African American Pentecostal & Charismatic Movements in the USA Colloquium
This event is sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
The Regent University School of Divinity presents the 2007-2008 Colloquium on African American Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements in the USA. Papers will focus on the Historical (Oct. 2007) and Ethical/Theological (Feb. 2008) aspects of our topic.
Overview
Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity is the fastest growing segment of the African American Church. Black Christians have been integrally involved in every aspect of the Pentecostal movement from founding at the Azusa Street Revival at the beginning of the 20th century, as well as well as in creating its styles of worship, preaching and music, and engagement with social issues. Since current scholarship on black Pentecostalism lags behind research in other areas of the movement, however, much of its contribution remains unknown.
This colloquium seeks to bring together ten scholars of African American Pentecostalism to explore the rich history and current status of the black Pentecostal-Charismatic church today, discuss its impact on the black community and the broader Pentecostal movement, and chart its future trajectories.
Read abstracts from this colloquium's presentations »
This colloquium on African American Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements in the USA is part of series that affords Regent University faculty, staff, and students an opportunity to engage in this discussion with the wider Hampton Roads Christian community. These symposia reflect on major trends within the Renewal Movement which have shaped not only American, but world Christianity in the 21st century. This second symposium follows the Women in Pentecostal-Charismatic Leadership colloquium (2006-2007)
Ethical & Theological Perspectives
Presented February 23, 2008, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Event Location: This event was held in the Library Auditorium on the campus of Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA. Campus information »
Cheryl J. Sanders, (Th.D., Harvard Divinity School)
Cheryl J. Sanders is Senior Pastor of the Third Street Church of God in Washington, D.C. since 1997, and Professor of Christian Ethics at the Howard University School of Divinity since 1984. She has published more than 100 articles and the following books: Ministry at the Margins (InterVarsity Press, 1997); Saints in Exile: The Holiness-Pentecostal Experience in African American Religion and Culture (Oxford, 1996); Empowerment Ethics for a Liberated People (Fortress, 1995); and Living the Intersection (Fortress, 1995). For several years she has been a contributing guest editor for Leadership, a journal for pastors. She is a graduate of the Sidwell Friends School, Swarthmore College (B.A. in Mathematics) and Harvard Divinity School (M.Div., cum laude and Th.D. in the field of Applied Theology). She has been awarded two honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees; the first by Asbury College in 2002, and the second by Anderson University in 2007. She is married to Dr. Alan Carswell, and is the mother of two children, Allison and Garrett.
Presentation Abstract »
Craig Scandrett-Leatherman, (Ph.D., Anthropology, University of Kansas)
Craig Scandrett-Leatherman is an anthropologist, pastor of a multicultural Free Methodist church, and poet. Craig’s research focuses on ritual theory, African diaspora, Church of God in Christ cultural history, and medical anthropology. He has degrees from Greenville College, North Park Theological Seminary, University of Chicago, and University of Kansas. Craig lived in Chicago for 17 years, pastoring and directing an urban studies program. He now lives in St. Louis with his wife, Beth, and two children, Luke and Cara.
Presentation Abstract »
Clarence E. Hardy, (Ph.D., Theology, New York Theological Seminary)
Clarence Hardy specializes in American religious culture and contemporary Christian thought with a special emphasis on black religious culture and thought. After graduating from Princeton University (A.B. 1992) he completed his graduate work at Union Theological Seminary in New York City (M.Div. 1995, M.Phil. 2000, Ph.D. 2001). Hardy is the author of James Baldwin’s God: Sex, Hope and Crisis in Black Holiness Culture. He is currently at work on a book tentatively entitled: We Grappled for the Mysteries: Black God-Talk in Modern America, which will span the 1920s through the Civil Rights period and consider how black descriptions of the divine have evolved in the modern period.
Presentation Abstract »
Leonard Lovett , (Ph.D., Emory University)
Leonard Lovett is an independent scholar and Dean Emeritus of the first ATS accredited Pentecostal seminary, C.H. Mason Seminary in Atlanta. He has also taught at Fuller Theological Seminary and Oral Roberts University. Ordained in the Church of God in Christ, he currently serves as the denomination's Ecumenical Officer of Urban Affairs. A former columnist for Ministries Today, he has contributed to numerous journals and periodicals on theological, historical and ethical issues. His most recent work is Kingdom Beyond Color: Re-examining the Phenomenon of Racism (2004).
Presentation Abstract »
Leslie Callahan, (Ph.D., Princeton University)
Leslie Callahan received her PhD from Princeton University in 2002, with her dissertation (forthcoming) on Charles Fox Parham and the origins of American Pentecostalism. She is Assistant Professor of American Religious History and African American Religion at the University of Pennsylvania where she teaches modern American religion, with special focus on African American religions and Pentecostalism. As an ordained minister she has served congregations in New York City and Princeton, New Jersey, and as interim pastor at the Salem Baptist Church in Philadelphia. The June 2005 edition of the African American Pulpit named her one of the “20 to Watch” outstanding African American ministers under the age of 40. Presentation Abstract »
Historical & Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Presented October 13, 2007, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Ogbu Kalu, (Ph.D., History, University of Toronto)
Ogbu came to McCormick in 2001 from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he had served as Professor of Church History for many years. He is an elder in the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria. He has served as visiting professor at several institutions, including Harvard, Bayreuth, Toronto, McGill, Edinburgh, Pretoria, and the Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Seoul. He has published extensively: 15 books, including Power, Poverty and Prayer: The Challenges of Poverty and Pluralism in African Christianity, 1960-1996 and as editor, History of the Church in the Third World: Vol. III, African Christianity: An African Story, plus more than 150 articles in journals and edited volumes. Presentation Abstract »
Cecil Mel Robeck, Jr., (PhD, Historical Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary)
Cecil M. Robeck, Jr. is an ordained minister of the Assemblies of God. He is the author of Prophecy in Carthage: Perpetua, Tertullian, and Cyprian (Pilgrim) and The Azusa Street Mission and Revival: The Birth of the Global Pentecostal Movement (Thomas Nelson). Robeck has recently co-edited The Azusa Street Revival and Its Legacy (Pathway) and The Suffering Body: Responding to the Persecution of Christians (Paternoster). He is a former editor of Pneuma and has authored many historical, theological, and ecumenical articles on Pentecostalism. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the International Roman Catholic – Pentecostal Dialogue.
Presentation Abstract »
David D. Daniels III, (Ph.D. in Church History, Union Theological Seminary in NYC)
David D. Daniels III joined the faculty of McCormick Theological Seminary in 1987 and is currently Professor of Church History. He earned his Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary (NYC). Daniels served as a co-chair of the Evangelical Theology Group and the Afro-American Religious History Group of the American Academy of Religion and as the president of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. Daniels is a co-author of Religion in the New Urban Era along with Lowell Livezey, et al (University of Chicago Press, forthcoming) and the author of various articles and chapters in various volumes. He has lectured at various academic institutions in North America, Africa, and Asia.
Presentation Abstract »
Valerie Cooper, (ThD, Religion and Society, Harvard University)
Valerie C. Cooper received her Doctor of Theology degree from Harvard University. Her doctoral dissertation, "Word, Like Fire: The Biblical Hermeneutics of Maria Stewart," analyzes the use of scripture in the thought of Maria Stewart, a pioneering nineteenth century African American political speaker. Dr. Cooper is an assistant professor in the Religious Studies department of the University of Virginia. Her scholarly interests include African American religious history, African American women’s history, African American biblical appropriation and hermeneutics, and Pentecostalism. She is particularly interested in recovering and remembering the life stories of ordinary black men and women of faith.
Presentation Abstract »
William Turner, Jr., (Ph.D., Sociology of Religion/Systematic Theology, Duke University)
W. C. Turner was born in Richmond, Virginia and educated in the public schools of Henrico County, Virginia. He attended Duke University, where he earned the following degrees: B.S. degree in electrical engineering, M. Div., and Ph.D. in religion. Ministerial experiences include pastorates in the United Holy Church of America. Presently he serves as pastor of Mt. Level Missionary Baptist in Durham, NC. Since 1982 he has been a member of the Duke Divinity School faculty. His teaching and research probe the intersection between preaching and theology, with emphases on pneumatology and the African American Church. Turner serves the larger church as a guest preacher, teacher, and lecturer.
Presentation Abstract »
Event Location: This event will be held in the Library Auditorium on the campus of Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA. Campus information »
Live Internet Simulcast: Those who register will have access to each event as it is broadcast live over the Internet, as well as for several days after each event (both subject to agreements from presenters). The streaming broadcasts may be accessed even if registrants are unable to personally attend the sessions.
Lodging: A limited number of rooms are available at The Founders Inn which is on the Regent University Campus. For reservation and rate information, please call 800.926.4466.