The Reverend Dr. Willie James Jennings | |
---|---|
Born | April 29, 1961 |
Spouse | Joanne Browne |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Calvin College Duke University |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Duke University Yale University |
Notable works | The Christian Imagination:Theology and the Origins of Race |
Willie James Jennings (born April 29,1961) is an American theologian,known for his contributions on liberation theologies,cultural identities,and theological anthropology. He is currently an associate professor of systematic theology and Africana studies at Yale University.
Jenning gained his B.A. in religion and theology at Calvin College in 1984,and his M.Div in Fuller Theological Seminary in 1987. He completed his Ph.D. in religion,with a concentration on theology and ethics,at Duke University in 1993,supervised under Geoffrey Wainwright. His Ph.D. dissertation topic is "Reclaiming the Creature:Anthropological Vision in the Thought of Athanasius of Alexandria and Karl Barth." [1]
From 1990 to 2015,Jennings worked at Duke University Divinity School and taught theology and black church studies there, [2] before he was appointed associate professor of systematic theology and Africana studies at Yale in 2015. [3] He is an ordained Baptist minister and has served as interim pastor for several North Carolina churches.
In 2010,Jennings published The Christian Imagination, [4] for which he received the American Academy of Religion book award in 2011, [5] and the Grawemeyer Award in Religion in 2015. [1]
Later,Jennings released Acts:A Theological Commentary on the Bible through the Belief Bible commentary series in 2017. [6] He is currently[ when? ] working on a major monograph provisionally entitled Unfolding the World:Recasting a Christian Doctrine of Creation. [7] He has also contributed to Religion Dispatches,a website run by University of Southern California concerning the intersection of religion,politics,and culture. [8]
The book has been praised for its incisive analysis of the historical and theological roots of racial inequality and its call for a more inclusive and justice-oriented understanding of Christianity. It has been influential in shaping discussions around race,theology,and decolonization. [9] [10]
Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective. More narrowly it is the study of the nature of the divine. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the supernatural, but also deals with religious epistemology, asks and seeks to answer the question of revelation. Revelation pertains to the acceptance of God, gods, or deities, as not only transcendent or above the natural world, but also willing and able to interact with the natural world and to reveal themselves to humankind.
Charles H. Kraft is an American anthropologist, linguist, evangelical Christian speaker, and Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Intercultural Communication in the School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, where he taught primarily in the school's spiritual-dynamics concentration. In the domain of religion, his work since the early 1980s has focused on inner healing and spiritual warfare. He joined Fuller's faculty in 1969. In the 1950s he served as a Brethren missionary in northern Nigeria. He has served as a professor of African languages at Michigan State University and UCLA, and taught anthropology part-time at Biola University. He holds a BA from Wheaton College, a BD from Ashland Theological Seminary, and a PhD from the Hartford Seminary Foundation, titled "A Study Of Hausa Syntax".
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Dale C. Allison Jr. is a writer and historian whose areas of expertise include the historical Jesus, the Gospel of Matthew, Second Temple Jewish literature, and the history of the interpretation and reception of the Bible. Allison is the Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary. He was previously the Erret M. Grable Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (1997-2013). From 2001-2014, he was an editor for the multi-volume Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception.
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.
Harvey Gallagher Cox Jr. is an American theologian who served as the Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School, until his retirement in October 2009. Cox's research and teaching focus on theological developments in world Christianity, including liberation theology and the role of Christianity in Latin America.
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.
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Jon Douglas Levenson is an American Hebrew Bible scholar who is the Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at the Harvard Divinity School.
Miguel A. De La Torre is a professor of Social Ethics and Latino Studies at Iliff School of Theology, author, and an ordained Southern Baptist minister.
Amos Yong is a Malaysian-American Pentecostal theologian and Professor of Theology and Mission at Fuller Theological Seminary. He has been Dean of School of Theology and School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Seminary, since July 1, 2019.
Choon-Leong Seow, known as C. L. Seow, is a distinguished biblical scholar, semitist, epigrapher, and historian of Near Eastern religion, currently as Vanderbilt, Buffington, Cupples Chair in Divinity and Distinguished Professor of Hebrew Bible at Vanderbilt University. An expert in wisdom literature, Seow has written widely in the field of biblical studies.
Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite is an author, former president of Chicago Theological Seminary, a syndicated columnist, ordained minister, activist, theologian, and translator of the Bible. She is currently an emeritus faculty member at Chicago Theological Seminary. She also spent some of her time serving as a trustee for different organizations.
The Centre for the Study of World Christianity (CSWC) is a research centre based in New College, the School of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh. It was founded in the University of Aberdeen by Andrew F. Walls as the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World in 1982, but later moved by Walls to the University of Edinburgh in 1986. Its current name was adopted in 2009. The centre is currently directed by Alexander Chow and Emma Wild-Wood.
Elsa Támez is a Mexican liberation theologian and biblical scholar. Her writings on feminist theology and contextual biblical criticisms brought new perspectives to these fields of study, laying the foundation for later scholars. Her books include Bible of the Oppressed, The Amnesty of Grace, and Struggles for Power in Early Christianity: A Study of the First Letter of Timothy (2007). She is Professor Emerita at the Universidad Biblica Latinamericana in Costa Rica. She was appointed president of Universidad Biblica Latinamericana in 1995, becoming their first woman president.
Ellen Tabitha Charry is an American theologian and author who is the Margaret W. Harmon Professor of Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary.