Faculty

JoAnne Marie Terrell Associate Professor of Ethics and Theology

B.A., Rollins College, 1981; M.Div., M.Phil., Ph.D., Union Theological Seminary (NYC), 1990, 1994, 1997.

Author: Power in the Blood? The Cross in the African-American Experience (Orbis, 1998).

Professor Terrell is an ordained elder in the Michigan Annual Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.

As an African-American, Christian and Womanist, rooted in the Church, Professor Terrell enjoys exploring the antecedents of her own faith claims. Her research interests include a focus on Christian origins and their potential for enhancing future developments in black, feminist and womanist theologies on questions of doctrine. In addition, she enjoys the spiritual benefits of studying the ancient testimonies and sacred texts of other cultures.

“My role as a teacher of ethics and theology is a way of honoring the activist spirit that characterizes my own, and the seminary’s, commitments. I strive to maintain a connection between the Academy and the Church, primarily by bringing to bear critical reflection on my experiences in both places, questioning the relevance of each enterprise for people and their complicity in maintaining systems of oppression. Nevertheless, in the tradition of ‘faith in search of understanding’ I am very much for the Church, and celebrate it as an extension of Jesus’ story, a story that has the power to transform our individual and communal lives. My scholarly and ‘preacherly’ vocation is to bring insight from many, many sources to bear on the way I ‘do’ theology. Thus, I appreciate other peoples’ apprehensions of God as they, too, struggle to live in just societies and in spiritual communion.”