PhD Students

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

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, Instructor

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"

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"

Research Focus

HyongJu Byon came from South Korea. He is studying in a Ph. D. program in the department of Bible, Culture & Hermeneutics at Chicago Theological Seminary. Recently he attained the status of Ph. D. candidacy, and is writing a dissertation on the Gospel of Mark. His primary study areas are the New Testament, Derrida, Postcolonial Studies, Post-Marxist studies, and Second Temple Judaism.

Courses

Teaching Assistant, "Interpreting the Epistles" with Dr. Theodore Jennings
Teaching Assistant, "Interpreting the Epistles" with Dr. Stephanie Buckhanon Crowder
Adjunct Instructor, "Interpreting the Gospels"

Research Focus

Wei-Jen Charing Chen’s research focuses on the interdisciplinary of Hebrew Bible studies, postcolonialism, and queer theories. His newest academic paper, titled “A lesbian-identified hermeneutic re-reading of Paul’s interpretation of Sarah and Hagar in Galatians 4:21-31”, will be delivered at SBL 2018 annual conference. Chen also commits to the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ in Christian church setting both in the US and Taiwan's context.

Background & Activities

First coming out LGBTQ seminarian in Taiwan and the valedictorian of the cohort in 2014. Moderator of Hayward-Boswell Society at CTS (2017-19) Co-leader of Chicago Chapter, The Reformation Project (2018-) Co-founder of Queer Theologians Illinois (2018-) Chapter author of Sexual/Beings III: Queering Hermeneutics in Asian Chinese Contexts (Hong Kong, 2018) Mandarin version translator and text proofing of The Deaf Liberation Theology (Taiwan, 2016) and Signs of Love: A guide for deaf ministry (Taiwan, 2018).

Courses

Teaching Assistant, "Pastoral Care and LGBTQ Experience" with Rev. Dr. Cody J. Sanders
Teaching Assistant, "History of Christian Thoughts" with Rev. Dr. Cynthia Stewart
Teaching Assistant, "Marriage: Rites and Wrongs" with Dr. Scott Haldeman

Research Focus

Using American operas to underpin her research, Jean focuses on theology and performance by engaging the interdisciplinary methodologies of Womanist theology, performance studies, and ethnology in the examination of the effects of anthropological poverty on the culture, arts, and religious practices of African Americans.

Background & Activities

An experienced educator, Jean has taught public school at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. In theological education she has served as Admissions Director, Registrar, Student Advisor, Director of Sustaining Pastoral Excellence Programs, Adjunct and Associate Professor, and Coordinator of Academic Initiatives. Her musical career has included performances in the opera's Porgy and Bess, Margaret Garner, and Harriet Tubman as well as ensemble and solo appearances. She is a workshop presenter, facilitator, and lecturer whose goal is to create safe spaces that can bring about Healing through History.

Courses

Adjunct Professor, "Womanist Theology, Ecumenical Theological Seminary"

Adjunct Professor, "Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference Seminarian Experience; Ecumenical Theological Seminary"

Adjunct Professor, "Living/Writing the Vision:Imagining the Possibilities; Ecumenical Theological Seminary"

Adjunct Professor, "Hampton Ministers Conference Seminarian Experience"

 

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

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"

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 Maria Terrell

Research Focus

My research focuses on philosophical theology, especially process theology and liberation theology. This interest leads me to deeper conversation between Alfred N. Whitehead and Karl Marx who influence postmodern thoughts. I am very interested in dialogue between philosophy and theology.

Courses

Teaching Assistant, "Systematic Theology" with Professor Laurel Schneider

Research Focus

Melanie's research engages the scripting and problematizing of the body in Western thought that creates religious and cultural meaning for the present with particular attention to the theological and ethical complexity of Black women’s body politics. Employing methods in womanist theological ethics to analyze sacred texts and Black popular culture, Melanie's dissertation interrogates historical and contemporary distortions of Black women's character manifested in Black religion.

Background & Activities

RESEARCH INTERESTS Interdisciplinary Areas of Interest: Womanist Theological Ethics, African American Religious History, Body and Religion, Luke – Acts, Black Aesthetics, Black Millennials and Faith Primary Research Methods: Literary Analysis, Historiography, Cultural Criticism FELLOWSHIPS & AWARDS Villanova University, 2018 – 2019 Church Management Junior Scholar Research Fellowship The Louisville Institute, 2017 – 2018 Doctoral Dissertation Fellow Association for the Improvement of Minorities (AIM –IRS) -Chicago Chapter Book Scholarship, 2017, 2018 -Shirley Ray Scholarship Recipient, 2013 – 2016 Chicago Theological Seminary -Charles Shelby Rooks Scholarship Inaugural Recipient, 2014 -Presidential Doctoral Scholarship, 2012 – 2014 Forum for Theological Exploration Doctoral Fellowship, 2012 – 2014 PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS American Academy of Religion (Student Member) -Student Steering Committee Member to the Womanist Approaches Section, 2017 – 2021 -Student Steering Committee Member to the Ethics Section, 2016 – 2020 American Studies Association (Student Member) Black Religious Scholars Group -Director of Social Media and Public Outreach, 2017– present -Womanist Liaison, 2011– 2012 Daughters of the African Atlantic Fund -Board Member & Director, 2017 – present Howard University Alumni Association (Alumni Member) Golden Key Honors Society (Graduate Member) Society of Christian Ethics (Student Member) -Contingent Faculty Taskforce, 2018 – present -Social Media Coordinator, 2016 – present -Student Representative to the African/African American Working Group, 2016 – 2018 -Student Representative to the Board of Directors, 2015 – 2017 Vanderbilt University Oak Leaf Society (Alumni Member)

Courses

Course Instructor, "Womanist Literature"

Teaching Assistant, "Christian Ethics" with Professor Dr. Christophe Ringer

Teaching Assistant, "The New Social Gospel" with Professor Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite

Teaching Assistant, "Constructive Theology" with Dr. Scott Haldeman, Dr. Christophe Ringer, and Dr. Carolyn Roncolato

Research Focus

A critical pedagogy of education and the intersection of human development and spirituality as a holistic understanding of the developing person throughout the life cycle. The research investigates the ways spirituality is addressed by educators of future elementary school teachers and school counselors in human development theory. Her methodology has been an ethnographic study of the ways spirituality is experienced in two human development classrooms.

Background & Activities

Ms. Ridge is an arts educator, pastoral counselor, writer, creative artist, and musician. During her 31-year career at the State of Illinois she had extensive experience working in the arts and in supporting community wide events and programs for the arts. In 2006 Ms. Ridge chose to pursue work in healthcare and joined the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, the agency that administers the state’s Medicaid programs where she remained until 2015. As a pastoral counselor, Ms. Ridge is active in her church community hosting “spiritual suppers” to encourage and support spiritual growth in her congregation. She has experience in leading spiritual growth groups, particularity incorporating the work of the counselor and educator, Rev. Morton T. Kelsey. Ms. Ridge completed her internship in Pastoral Counseling at the Lorene Replogle Counseling Center at the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago. Case counseling for her clinical practicum was conducted at The Center for Religion and Psychotherapy in Chicago. She has won two Dorothy Day Scholarships for her studies at the Institute for Pastoral Studies at Loyola University Chicago. Publications: Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health - Reviews: “Spirituality. A Brief History,” by Philip Sheldrake; “Spirituality Theology and Mental Health: Multi-Disciplinary Perspective,” by Christopher Cook; “Studying Spirituality,” by David Perrin Conference Presentations: Institute of Pastoral Studies / Loyola Alumna Association Chicago, Illinois, Ministry in a Dynamic World - Finding Focus, Activating Energy, Nurturing, Gifts

Courses

Teaching Assistant, "Psychology of Human Development"
Instructor, "Psychology of Human DevelopmentIns"
Instructor, "Human Development and Faith"
Instructor, "Human Development"

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

Research Focus

Zach's research is centered on the textual traditions of the Hebrew Bible, politico-aesthetic theory from the Frankfurt School to Fredric Jameson, and the importance of historiography in the articulation of social formations in ancient Israel and modern receptions of biblical texts.

Courses

Teaching Assistant, "Interpreting the Hebrew Bible I" with Ken Stone

Teaching Assistant, "Interpreting the Hebrew Bible II" with Rachel Mikva

Teaching Assistant, "Global Sensitivities in Ministry" with Bo Myung Seo

Online Course Assistants, "Evolving Dharma, Introduction to Pastoral Theology, Interpreting the Gospels, Interpreting the Hebrew Bible I & II" with Jay Michaelson, Michael Lee Cook, Ted Jennings, Ken Stone, and Rachel Mikva

Research Focus

Zaynab's research focuses on comparative queer-feminist pedagogies of solidarity between Jewish and Muslim American communities. She's interested in the implications of women and LGBTQ folks wanting to assume greater responsibility within the terrain of obligatory religious ritual. She's interested in articulating a comparative analysis of gender, ritual obligation, and constructions of orthodoxy within Jewish and Islamic law to forge a larger terrain of solidarity.

Background & Activities

Zaynab received her B.A in Jewish Studies from Hampshire College, focusing on both Historical Anti-Semitism and the academic study of gender and Judaism. She received her M.A in Religious Studies from Chicago Theological Seminary, focusing on philosophy of religion and Islamic Studies.

Courses

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

Research Focus

Shea's research focuses on theology and cultural criticism, with an emphasis on the relationship between religious and political experiences and the body.

Background & Activities

In addition to his research, Shea is a worship leader, songwriter, and studio musician. He now lives in Charlotte, NC with his wife, Kathryn, and two cats, Sophie and Curly.

Courses

Teaching Assistant, "Public Theology" with Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite
Teaching Assistant, "New Social Gospel" with Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite
Teaching Assistant, "Trauma and Theology" with Dr. Zachary Moon
Teaching Assistant, "Intro to Pastoral Theology" with Dr. Zachary Moon