Podcast appearances and mentions of Emilie M Townes

Angela interviewed Dr. Emilie M. Townes on October 12, 2021, via video conference. Townes talked about growing up in Durham, North Carolina, her formative years in theological education and parachurch work, and the necessity of having a robust hope. Emilie M. Townes, an American Baptist clergywoman, is a native of Durham, NC.  She holds a DMin from the University of Chicago Divinity School and a PhD in Religion in Society and Personality from Northwestern University. Townes is the Dean and Distinguished Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University Divinity School, becoming the first African American to serve as its dean in 2013.  She is the former Mellon Professor of African American Religion and Theology at Yale University Divinity School where she was the first African American and first woman to serve as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.  In 2008, she was the first African American woman to serve as president of the American Academy of Religion and recently served as President of the Society for the Study of Black Religion from 2012-2016.  She taught on the faculties of Union Theological Seminary, NY and Saint Paul School of Theology. She is the editor of two collection of essays, author of four books including her groundbreaking book, Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil.  She is a co-editor of two books. Townes was elected a Fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009. 

In today's episode, Wesley speaks with Deon Carson, a previous Staff Sergeant for the United States Army. Deon provides his experience growing up in a single parent home. To contact Wesley, email info@everythingrenewedcom. Resources that Deon mentioned during the podcast listed below: Black Women Authors and Books 1. Dr. Kimberle Crenshaw: Kimberlé Crenshaw Books | List of books by author Kimberlé Crenshaw (thriftbooks.com) 2. Dr. Emilie M. Townes: Emilie M. Townes Books | List of books by author Emilie M. Townes (thriftbooks.com) 3. Dr. Teresa Fry Brown: Teresa L. Fry Brown Books | List of books by author Teresa L. Fry Brown (thriftbooks.com) 4. Dr. Keri Day: Keri Day Books | List of books by author Keri Day (thriftbooks.com) 5. Dr. Michelle Alexander: Michelle Alexander Books | List of books by author Michelle Alexander (thriftbooks.com) 6. Bell Hooks: bell hooks Books | List of books by author bell hooks (thriftbooks.com) 7. Austin Channing Brown: Library — Austin Channing Brown 8. Mary Frances Berry: Mary Frances Berry Books | List of books by author Mary Frances Berry (thriftbooks.com) 9. Joy DeGruy: Joy DeGruy Books | List of books by author Joy DeGruy (thriftbooks.com) 10. Chanequa Walker-Barnes: Chanequa Walker-Barnes Books | List of books by author Chanequa Walker-Barnes (thriftbooks.com)

All Christians should be interested in what is going on in institutions that train people for Christian ministry because what happens in those institutions--how people are trained and what they are taught--finds it way, for good or not, into churches. Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s there was such dissatisfaction with theological education that the stirrings of an extensive and extended conversation about what was wrong and what needed to be done had begun. The first significant work of that conversation to appear in print was Vanderbilt theologian Edward Farley's Theologia: The Fragmentation and Unity of Theological Education, published in 1983. Farley's assessment of the problem was that because of the impact the modern sciences, theological schools had become places that trained people in the increasing number of Biblical, historical, theological/philosophical, and practical sciences. He urged the recovery of what he called theologia which he defined as the capacity for judgment and wisdom or a habitus--a habit of mind and sapiential knowledge that arises from the experiences of a devoted life of faith. Farleys research was deep, illuminating, and perceptive. His conclusions and proposal resonated across the conversation. However, Farley's contribution had a significant blind spot. Even though no reference was made to Farley and his contribution, that blind spot was revealed and named two years later, in 1985 by the Mud Flower Collective--a group of seven feminists scholars of different races and ethnicities--in their book, God's Fierce Whimsy: Christian Feminism and Theological Education. Their assessment of the problem is that it is due to the so-deeply-embedded-that-it-goes-unnoticed legacy of colonial imperialism and white male supremacy. Their proposal was to reveal this legacy, challenge it, and correct it. It could be argued that Farley's contribution is an example of how deep and unnoticed this legacy is because he fails to even be aware of it and thus to acknowledge it. As is often the case, initial prophetic voices goes unheeded. So it was with the Mud Flower Collective's contribution. Last year, nearly forty years since conversation of the 1980s, Willie James Jennings, former dean of Yale Divinity School, has both revived that conversation about the inadequacy of theological education and the Mud Flower Collective's critique in his book, After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging. The fact of his assessment that the inadequacy of theological education is still due to the legacy of colonial imperialism and white male supremacy reveals how little has changed in forty years and how deeply the legacy in embedded. In my mind, both The Mud Flower Collective's  and Jennings contributions in the accuracy of their assessments and in the way they demonstrated theological learning and inquiry, not only through critical analysis, but also the use of personal stories and poetry, are exceptional examples of the theologia Farley was seeking and proposing. To tell us of their own experiences in theological education, to provide their own assessment of state of theological education in conversation with Jennings's book, to provide us with a description of what is going on with theological education in their respective institutions, and to give us some sense of theological education's future, I have invited three deans of seminaries and divinity schools to be my guests for a two part conversation. Each are in positions to shape and guide theological programs in the schools where they are. In this episode, Part 1, we will focus on their experiences and assessments. In the next episode, Part 2, we will focus on what is happening in their institutions and the future of theological education. Dr. Emilie M. Townes is Dean of Vanderbilt University Divinity School and Distinguished Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society. The Reverend Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas is Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at U...

Our conversation with Dean Emilie M. Townes concludes.

Part one of a two-part interview with Womanist theologian Emilie M. Townes.

Join us for an engaging conversation with Lyvonne Proverbs, MDiv, a New York City native, and body and sex-positive light-worker, pastor, preacher, transformational speaker, writer, poet, educator, and conscious creative social entrepreneur. An Emmy-award winning media producer, Proverbs graduated from Seton Hall University, Yale Divinity School, and Columbia Theological Seminary. She is a highly sought after presenter and has partnered with Lyft, Auburn Seminary, the Atlanta University Center, San Francisco Department of Health, Young Women Social Entrepreneurs and more. Rev. Lyvonne offers consulting for sacred and secular institutions, as well as individual and group spiritual life coaching. Rev. Lyvonne has been featured in ESSENCE, Cosmopolitan, and The Washington Post magazines and is the host of Courageous Currents podcast on KPFA, where she fosters conversations with her guests about life at the intersection of faith and social justice. Sojourners named her one of “11 Women Shaping the Church” in March 2019. We delve into quite a bit during this episode: - Understanding Jesus as liberator for the most marginalized.  - How thinkers rooted in black liberation theology, founded by Dr. James Cone (God of the Oppressed and many other books) and womanism (defined by Alice Walker in her 1983 book In Search of our Mothers' Gardens), expanded her own personal understanding and expression of Christianity. Some of these womanist thinkers  include: Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon, Rev. Dr. Emilie M. Townes, Delores S. Williams, and Ebony Janice Moore.  - Healing from incest (at the hands of her biological father) and founding Beautiful Scars, an online storytelling agency focused on trauma, healing and resiliency. - @WereSurthrivors platform, a digital community for Black Christian women who are also survivors of childhood sexual abuse. By harnessing the power of narrative, she helps survivors (and communities, at large) shift from silence to storytelling. - Moving beyond the shaming of our bodies and sex / sexuality  which is so prevalent in many churches so we can realize our personal and collective liberation in Christ.   - Seeing the body as a divine expression of God's love for us, and embracing various practices to center self care with intention. - The importance of therapy for our well being. Check out Open Path Collective for affordable care options.  Connect with Pastor Lyvonne via her website: https://lyvonnep.com (where you will find links to all her social media pages).  Stay Connected with Pray with our Feet: IG: @praywithourfeet  Twitter: @praywithourfeet  This podcast is generously edited by my hubby, Kes, a talented videographer / photographer / editor at www.keston.online.

October 24, 2019 | Women in Ministry Conference 2019 Keynote Lecture: “Embodied Leadership” Speaker: Emilie M. Townes, dean and Carpenter Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University Divinity School

Canon Broderick interviewed the Reverend Emilie M. Townes, Ph.D., about the cultural production of evil and what she calls the "ultimate queer, womanist move." Dr. Townes is an African American Christian social ethicist and theologian, and is currently Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School.

If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to digicomm@uchicago.edu. The 2008 Alumna of the Year speech by Emilie M. Townes. Townes is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of African American Religion and Theology at Yale Divinity School. After earning her B.A. from the University of Chicago and her M.A. from the Divinity School, Townes earned her Doctor of Ministry degree in 1982, also from the Divinity School, and her Ph.D. from the Joint Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary/Northwestern University Program in Religious and Theological Studies in 1989. She is ordained in the American Baptist Church.

The Rev. Dr. Emilie M. Townes, a distinguished scholar and leader in theological education, is dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School. She is also the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society.  When she first visited the podcast we discussed the origins of Womanist theology and her book Womanist Ethics and the… Read more about Womanist Theology w/ Emilie Townes [Barrel Aged]