Conversations at the Center: Willie Jennings
In this episode, Dr. Joseph L. Tucker Edmonds, Associate Director of the Center, interviews Dr. Willie James Jennings, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Theology and Africana Studies at Yale University Divinity School. The two discuss a wide array of topics including the study and terminologies of Black thought, the relationship between scholarship and creativity that is often ignored, and the reality of connection that is centered on the natural world.
Willie James Jennings
Willie James Jennings is a theologian who teaches in the areas of Christian thought, race theory, decolonial, and environmental studies. Dr. Jennings is the author of The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race, published by Yale University Press and recipient of the 2010 American Academy of Religion Book of the Year in the Constructive-Reflective Studies category. It is one of the most important books in theology written in the last 25 years and is now a standard text read in colleges, seminaries, and universities.
Dr. Jennings’ commentary on the Book of Acts won the Reference Book of the Year Award from The Academy of Parish Clergy. He is also the author of After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging, which was the inaugural book in the much-anticipated book series, Theological Education Between the Times, and has already become an instant classic, winning the 2020 book of the year award from Publisher’s Weekly. It was also selected as a finalist for the 2021 American Academy of Religion Book of the Year in the Constructive-Reflective Studies category and in 2023 won the Lilly Fellows Program Book Award.
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.
Tucker Edmonds’ book, The Other Black Church: Alternative Christian Movements and the Struggle for Black Freedom (Fortress 2020) 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.
Joseph's Full BioListen to Conversations at the Center
Conversations at the Center is a special series of podcast-only episodes of Religion &. Each episode features a conversation between scholars at the Center for the Study of Religion & American Culture and a thought leader in the realm of American religion. Listen to our conversation with Dr. Willie Jennings wherever you get your podcasts.
Additional Resources
Coming Soon
Religion &: Center Conversations on the State of Religion and the Current Moment
Religion & is a series of monthly webinars between leading academics and thinkers in multiple fields hosted by the Center to foster critical, interdisciplinary conversations. Each episode, we discuss a topic that looks at the relationship between religion, the pressing issues of current cultural moment, and its impact on the fields we study.
Information about forthcoming and previous episodes of Religion & can be found on our episode directory.
A JOURNAL OF INTERPRETATION: This semiannual publication explores the interplay between religion and other spheres of American culture.
More About the Journal Submit to the Journal Subscribe to the Journal