Susan B. Thistlethwaite

The Reverend Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, PhD is Professor of Theology at CTS. She was President of the seminary from 1998-2008. Upon completing two five-year terms as President, she returned to full-time teaching on the seminary faculty.  She has a Ph.D. from Duke University, a Masters of Divinity (Summa Cum Laude) from Duke Divinity School and a B.A. from Smith College. An ordained minister of the United Church of Christ since 1974, she is the author or editor of numerous books and has been a translator for two different translations of the Bible.

Thistlethwaite is currently working in a new area she calls “Public Theology.” She writes a weekly column for the Washington Post “On Faith” online section and is a frequent media commentator on religion and public events.  Her new book, Dreaming of Eden: American Religion and Politics in a Wired World, will be published in October, 2010 by Palgrave-Macmillan.

Her previous works include Interfaith Just Peacemaking: Alternatives to War, edited with Glen Stassen (United States Institute of Peace, 2008), Adam, Eve and the Genome: Theology in Dialogue with the Human Genome

Project (Fortress Press, 2003), Lift Every Voice: Constructing Christian Theologies from the Underside with Mary Potter Engel (Orbis, 1998), Sex, Race and God: Christian Feminism in Black and White (reprinted, 2009), Casting Stones: Prostitution and Liberation in Asia and the United States with Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock (Fortress, 1996) and The New Testament and Psalms: An Inclusive Translation (Oxford University Press, 1995).  Interfaith Just Peacemaking is currently being expanded into a book.

She is a Fellow of the Center for American Progress Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative, and serves as a trustee of Faith in Public Life, and the Interfaith Youth Core.