Joseph L. Tucker Edmonds

Joseph L. Tucker Edmonds is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Africana Studies at Indiana University Indianapolis and the Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies and Economics from Brown University, his Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and his PhD in Religious Studies from Duke University.

Professor Tucker Edmonds’ research interests are Black religion and the Black body, alternative Christianities, and the role of scripture in African and African American religious traditions. Joseph has received grants from the Lilly Endowment, the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning, the Fund for Theological Education, and the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. His most recent scholarship has focused on the relationship between Black men and cultural trauma body with an article entitled “The Racial Pandemic Experienced by Black American Men”. In addition to his focus on institutions and practices of resilience and resistance in African American communities, Tucker Edmonds is an award- winning teacher and an engaged scholar. He is the former president of the local Indianapolis branch of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) and is a member of the editorial board of Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation.

Tucker Edmonds’ book, The Other Black Church: Alternative Christian Movements and the Struggle for Black Freedom (Fortress 2020). This book highlights the variety and vibrancy of the African American Christian sphere during the latter half of the twentieth century and it adds to the growing body of work that is addressing alternative Christian traditions in the Black public sphere. Professor Tucker Edmonds is currently co-leading two grant-funded, community-engaged projects that look at the relationship between Black religion and the engagement of the Black body within Indianapolis-based community organizations.