Lisa Allen, Assistant Professor of Worship and Music, Area IV
B.A., Millsaps College; B.M., Millsaps College; -M.Div., Candler School of Theology, Emory University; M.M.Ed., University of Southern Mississippi; Ph.D., University of Southern Mississippi
An ordained elder in the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church. She has special interest in Womanist theology, and African American spirituality and worship. Her most significant publications include “In the Spirit: Worship in the African-American Tradition” in Companion to the Africana Worship Book; “Liturgy, Justice, and the Future of the Black Church” (forthcoming), The Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center; and two book proposals: One Word: A Guide to Holistic Worship and What Pastors Wish Musicians Knew/What Musicians Wish Pastors Knew. (404) 527-7730; lallen@itc.edu
Margaret Aymer; Associate Professor, New Testament, Area I
B.A., Harvard-Radcliff College; M.Div., Union Theological Seminary; M.Phil., Union Theological Seminary; Ph.D., Union Theological Seminary
Dr. Margaret Aymer has a special interest in biblical hermeneutics, particularly the means by which African diasporic communities signify the Bible as “scripture.” Some of her most significant publications are “Teaching Christians to ‘Read’: Theological Education and the Church”; “Empire, Alter-empire and the Twenty-first Century”; “What Do the Gospels Say about Sex and the Church?” in Frequently Asked Questions about Sexuality, the Bible, and the Church; First Pure, Then Peaceable: Frederick Douglass Reads James and a forthcoming book, African American Biblical Interpretation: An Introduction with co-author, Randall C. Bailey. To see a recorded 2-minute interview of Dr. Aymer click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5E3n2Vrf4M&feature=related.
Randall C. Bailey, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Hebrew Bible, Area I
B.A., Brandeis University; A.M., University of Chicago; M.Div., Candler School of Theology, Emory University; Ph.D., Emory University
Randall Bailey has a special interest in the Pentateuch, historical books, the new methods of interpretation. He concentrates on ideological criticism especially as race, class, gender, sex, and power intersect in the biblical text. Some of Bailey’s most significant publications are “Academic Biblical Interpretation among African Americans in the United States” in African Americans and the Bible: Sacred Texts and Social Textures; “The Redemption of YHWH: A Literary Critical Function of the Songs of Hannah and David”; “And They Shall Know That I Am YHWH: The P Recasting of the Plague Narratives in Exodus 7-11”; David in Love and War: The Pursuit of Power in 2 Samuel 10-12; Yet with a Steady Beat: Contemporary U.S. Afrocentric Biblical Interpretation, ed.; and The Recovery of Black Presence: An Interdisciplinary Exploration: Essays in Honor of Dr. Charles B. Copher, Jacquelyn Grant, co-ed.
Reginaldo Braga, Assistant Professor for Christian Education, Area IV
B. Th., Seminario Teologico Congregacional do Recife; Ed.D., Union Theological Seminary; ThM., Princeton Theological Seminary; Ph.D., Columbia University
Dr. Braga has an interest in Education and Multiculturalism, Education and Contemporary Liberation Theologies, Critical Theories and Christian Education, Postmodern Philosophies and Education. He specializes in Freirean Studies. Publications (the most significant ones – books, articles, etc.): Multiculturalism as an Opportunity for Encounter and Transformation Paper presented at annual meeting of REA – Religious Education Association, Boston, MA. Reinventing the Church in Pos-Modernity: The Project of a Multicultural Church: Learning of a Brazilian in New York; The Church as an Educational Place: Paulo Freire in Religious Education. The Forgetfulness of Being: Beyond Inclusiveness in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Paulo Freire’s Critical Pedagogy: Critical Thinking as Passion for Possibilities.
David Cann, Cornelius & Dorothye Henderson Chair / E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism
B.A., Oberlin College; M.Div., Interdenominational Theological Center/Gammon Theological Seminary; M.A., Loyola University at Chicago; Ph.D., Chicago Theological Seminary
Dr. David E. Cann has a special interest in Wesleyan Theology, Black Religion in America, Methodist Traditions, Religion and Racism, and Multicultural Congregations. He teaches courses in Congregational Evangelism, Missiology and Wesleyan Theology. His publications and papers include Fracturing the Canon: An Interdisciplinary Humanities Reader and “The ‘Other’ Black Methodists: Case Studies in United Methodism.” He is an Ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church and has over 15 years of pastoral experience in a variety of economic and cultural settings.
Riggins R. Earl Jr., Professor, Ethics and Theology, Area II
B.A., American Baptist College, M.Div., Vanderbilt University Divinity School, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University
Dr. Riggins R. Earl’s primary research is in the area of the history and the religious moral life of Black Americans. He teaches courses in ethics; the moral dimensions of the Civil Rights Movement; the church, ethics, and public policy; and Black film as a genre of theological reflection. His significant publications include Dark Symbols, Obscure Signs: God, Self and Community in the Slave Mind; Dark Salutations: Ritual, God, and Greetings in the African American Community; The Jesus as Lord and Savoir Problem: Blacks’ Double Consciousness Self-Worth Dilemma (forthcoming); and current research on the book-length manuscript: Blacks, the Bible, and the Constitution.
Mark Ellingsen, Professor, Church History, Area II
B.A., Gettysburg College, M.Div., Yale Divinity School, M.A., Yale University, M.Phil., Yale University, Ph.D., Yale University
Dr. Mark Ellingsen teaches the core courses, “Church History I and II,” as well as courses on “Augustine,” “Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement,” and “Reformed Theology.” He has special interest in the pre-modern era (especially Augustine), Wesley, religion-science dialogue (including ecology and spirituality) as well as theological hermeneutics. His publications include fourteen books and over three hundred articles. Some of his most recent publications are Reclaiming Our Roots, Vols. 1 and 2; The Richness of Augustine: His Contextual and Pastoral Theology; The Integrity of Biblical Narrative: Story in Theology and Proclamation; Jesus’ Vision of a Fun, Free Life, Not Driven By Purpose; and When Did Jesus Become a Republican? Rescuing Our Country and Our Values from the Right: Strategies for a Post-Bush America.
Willie Godman Jr., Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling/Chaplain, Area III
A.B.A. Dekalb Community College, B.B.A., Georgia State University, M.Div., Interdenominational Theological Center, Th.D., Interdenominational Theological Center
Along with serving as the ITC Chaplain/Counselor, Dr. Willie Goodman Jr. is a full time faculty member who also serves as the institution’s Chaplain/Counselor. He teaches in the disciplines of pastoral care, pastoral counseling, and psychology of religion, spirituality and sexuality. He has developed a method of in- depth pastoral care and counseling that incorporates Black Theology of Liberation and Self Psychology along with insights from Black psychology and cultural criticism. All of his work is framed within a construct which utilizes insights from the many perspectives of men of African descent. One of his most accomplished publications is entitled Good-enough Mentoring: A Model of Black Pastoral Counseling for the Black Pastoral Counselor Working with African American Men.
Jacquelyn Grant, Director, Black Women in Church and Society and Womanist Scholars Program, Callaway Professor of Systematic Theology, Area II
M.Div. Turner Theological Seminary at the Interdenominational Theological Center, Ph.D., Union Theological Seminary
Dr. Jacquelyn Grant teaches courses on theology and Womanist Studies. Dr. Grant founded the Black Women in Church and Society Center at the Interdenominational Theological Center in 1981, and has served as its director since then. Her publications include White Woman’s Christ, Black Woman’s Jesus.
Maisha Handy, Associate Vice President for Academic Services/Associate Provost; Associate Professor, Christian Education, Area IV
B.S., Lincoln University, M.Div., Emory University, Ph.D., Emory University
Dr. Maisha Haney was a Womanist Scholar through the office of Black Women and Society in 2005-2006. She has a special interest in the research of religious education and hip-hop culture, as well as Womanist approaches to religious education. Some of her most significant writings include “Getting Real” in Keeping It Real: Working with Today’s Black Youth; “Fighting the Matrix: Toward a Womanist Pedagogy for the Black Church,” The Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center; and “Christian Education and Hip-Hop Culture” in Black Church Studies: An Interdisciplinary Anthology (forthcoming).
Marsha Snulligan-Haney, Professor, Missiology and Religions of the World, Area III
B.A., Johnson C. Smith University, M.R.E., Interdenominational Theological Center, M.Div., Interdenominational Theological Center, Th.M., Fuller Theological Seminary, Ph.D., Fuller Theological Seminary
Dr. Marsha Snulligan-Haney has taught, preached, lectured, and engaged in theological research and lead mission group tours in more than thirty countries. She has an interest in mission studies, ecumenism, and world Christianity as well as Islam and Christian-Muslim relations. Of her multiple publications, the most significant are Evangelism among African American Presbyterians: Making Plain the Sacred Story; Africentric Approaches to Christian Ministry: Strengthening Urban Congregations in African American Communities; Islam and Protestant African-American Churches: Responses and Challenges to Religious Pluralism; “The Changing Nature of Christianity and the Challenge of U.S.-Africa Mission Partnerships” in Freedom’s Distant Shores: American Protestants and Post-colonial Alliances with Africa; and the editorial consultant for the theme issue of The Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center: Health, Wholeness and Spirituality of the Pastor, writing the introductory article, “Introducing the Theme: Health, Wholeness and Spirituality of Pastors.”
Mark Lomax, Assistant Professor, Area IV
B.A., Heidelberg College, M.Div., Trinity Lutheran Seminary, D.Min. United Theological Seminary
Dr. Mark Lomax, has a special interest in homiletics, African traditional religions, and African-American religious history. His significant publications are “Theology of Marcus Garvey”; “The Historical Meaning and Manifestation of Liberation and the Vision for the Future”; “Spirituality and Leadership in the Afrikan Church in North America: A Reflection, The Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center; and Jesus for the Hip-Hop Generation. Dr. Lomax is the former interim dean of Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary, and the organizing pastor of the First Afrikan Presbyterian Church in Lithonia, GA.
Temba L. J. Mafico, Vice President for Academic Services/Provost, Professor, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Area I
B.A., University of London, Th.M., Harvard University, M.A. Harvard University, Ph.D., Harvard University
Dr. Mafico’s main research focus is on the Hebrew Bible and its relation to ancient Near Eastern myth and African tradition. He examines how African and ancient Near Eastern myth may have impacted the thought of the Israelites in Old Testament. His acuity in word study has led to his major publication: Yahweh’s Emergence As “Judge” Among the Gods: A Study of the Hebrew Root SPT. He has also published a chapter commentary on “Judges” in the International Bible Commentary; “Judge/Judging,” “Just /Justice,” and “Ethics of the Old Testament” in the Anchor Bible Dictionary; “The Divine Name Yahweh Elohim and Israel’s Polytheistic Monotheism,” Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages; “God’s Call and the Requisite Preparation for Performing Various Ministries,” The Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center; and “Patriarchs” in The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. IV. Dr. Temba Mafico is also pastor of the Village of Hope Baptist Church in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
Carolyn Akua L. McCrary, Associate Professor, Pastoral Care and Counseling
B.A., Bennett College, M.Div., Interdenominational Theological Center, Th.D., Interdenominational Theological Center
Dr. Carolyn McCrary has a special interest in pastoral care and violence against women, pastoral care and HIV/AIDS, and Womanist theology. She teaches courses in the psychology of religion and pastoral care. Her most significant publications include “A Response to Incarceration and Rehabilitation” in Black Men in Prison: The Response of the African American Church; “Interdependence As a Normative Value in Pastoral Counseling with African Americans” in Recovery of Black Presence: An Interdisciplinary Exploration: Essays in Honor of Dr. Chares B. Copher, Jacquelyn Grant and Randall Bailey, eds.; “The Wholeness of Women,” The Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center; “African Children: Troubled but Not Destroyed” in Stories about Ethiopia: An African Holy Land; “Intimate Violence against Women and Internalized Shame: A Womanist Pastoral Counseling Perspective,” The Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center; “Teaching Pastoral Theology As Part of the M.Div. Curriculum”; and “Introduction: Personhood in African-American Pastoral Care,” co-authored with Edward Wimberly.
Stephen C. Rasor, Director of D.Min Program/Professor, Sociology of Religion, Area III
B.A., Millsaps College, M.Div., Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Ph.D., Emory University
Dr. Stephen C. Rasor has an interest in Black congregational life. He teaches courses in the sociology of religion; religion, society, and social change; racism in the church and society; and church involvement in community life. His publications include but are not limited to Hidden Wholeness: An African American Spirituality for Individuals and Communities; The Mark of Zion: Congregational Life in the Black Churches and Black Power from the Pew: Laity Connecting Congregations and the Community; “African American Spirituality: Some Biblical and Historical Resources for Reflection.” Additionally, Dr. Rasor was the project director for the “Members Voice Project,” and Dr. Rasor and Dr. Dash were the project directors for “ITC/FaithFactor Project 2000: An Affirmation for the Journey Inward and Outward.”
George Thompson, Dir. of Faith & the City/Professor; Leadership & Ministry Practice, Area IV
B.A., University of Puget Sound, M.Div., Claremont School of Theology, D.Min. Claremont School of Theology, S.T.D., San Francisco Theological Seminary, Ph.D., Chicago Theological Seminary
Dr. George Thompson has a special interest in religious and public leadership, congregation vitality, social science applications to religious communities and organizations, culture theory in religion and society, interdisciplinary studies and congregations and the Bible. His most significant publications include but are not limited to Alligators in the Swamp: Power, Leadership and Ministry; Treasures in Clay Jars: New Ways to Understand Your Church; How Get Along with Your Church: Creating Cultural Capital for Doing Ministry; Church on the Cutting Edge of Somewhere: Ministry, Marginality, and the Future; How to Get Along With your Pastor: Creating Partnership for Doing Ministry; Leadership for Congregational Vitality: Paradigmatic Explorations into Organizational Cultural Theory; “Congregational Ministry As a Transformative Discipline”; and “The Emerging Tension between Self and Society, As Exemplified in Augustine.”
Love Henry Whelchel, Professor of Church History, Area II
A.B., Paine College, M.Div., Boston University School of Theology, M.A., New York University, Ph.D., Duke University
Dr. Love Henry Whelchel teaches courses on the African-American religion and American religious traditions as well as history of Christian thought. He also has a special interest in the Civil Rights Movement. Some of his most significant publications include: Hell without Fire: Conversion in Slave Religion; My Chains Fell Off: William Wells Brown, Fugitive Abolitionist; How Long This Road: Race, Religion, and the Legacy of C. Eric Lincoln; Shelter in the Time of a Storm: Sermons of Inspiration and Healing from the Book of Romans; and “History of the Black Church in America” in E Pluribus Unum: Challenges and Opportunities in Multicultural Ministry.
Edward P. Wimberly, Associate Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling
B.A., University of Arizona, S.T.B., Boston University School of Theology, S.T.M., Boston University School of Theology, Ph.D., Boston University Graduate School
Dr. Edward P. Wimberly’s most significant publications include Winds of Promise: Building and Maintaining Strong Clergy Families (co-authored with Anne Wimberly); African American Pastoral Care: The Politics of Oppression and Empowerment; Counseling African American Marriages and Families; Moving from Shame to Self-worth: Preaching and Pastoral Care; Relational Refugees: Alienation and Reincorporation in African American Churches and Communities; Prayer in Pastoral Counseling: Suffering, Healing, and Discernment; Claiming God: Reclaiming Dignity—African American Pastoral Care; and “Exploring the Meaning and Possibilities of Black Fatherhood Today” in Multidimensional Ministry for Today’s Black Family.
