PhD Students

portrait of Rev. Anjeanette Allen

Rev. Anjeanette Allen

[email protected]

Field of Study

Pastoral and Practical Theology, Bioethics, and Womanist Theology

Education

BS, Northeastern University
MPA, New York University
MDiv, Princeton Theological Seminary

portrait of William Andrews, Jr.

William Andrews, Jr.

[email protected]

Field of Study

Bible, Culture, and Hermeneutics

Education

BA, Spanish Language and Literatures, The College of William and Mary
MDiv, Union-PSCE
ThM, Biblical Studies, Union-PSCE

Research Focus

Will’s research integrates studies of prison literature, cognitive linguistics, trauma, and biblical interpretation in prison. He is writing a dissertation on the imprisonment narratives in the Book of Jeremiah.

Background & Activities

Will studies and teaches at the intersection of prisons, literature, and biblical studies. Since 2001, he has volunteered or worked inside prisons in four states and one federal facility. Will founded and chairs the Prison Literature Permanent Session of the Midwest Modern Language Association. He is also a member of the Illinois Coalition of Higher Education Programs in Prison (IL-CHEPP) and the Correctional Ministries and Chaplains Association (CMCA). In 2016, Will was named a “Woody Guthrie Fellow” by the Broadcast Music Industry Foundation. This allowed him to conduct research in the archives at the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Subsequent to his dissertation, Will plans to complete a book on Woody Guthrie’s experiences of incarceration. Will has served as a licensed United Methodist pastor and is currently a Lecturer at North Park Theological Seminary’s School of Restorative Arts, a Christian ministry degree program inside Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet, Illinois. He lives with his wife Kristin and son Josiah in the North Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago.

Courses

Instructor - Pentateuch & Interpretation
Instructor - New Testament Texts and Their World
Instructor - Religion in Prison: A Survey of Religious-Themed Prison Literature
Instructor - Scripture and Violence Against Women

portrait of David Berger

David Berger

Field of Study

Theology, Ethics and Culture

portrait of Jared Beverly

Jared Beverly

[email protected]

Field of Study

Hebrew Bible

Education

BA, Oklahoma Christian University
MTS, Emory University

Research Focus

Jared studies the Hebrew Bible and is especially interested in the areas where biblical studies intersects with queer theory and animal studies. He is currently writing his dissertation on Song of Songs.

Courses

Adjunct Professor, "Interpreting the Hebrew Bible"
Adjunct Professor, "LGBTQ Issues and Biblical Interpretation"
Teaching Assistant, "Interpreting the Hebrew Bible II" with Rabbi Dr. Rachel Mikva

portrait of Rebecca Blackburn

Rebecca Blackburn

[email protected]

Field of Study

Biblical Hermeneutics

Education

BSW, Spring Arbor University
MA, Spring Arbor University

portrait of Whitney Bond

Whitney Bond

[email protected]

Field of Study

Theology, Ethics, and the Human Sciences (Human Sexuality & Black Church Culture)

Education

BA, Spelman College
MDiv (with Black Church Studies Certificate), The Candler School of Theology at Emory University
Phd Student, Chicago Theological Seminary

Research Focus

Whitney Bond is currently a third-year PhD student in the field of Theology, Ethics and the Human Sciences at Chicago Theological Seminary. Her research centers on womanist approaches to bridging gaps between pastoral care and practical theology within human sexuality and spiritual spaces for Black bodies, primarily Black Church spaces and queer bodies.

Background & Activities

A native of East Saint Louis, Illinois, Whitney is a May 2016 graduate of The Candler School of Theology at Emory University and received her Master of Divinity with a certificate in Black Church Studies. She is also a proud alumna of Spelman College where she received her B.A. degree in Drama with a Concentration in Dance. In the past, Whitney has presented at the American Academy of Religion (2014, 2017, & 2018), served as moderator for both AAR (2015) and the Love Thyself convening (2016). She is a member of the American Academy of Religion, The National Alumnae Association of Spelman College, the Society of Christian Ethics, Women of Color Sexual Health Network, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, and a board member for the Children of Combahee, . Additionally, she is SafeSpace trained and creator of the apparel line, Unbossed and Unbought.

Courses

Teaching Assistant, Intro to Pastoral Care,  with Dr. Zachary Moon
Teaching Assistant, Black Lives Matter: Theological Anthropology, with Dr. Linda Thomas

portrait of Rev Rachelle Brown

Rev Rachelle Brown

[email protected]

Field of Study

Theology; American Religious History

Education

MA, Missouri State University
MDiv, Eden Theological Seminary

Research Focus

Rachelle's research is focused on the formation of American Theology during the Antebellum period. Critique of historical movements and the construction of theologies in the early 19th century interrogate the debate and boundaries of being human in Christian thought.

Background & Activities

Professional career includes communications, Interim ministry leadership, teaching, and application of Queer Theology. Rachelle is an amateur photographer and enjoys teaching in various contexts, in person, online, and in small group settings.

Courses

Teaching Assistant, "History of Christian Thought" with Dr. Julia Speller
Teaching Assistant, "North American Religion" with Dr. Susan Thistlewaite
Adjunct Professor, "North American Religion"

portrait of Rev. Danielle Buhuro

Rev. Danielle Buhuro

[email protected]

Field of Study

Violence, Social Media, Pastoral Care; Womanist Theology

Education

B.A., Chicago State University
M.Div., Chicago Theological Seminary
D.Min., Chicago Theological Seminary

Research Focus

Danielle Buhuro's dissertation research interest is in the area of social media violence, pastoral theology and psychology.

Background & Activities

Buhuro currently serves as CPE Supervisor/ACPE Certified Educator at Advocate South Suburban and Trinity Hospitals in Chicago.

Courses

Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Pastoral Care and Counseling, Dr. Lee H. Butler, Jr.

Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Pastoral Theology, Dr. Zachary Moon

Teaching Assistant, Field Education - Online Clinical Pastoral Education, Dr. Kate Lassiter

portrait of Wei-Jen Chen

Wei-Jen Chen

[email protected]

Field of Study

Sacred Text Hermeneutical Strategies and LGBTQ Studies

Education

BBA, National Cheng-Chi University (Taiwan)
BTh, Taiwan Theological College and Seminary (Taiwan)
MDiv, Tainan Theological College and Seminary (Taiwan)
STM, Chicago Theological Seminary
MSc, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Research Focus

Charing Wei-Jen Chen (he/him)’s research focuses on the interdisciplinary of the Hebrew Bible, postcolonialism, and gender/queer theories. His dissertation explores new approaches to reading the Book of Judges through the lens of LGBT/queer Christian experiences and movements in Taiwan.

Background & Activities

The first coming-out LGBTQ seminarian in Taiwan and the valedictorian of 2014. Moderator of Hayward-Boswell Society at CTS (2017-19), Co-leader of Chicago Chapter, The Reformation Project (2018-19), Co-leader of Queer Theologians Illinois (2018), co-host of 'Queer of God' podcast (2020-). An ordained United Church of Christ pastor keeps exploring the final frontier.

Courses

Teaching Assistant, Interpreting the Hebrew Bible, with Dr. Ken Stone
Teaching Assistant, Global Sensitivity in Ministry, with Dr. Bo Myung Seo
Teaching Assistant, Introduction to LGBTQ+ Religious Studies, with Dr. Scott Haldeman
Teaching Assistant, Pastoral Care and LGBTQ Experience, with Dr. Cody J. Sanders
Teaching Assistant, History of Christian Thoughts, with Dr. Cynthia Stewart
Teaching Assistant, Marriage: Rites and Wrongs, with Dr. Scott Haldeman

portrait of Arlicia Corley

Arlicia Corley

[email protected]

Field of Study

Womanist Theology, Christian Ethics, & Public Health

Education

BS, University of Illinois at Chicago
MS, Chicago State University
MPH, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health
MDiv, Chicago Theological Seminary

Research Focus

Arlicia Corley's research focuses on Gender based-violence, Christian ethics, and environmental and occupational health sciences of public health. She is primarily interested in these areas related to social justice issues and centers around various forms of discrimination against underrepresented and marginalized groups from a womanist theological perspective.

portrait of Lindsay Cowett

Lindsay Cowett

[email protected]

Field of Study

Theology, Ethics, and Culture

Education

BA, Bridgewater College 2008
MDiv, Eastern Mennonite Seminary 2016
STM, Chicago Theological Seminary 2021

Research Focus

Lindsay's research focuses on the effects of Western media on the spiritual and cultural development of Palestinian-American Christian GenZ youth

Courses

Living Into our Commitments and Effecting Social Change

portrait of Amondo Damole

Amondo Damole

Field of Study

Ethics surrounding African American Religious Studies/Social Justice

portrait of The Rev. Elle Dowd

The Rev. Elle Dowd

[email protected]

Field of Study

Theology and Ethics (Bisexual Theology)

Education

BA in Religious Studies, Iowa State University
MDiv with Bible Emphasis, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

Research Focus

Elle is constructing a bisexual-specific theology rooted in an exploration of the ways that bisexual people’s experience can be put in conversation with a Lutheran understanding of scripture, tradition, liturgy, and pastoral care. Because bisexual women experience some of the highest rates of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, her research also pays special attention to the intersections of trauma with gender, sexuality, and the Church.

Background & Activities

Elle Dowd (she/her/hers) is a bi-furious recent graduate of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, a current PhD student at the Chicago Theological Seminary, the campus minister of South Loop Campus Ministry and an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Elle has pieces of her heart in Sierra Leone, where her two children were born, and in St. Louis where she learned from the radical, queer, Black leadership during the Ferguson Uprising. She was formerly a co-conspirator with the movement to #decolonizeLutheranism and currently serves as a board member of the Euro-Descent Lutheran Association for Racial Justice, does community organizing in her city as a board member of SOUL, serves on the Clergy Advocacy Board for Planned Parenthood, writes regularly as part of the vision team for the Disrupt Worship Project, and facilitates workshops in both secular conferences and Christian spaces. In 2021 she published a book with Broadleaf, Baptized in Teargas, about her conversion from a white moderate to an abolitionist is available now in print, e-book, or audiobook. To get in touch with Elle and to keep up with updates, you can visit her website www.elledowd.com and subscribe to her newsletter. You can also see her online ministry via Facebook.com/elledowdministry or follow her on Twitter/SnapChat/Insta @hownowbrowndowd or on TikTok @elledowdministry And order her book Baptized in Teargas: From White Moderate to Abolitionist here https://bit.ly/2YICjBf Or download the audiobook here https://christianaudio.com/baptized-tear-gas-elle-dowd-audiobook-download

portrait of Rev. Brian Foulks

Rev. Brian Foulks

[email protected]

Field of Study

Black Religious Thought and Culture

Education

BS, Benedict College
MAR, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary of Lenoir-Rhyne
STM, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary of Lenoir-Rhyne
PhD, Chicago Theological Seminary

Research Focus

I am using the work of James Baldwin and John Coltran as emblems of Black Rage. They represent a theo-creative response to oppression within the Black community. I am proposing that the artist is actually a theologian within their cultural context. Through this mode of thinking their art speaks in creative means to express the freedom of God.

portrait of Jason Frey

Jason Frey

[email protected]

Field of Study

Theological Anthropology, Queer Theory

portrait of Jamel Garrett

Jamel Garrett

[email protected]

Field of Study

Africana Religious Studies & History, Transatlantic Slave Trade/Middle Passage Studies

Education

BA, Carthage College
MA, Chicago Theological Seminary

portrait of Rev. Cheryl Green

Rev. Cheryl Green

[email protected]

Field of Study

LiberationTheology, Ethics, and Women

Education

BA, Roosevelt University
MDiv, North Park Theological Seminary
STM, Chicago Theological Seminary

Research Focus

Cheryl's research focuses on how Afro-Latinas in parts of Colombia and Peru, speak of God, embrace and embody ancestral spirituality and practices in the face of systemic multiple macro and micro aggressions attributed to regional colonialism, military (national and U.S.) backed/enacted genocide and massacres, forced internal displacement, and statelessness.

Background & Activities

Preacher-Teacher, Scholar-Activist, Public-Practical Theologian, Cheryl is committed to the work of disrupting, decolonizing, and dismantling global systems and structures that oppress, dehumanize, disenfranchise, and marginalize persons. She has serves as an activist and advocate in parts of Spanish speaking Central and South America, working with and on behalf Afro-descendent and Indigneous persons on issues of racism, land and economic justice, gender disparity, and penal reform. As an ordained Itinerant Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Cheryl has served Senior leadership and congregations in several capacities, including: Director of Prison Ministries, Director of Social Justice Ministries, Director of Prayer and Spiritual Formation, Crisis Chaplain, and Executive Administrative Assistant. At present she serves as the Executive Administrative Assistant for the Department of Church Growth and Development AME Church Worldwide, the Co-Dean of the Seminar on Church Growth and Evangelism AME Church and on the Ministerial Staff of Cathedral of Grace-St. John AME Church, in Aurora IL where she facilitates the Prayer Ministry and Senior Adult Bible Study. When she is not reading and researching, teaching, preaching, or speaking in public spheres, Cheryl spends her time engaging in advocacy and awareness for Neuroendocrine Pancreatic Cancer, accompanying persons on their journeys for justice, being present with individuals who are in crisis situations and serving as a Death Doula for individuals at the end stages of life. Cheryl enjoys reading, writing, music and the arts, sewing, DIY, photography, and simply being still.

Courses

Graduate Assistant, "Leadership and Ministry" with Professor Dr. Stephanie B. Crowder
Teaching Assistant, "Systematic Theology" with Professor Dr. JoAnne M. Terrell

portrait of Thomas Grinter

Thomas Grinter

[email protected]

Field of Study

Bible, Culture and Hermeneutics

Education

ThM, Princeton Theological Seminary
MDiv, Hood Theological Seminary
BS, Western Kentucky University

Research Focus

As a person living with a severe visual impairment, Thomas is interested in the complex and dynamic ways that disability is constructed and used in biblical texts and contemporary society. Thomas utilizes an interdisciplinary approach in his research by engaging biblical, theological, historical and cultural resources on disability.

Background & Activities

Thomas is an ordained Elder in the A.M.E. Zion Church. He is active in the ministries of preaching, Christian education and spiritual formation. Currently, Thomas serves as Visiting Instructor in biblical studies at Hood Theological Seminary. He has also served as Adjunct Instructor in Religion at Catawba College.

Courses

Instructor, "Introduction to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament"
Instructor, "Disability in the Old Testament"
Instructor, "Elementary Biblical Hebrew"
Instructor, "Theology in the Book of Exodus"

portrait of Yoshua Harahap

Yoshua Harahap

[email protected]

Field of Study

Theology and Cultural Criticism

Education

BD, Jakarta Theological Seminary
MTh, Jakarta Theological Seminary

Background & Activities

Yoshua received his MTh from Jakarta Theological Seminary (JTS) and ordained as a pastor at Christian Churches of Java (GKJ), Indonesia. His publications include, "Liberatio Communio: The ecclesiological identity of Sadrach's Javanese Community" International Bulletin of Mission Research 41.3 (July 2017) and "Mending the Memory? A Socio-Pastoral Approach to Re-experiencing the Peaceful Religion through Ruwatan" in Mending the World (Wipf and Stock, 2017). Some of his works also presented in several international conferences such as International Barth Conference (Barth Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary, 2018); Ways of Knowing Graduate Conference (Harvard Divinity School, 2017); Reading Bonhoeffer for the Life of the Church Conference (Cranmer Hall - Durham University, 2016); "Mending The World?" Conference (Church of Sweden Research Unit, 2015). As a lecturer in JTS, his previous team-teaching classes include Digital Theology: Doing Theology in Disruptive Era (Fall 2019), Introduction to Western and Eastern Philosophy (Spring 2019), Public Theology and Social Issues (Fall 2018), and Theology in Asia (Fall 2017). He also actively engaged in interreligious dialogue in the Interfaith Youth Dialogue (PELITA) in South Tangerang, Banten, and served as the Head of "Kabar Baik" Institute of Research and Development (LPPKB) own by the Christian Churches of Java, clasiss Jakarta. In 2020, Yoshua receives The Fulbright Doctoral Scholarship.

portrait of Rev. Marshall Hatch Jr

Rev. Marshall Hatch Jr

[email protected]

Field of Study

Philosophy & Religious Practice

Education

BA, Bates College
MDiv University of Chicago Divinity School
AM, University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice

Research Focus

Marshall’s area of inquiry is America as an African Diaspora. His research focuses on Black theology, ecclesiology, art and pedagogy. He is primarily concerned with the theoretical and practical approaches to gun-violence prevention and the development of grassroots moral leadership.

portrait of Haeman Hong-Shin

Haeman Hong-Shin

[email protected]

Field of Study

Systematic Theology

Education

BTh, Hanshin University
MDiv, New York Theological Seminary
STM, Union Theological Seminary in New York

Research Focus

Haeman’s research focuses on theology, race, gender, and sexuality in Asian contexts. He is particularly interested in Womanist Theology. Through a womanist methodology, he critically engages Black Theology, Queer Theology, Asian Liberation Theology, and Liberation Theology in Latin America. He also reinterprets Asian subcultures theologically from womanist and queer perspectives.

Background & Activities

Haeman was born and raised in South Korea. He is a father of two cats. Although he is not an otaku, he likes Japanese animes, games, pop songs, and novels. He is a member in discernment of United Church of Christ (Philadelphia Association, Pennsylvania Southeast Conference).

Courses

Teaching Assistant, "Systematic Theology (Online)" with Professor JoAnne Marie Terrell

portrait of Rev. Jeffrey Hubers

Rev. Jeffrey Hubers

[email protected]

Field of Study

Sacred Text and Hermeneutics

Education

BA, Northwestern College
MDiv, Western Theological Seminary

portrait of Hyun Kim

Hyun Kim

Field of Study

Theology, Ethics and Culture

portrait of R. Scot Miller

R. Scot Miller

[email protected]

Field of Study

Theology and Cultural Criticism

Education

MA, Earlham School of Religion, Richmond, IN
MDiv, Earlham School of Religion, Richmond, IN
MSW, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI

Research Focus

Current research focus concerns context and patterns of socio-economic change, migration, and warfare that lead to KKK activities with and gaining support from Monthly Meetings of Indiana and Western Yearly Meetings of the Religious Society of Friends in 1880-1950. Special interests include embodiment and care ethics, non-violent atonement, and apocalyptic and eschatological communities of resistance in the context of American civic religious political activity.

Background & Activities

Assembled in Flint, ridden hard in Detroit, I was restored by faithfulness after a long period of substance dependency, homelessness, and deep depression. Having grown up in a Lutheran context but turning to atheism at an early age; God came to re-establish relationship. I began experiencing the divine once again and believed these events were authentic. My passion for justice, revolution, and community suddenly made sense as I began to read and interpret the way God worked in my life in a manner that made sense of my actions and behaviors of the past. I found new hope for the future. I work as a clinician for a substance abuse facility in Battle Creek. I spent most of 2016 ministering in Flint, Michigan as a responder to the water crisis there. I have served under the auspices of Common Spirit at First Church of the Brethren in Flint in the neighborhood I was born in. I identify most firmly as a Quaker I have served as an adjunct professor of social work at Kuyper College and as an adjunct professor at the Earlham School of Religion. I am particularly drawn to Anabaptist theology as well as apocalyptic expressions of early Quakerism. I am particularly drawn to witnessing to Christendom and white supremacy and racism in the church; and the unfortunate reality of the American church’s enmeshment with Empire, economic stability, and electoral power and control. The Constantinian error and Laodicean spiritual muck of American Christian whiteness has brought need of judgment. Author of Gospel of the Absurd Licensed Clinical MSW State of Michigan Community and low-power FM radio micro-farming and food justice whiteness studies and anti-racism interventionist

portrait of Jess Peacock

Jess Peacock

Field of Study

Liberation Theology and Pop Culture Narratives

portrait of Jon Phillips

Jon Phillips

Field of Study

Theological Anthropology and Postmodern Critique of Identity Formation

portrait of Quincy James Rineheart

Quincy James Rineheart

[email protected]

Field of Study

African American Religious History and Cultural Studies

Education

BA, Literature, Wilberforce University
MDiv, Ethics and Theology, Emory University
STM, Theology, Chicago Theological Seminary

Research Focus

Quincy's research examines Black gay men’s bodies and the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. He explores the life of Bayard Rustin as an epistemological paradigm for heroism, based on the Kierkegaardian concepts of the “leap of faith,” and the biblical Abraham as the “knight of faith.” He plans to critique conventional conceptualizations of Black male identities, and offer a more complex understanding of human sexuality.

Background & Activities

Reverend Quincy James Rineheart is a Cis queer historian of African American Religion, theologian, academic activist, and teacher. He is a fourth-year Ph.D. student at Chicago Theological Seminary. His doctoral research has afforded him the opportunity to present at Harvard University, Oxford Symposium on Religion at the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin of Oxford, Oxford, England, Morehouse College, Governors State University, among other universities. In addition to his academic responsibilities, Rev. Rineheart is the Scholar-in-Residence for the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc. and the Micah Institute-Economic Justice Fellow. Rev. Rineheart served as the first African American Interim Pastor of Immanuel United Church of Christ in Streamwood, Illinois. He currently serves as a board member of the Chicago Black Gay Men's Caucus. He is also the Convenor of the Bayard Rustin Society and Co-Convenor of the PhD Student Association at Chicago Theological Seminary.

Courses

Course Instructor, African American Religious Thought from Harlem Renaissance to #BlackLivesMatter, Payne Theological Seminary
Teaching Assistant, Systematic Theology, Chicago Theological Seminary, with Professor Dr. JoAnne Marie Terrell
Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Christian Ethics, McCormick Theological Seminary, with Professor Dr. Reggie Williams
Teaching Assistant, Religion in North America, Chicago Theological Seminary, with Professor Dr. Julia Speller

portrait of Leenah Safi

Leenah Safi

[email protected]

Field of Study

Practical Theology

Education

BA, Zaytuna College
MDiv, Chicago Theological Seminary

Courses

Teaching Assistant, Trauma and Theology, Dr. Zachary Moon

portrait of Kunitoshi Sakai

Kunitoshi Sakai

Field of Study

Theology, Ethics and Culture

portrait of Zaynab Shahar

Zaynab Shahar

[email protected]

Field of Study

Comparative Religion, Gender and Queer Studies, Philosophy

Education

BA, Hampshire College
MA, Chicago Theological Seminary

Research Focus

Zaynab is currently pursuing a doctorate in comparative religion, with specializations in Jewish and Islamic law, Jewish Gender Studies, Islamic Gender Studies, and Philosophy of Religion. Utilizing the insights of Black queer thought and queer of color critique, their dissertation aims to conceptualize a comparative phenomenology of fiqh and halakhah to advance feminist critiques regarding the continued proliferation of patriarchal legal praxis.

Background & Activities

Zaynab received a Masters in Religious Studies from Chicago Theological Seminary, with specializations in Islamic Studies, Jewish Gender Studies, and Philosophy of Religion. Zaynab received their Bachelors of Arts from Hampshire College in Jewish Studies; with a focus on Historical Antisemitism, Jewish Cultural Studies, and Creative Writing.

Courses

Teaching Assistant, "Jewish Thought" with Rachel Mikva
Teaching Assistant, "Living Into Our Commitments" with Rachel Mikva

portrait of Cornelius Shaw

Cornelius Shaw

[email protected]

Field of Study

Theology, Cosmology, & Science

Education

BA, Cornerstone University
MA, Anderson University

Research Focus

Cornelius’ research focuses on Christian cosmology, scientific theory, biblical studies, and Christian adult education. He is concerned with the practical and theoretical relationship between theology and science in the study of the universe.

Background & Activities

Teaching, hosting and spoken word artist

portrait of Nolan Shaw

Nolan Shaw

[email protected]

Field of Study

African Cosmology, Indigenous African Religions, Life-Cycle Development, and the Black Church

Education

BS, Southern University (Baton Rouge)
MA, Southern University (Baton Rouge)
MDiv, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (Evanston)
DMin, McCormick Theological Seminary (Chicago)

Research Focus

My research focuses include African Cosmology, Indigenous African Religions, Life-cycle Development, Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the Invisible Institution, and the Black Church.

portrait of Aisha Subhan

Aisha Subhan

[email protected]

Field of Study

Islamic and Interreligious Studies

Education

BA, University of California, San Diego
MA, Bayan Islamic Graduate School

Research Focus

Aisha' work focuses on mysticism, gender, and metaphysics within her own tradition of Islam and others. In exploring these avenues, her work highlights contemplation as a pathway towards action and the wisdom of women mystics and the divine feminine as sources for healing both within and into the world.

portrait of Lori J Taylor

Lori J Taylor

[email protected]

Field of Study

Theology and Cultural Criticism

Education

BA, Howard University
MDiv, Chicago Theological Seminary
MA, University of Chicago

portrait of Marsha Thrall

Marsha Thrall

[email protected]

Field of Study

Ethics, Theology and Culture

Education

MTS, Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary
BA, Mount Mary University

Research Focus

Marsha’s research focuses on the influence of white nationalism on the formation of non-intersectional white feminism.

Background & Activities

Marsha lives in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and is currently serving as the Religious Education Coordinator for Unitarian Universalist Church West, in Brookfield, Wisconsin. She is active in Milwaukee Inner City Congregations Allied for Hope, or MICAH, serving on both it’s Milwaukee Public Schools Action committee, and its Prison Reform Steering committee. Marsha also serves as a trained public moderator with the Frank Zeidler Center for Public Discussion, where she has moderated “Police and Resident Circles,” several community talk backs in cooperation with the Milwaukee Repretory Theater, as well as Title IX training break-out sessions in conjunction with Milwaukee Area Technical College. Marsha is “mom” to two adult humans, two cats, and one obnoxious, yet endearing dog.

Courses

Teaching Assistant (online), Constructive Theology, with Dr. Christophe Ringer
Teaching Assistant, Christian Ethics, with Dr. Christophe Ringer
Teaching Assistant, Constructive Theology, with Dr. Scott Haldeman

portrait of Montegomery Tugwete

Montegomery Tugwete

[email protected]

Field of Study

Pastoral Psychology, Leadership & Human Development

Education

BTh, Harare Theological College
BTh (Hons), Harare Theological College
MATS, Episcopal Divinity School
STM, Chicago Theological Seminary

Research Focus

Monte's research focuses on positive psychology's "authoritative community" builds strengths that mold young people into formidable leaders for the next. He is concerned with the human development aspect, neglected in ministry, but seen through a psychoanalytic lens is a key aspect to a 21st century pastoral psychology approach that an embodied existence is affected by context for any meaningful human development especially for leadership emergence.

Background & Activities

Monte is a youth pastor by profession and came back to school in order to gain the credentials to allow him to develop new ways of teaching seminarians how to build functional, compassionate, and holistic family and youth ministries. Having experienced the crises that arise when a minister leaves the seminary without the faintest idea of what to do with a young person in their church, Monte's focus now is to make sure that he capacitates ministers so that they are able to use pastoral psychology informed approaches in what he now terms "family and youth ministry" instead of the traditional "youth ministry" only. He is both in the church and in the academy as he believes that one has to teach what one has experienced as a solution that works as demanded by practical theology, the main branch of what he deals with both in the academy and in the church. His experience in many positions in various churches over the globe as Director of Children and Youth Ministry is his anchor as he goes about his current work, research and study.

Courses

Adjunct Instructor, Creating a Functional, Compassionate & Holistic Family & Youth Ministry
Teaching Assistant, Global Sensitivity in Ministry, with Karl Villarmea

portrait of Howard Wiley

Howard Wiley

[email protected]

Field of Study

Theology of Culture, Critical Theory, and Africana Religious Studies

Education

BA, Kent State University
MDiv, Union Theological Seminary in New York City
MPhil, Union Theological Seminary in New York City
PhD Candidate, Chicago Theological Seminary

Research Focus

Dissertation Topic: Theoretical and Theological Engagements With/In The African-American Tradition of Interpreting the Spirituals

Alumni Dissertations

2023• HyongJu Byon, The Welcoming of Trace(s): The Politics of the Messianic Doubling (Ken Stone)• Melanie Jones, Up Against a Crooked Gospel: Black Women’s Bodies and the Politics of Redemption in Religion and Society (JoAnne Terrell)• Candace Laughinghouse, Nobody’s Free Until Everybody’s Free: Expanding Coalition Politics Through Anti-Speciest Ecowomanism (JoAnne Terrell)

2022
• Sang Hun Han, Liberation via Process: Toward a Korean Religious Liberation Theology (Bo Myung Seo)
• Eugene Muhammad, Facing the Nation: A Theo-Philosophical Examination of Media and Academic Violence Towards the Nation of Islam and the (Un)veiling of the Nation’s Levinasian Face (JoAnne Terrell)

2021
• Eric Biddy, Ecclesial Ethics: Baggy Ethics For A Messy Church (JoAnne Terrell)
• Aaron Higashi Reading the Rain: The Ethics of Everyday Resistance in Ezra 10 (Ken Stone)
• Seok Beom Hyun, Political Mysticism & Messianism: Thomas Muntzer & Liberation Theologies’ Spirituality (Bo Myung Seo)
• Malene Minor Johnson, African Americans and Candomblé: an Africana Religious Critique of U.S. Neoliberal Culture from 1970-2000 (Lee Butler)
• Zachary Selby, The Historiographic Herem: Narrative Production, Class Ideology, and the Deuteronomistic History (Ken Stone)
• Shea Watts, Where The Spirit Is: Pentecostal Worship, Affect, Ritual, and Liberative Praxis (Ken Stone)

2020
• Sunhee Jun, Voices from the Othered: An Interpretation of Mark 16:1-8 from a Postcolonial Feminist Perspective (Seung Ai Yang)
• Jean Derricotte-Murphy. A view from the balcony: opera through womanist eyes (JoAnne Terrell)

2019
• Tony Hoshaw, Gay Culture: Place for Gay Theology (Ken Stone)
• Suk-Min Jang, A Study of the History of the Reception and Influence of Reinhold Niebuhr’s Theology in Korea (Bo Myung Seo)
• David Michel, Toward an Ecclesiology of Racial Reconciliation: A Pentecostal Perspective (Julia Speller)
• Uk Ryel Ryu, Attaining the Body of Christ: Consideration of the Performative Value of Liturgy (Scott Haldeman)

2018
• Regina Shands Stoltzfus, The Unexpected and Complicated Presence of African American Women in Mennonite Churches (Julia Speller)
• Jerrolyn Sue Eulinberg, A Lynched Black Wall Street: A Womanist Perspective on Terrorism, Religion, and Black Resilience of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre (Lee H. Butler, Jr.)

2017
• Nathan Agee, Through a Glass Darkly: Re-membering the Body of Christ from the Outside (Ted Jennings)
• Virgil Brower III, The Savor of Spirit (Contribution to the Theory of the Kiss, II) (Ted Jennings)
• Brandon Grafius, Reading Phinehas, Viewing Slashers: Numbers 25 and Horror Theory (Tim Sandoval)
• Su-Hyun Han, Jamesonian Reading of Paul’s Resurrection of the Dead in 1 Corinthians 15 (Seung Ai Yang)
• Teresa Smallwood, The Leprosy Effect: The Treatment of Queer People in Black Church Theology (Lee H. Butler, Jr.)
• Jonah Waseberg, Feathering Nakedness: Healing the Trauma of the Disowned in Psychoanalysis and Ethics (JoAnne Terrell)

2016
• Joellen Hosler Worship as Emancipatory Praxis: Transforming the Dynamics of Domination (Scott Haldeman)
• Giseok Joo, A Theological and Philosophical Critique of Nationalism and the Nation State: Reading Barth and Derrida (Ted Jennings)
• Gwangwoo Ju, Transcendence of God as Proliferation (Bo Myung Seo)
• Karl Villarmea, On The Political: An Investigation on the Political in Contemporary Theological Movements (Ted Jennings)

2015
• Colleen Hartung, Breaking and Sharing: Participant Agency and the Eucharistic Liturgy and Holy Wisdom Monastery (Scott Haldeman)
• Dennis R. Koehn, Psychology, Theology, and Ideology Shape Decisions on War and Peace: A Study of Billy Graham, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Vietnam War (Bo Myung Seo)
• Angela N. Parker, Bodies, Violence, and Emotions: A Womanist Study of σῶμα and πτῶμα in the Gospel of Mark (Seung Ai Yang)
• Solomon Sudhakar, The Polluted God: A Theology of the Unbecoming Messiah (Ted Jennings)
• Penny L. Taylor, She Reached Out In Faith: A Pastoral Theology Interpretation of Anxiety (Lee H. Butler, Jr.)

2014
• Sang Cheol Lee, The Turn to The Other: A Conversation With Levinasian Ethics and Minjung Theology (Bo Myung Seo)
• Carolyn Roncolato, Accountable Theology: An Epistemological Method for Contextual Feminist Engagement (Laurel Schneider)

2013
• Minkyu Lee, The Breaking of Bread and Matthew’s Communal Identity: A Study of the Metaphor of Bread in the Gospel of Matthew (Seung Ai Yang)
• Marshall Lewis, A Logotherapy Hermeneutic Developed and Applied to the Book of Job (Tim Sandoval)
• Sang Jin Yang, Liberative Educational Philosophy for the Zainichi Korean Church (Julia Speller)

2012
• Dorothy Akoto, The Book of Proverbs and the African Tree of Life: Grafting Biblical Proverbs on to Ghanaian Ewe Folk Proverbs (Tim Sandoval)
• Cristian De La Rosa, Contextual Relationship of Power and Agency: Our Lady of Guadalupe as a Pueblo’s Symbol of Power (Ted Jennings)
• E. L. Kornegay, Jr., Between Jimmy’s Blues and James’s Gospel: Exploring the Promise and Challenge of James Baldwin’s Contributions to Black Theology (Laurel Schneider)
• Vanessa Lovelace, Deborah and Huldah: Symbolic Border Guards in the Deuteronomistic History (Ken Stone)
• InSun Na, A Paradigm of Communal Relationships in Worship based on Trinitarian Language (Dow Edgerton)

2011
• Kenneth Jacobsen, Befriending Reality with our Senses and our Stories: Quakers and the Ethics of Storytelling (Laurel Schneider)
• Melemadathil Pothen Joseph, Nonviolence: A Way of Colonial Resistance, A Study on the Book of Daniel and Mahatma Gandhi (Ken Stone)
• Jennifer Pope, Ambidentified with Christ: The Contemporary Significance of Jesus for Inclusive Congregational Ministry (Julia Speller)

2010
• Matthew Frizzell, Liberation and Economy: Marx, Dussel, and Contemporary Approaches to Theology and Economy (Laurel Schneider)
• Hyo Jun Kim, Christian Formation Through Ritual Process in the Korean American Church (Julia Speller)
• Monica Miller, The ‘Anti-Proper’ in the ‘Popular’: Redescribing the ‘Religious’ in Hip-Hop Culture (Bo Myung Seo)
• Cassandra Trentaz, Risk of a Different Kind: A Reading of Theological Complicity and Possibility in the Age of Global HIV & AIDS (Lee H. Butler, Jr.)

For a complete list of PhD dissertations going back to 1985, please visit: https://commons.ctschicago.edu/doctor-of-philosophy-phd-1985-current/