978. She was the first woman to be appointed Dean of Sisters Chapel at Spelman College in Atlanta. A gifted preacher, Mitchell was named by Ebony Magazine as one of America's "15 Greatest Black Women Preachers" in 1997. During her career, she taught at Berkeley Baptist Divinity School, Colgate Rochester Divinity School, the Interdenominational Theological Seminary, and Union Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. She edited multiple volumes in a series of sermons by women, entitled Those Preaching Women, and co-authored two books with her husband, Henry H. Mitchell.
Ernest T. Campbell was an American Presbyterian clergyman, theologian, and writer. He is most remembered as senior minister of New York City's prominent Riverside Church from 1968 to 1976. A native of New York City, Campbell previously served as minister at churches in Pennsylvania and the First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor, Michigan. After resigning from Riverside Church, he lectured at various seminaries including his alma mater, Princeton Theological Seminary, and was Professor of Homiletics at Garrett–Evangelical Theological Seminary between 1982 and 1989.
Patricia Ann Singletary is an American pastor, educator, author, and community organizer. She is the founder of Adoni Economic Enterprises, Inc. In 2002, she became the first female minister of Elmendorf Reformed Church in Harlem, the oldest religious congregation in Harlem dating back to 1660. Singletary is the author of, “The African-American Guide to Buying Stock Without a Broker.” She is the co-founder of the Harlem African Burial Ground Task Force.
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