Joyce Mercer
Dr. Joyce Mercer’s work focuses on practices of care in diverse contexts and situations, including post-conflict areas of southeast Asia, children in the consumer culture of the US, addictions in family systems, and the religious lives of adolescent girls. The practical theological thread running throughout her work is the fostering of liberatory hope where personal and social forms of suffering limit human flourishing. Professor Mercer’s current book project with Oxford University Press is based on a congregational study of churches in conflict with their denominations over sexuality. She recently edited Conundrums in Practical Theology (with co-editor Bonnie Miller-McLemore) for a new practical […]
James K. A. Smith
James K. A. Smith is professor of philosophy at Calvin College, where he holds the Gary and Henrietta Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology and Worldview. Trained as a philosopher with a focus on contemporary French thought, Smith has expanded on that scholarly platform to become an engaged public intellectual and cultural critic. An award-winning author and widely-traveled speaker, he has emerged as a thought leader with a unique gift of translation, building bridges between the academy, society, and the church.
The author of a number of influential books, Smith also regularly writes for magazines and newspapers such as the Wall […]
Itihare Toure
Itihari Toure Ed.D. is the curriculum specialist and evaluation coordinator for the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference Inc., Micah Institute. Itihari Y. Toure has worked in the field of education, the Black church, and with Black women in ministry since 1975. Itihari Toure currently works with the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, Georgia as faculty in the Master of Arts Christian Education degree program and Director of the Sankofa Center for Data Evaluation and Quality Enhancement (QEP). She serves as the religious education director at First African Presbyterian church in Lithonia, Georgia writing the church leadership, congregation and youth curricula. […]
Gregory C. Ellison II
The Rev. Dr. Gregory C. Ellison, II joined the Candler School of Theology faculty in 2009. His teaching draws primarily from his work with the organization he founded called Fearless Dialogues, a non-profit organization that creates unique spaces for unlikely partners to have hard, heartfelt conversations on taboo subjects like racism, classism, and community violence. Ellison’s research focuses on caring with marginalized populations, pastoral care as social activism, and 20th and 21st century mysticism. He is the author of Cut Dead but Still Alive: Caring for African American Young Men, and has two books in progress with Westminster John Knox […]
Georgette Ledgister
Georgette Ledgister is a PhD Candidate in religion, and social and theological ethics at Emory University. A native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, her research interests focus on the intersection of religion, violence and peacebuilding, and locating agency in conflict and post-conflict contexts amongst the most vulnerable and marginalized of populations. Her dissertation research explores marriage as agency in practice amongst young women in the Mai-Mai resistance movement of the southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, to interrogate the traditionally passive roles attributed to young African women in contexts of conflict. She received her Master of Divinity degree from the […]
Frederick Edie
Fred Edie grew up on the Isle of Hope just east of Savannah, Ga. He holds a B.A. degree from Furman University, an M.Div. from Vanderbilt University, and a Ph.D. from Emory University. Edie is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and has served congregations on both coasts in youth and educational ministries. At Duke Divinity School, Edie teaches courses in Christian Education, youth ministry, and practical theology. His research interests include exploring the relationships between Christian Worship and Christian identity, creating rich contexts for the formation of Christians, and constructing “full-bodied” epistemologies.
Edie’s book, Book, Bath, Table and […]
Frank Rogers
Dr. Frank Rogers is the Muriel Bernice Roberts Professor of Spiritual Formation and Narrative Pedagogy and the co-director of the Center for Engaged Compassion at the Claremont School of Theology. His research and teaching focus is on spiritual formation that is contemplative, creative, and socially liberative. A trained spiritual director and experienced retreat leader, he has written on the interconnections between spirituality, social engagement, and compassion. He is the author of Practicing Compassion; Compassion in Practice: The Way of Jesus (and its supplemental curriculum, The Way of Radical Compassion); The God of Shattered Glass, A Novel, and Finding God in […]
Elizabeth Corrie
Elizabeth Corrie is associate professor in the practice of youth education and peacebuilding and director of the Youth Theological Initiative at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, in Atlanta, Georgia. Her research interests include practical theology and conflict transformation. She serves on the advisory board of the Lilly Youth Theology Network, and speaks regularly in churches and schools on topics related to youth, contemporary culture, and the role people of faith can play in building peace. An active lay member of the North Georgia Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, Corrie has served on the North Georgia Delegation to […]
Elizabeth Conde-Frazier
Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Conde-Frazier is Academic Dean and Vice President of Education at Esperanza College of Eastern University. Previously she was professor of religious education at the Claremont School of Theology and taught Hispanic Latino/a theology at the Latin American Bible Institute. She was also founder of the Orlando E. Costas Hispanic and Latin American Ministries Program at Andover Newton Theological School where she developed programs for ministers and lay leaders including youth. She is mentor to Latino/a scholars and leaders of the church and has written in the areas of multicultural education, practical theology, theological education, Christian higher education […]
Ebonie Davis
Ebonie Davis has served as the Associate Pastor of Youth at Trinity Baptist Church in Waldorf, MD for ten years. She conducted the most recent national multi-city study of youth ministries known for racially diverse ministry, and holds a Master’s degree from Huntington University in Youth Ministry Leadership.
Dori Baker
Dori Baker is Senior Fellow for Research and Learning at the Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE), an Atlanta-based leadership incubator for the church and academy. Her research lies at the intersection of young adult culture, innovative leadership, cultural studies of race/gender, and spiritual practices that sustain activism. She wrote Doing Girlfriend Theology: God-Talk with Young Women, is the series editor of a Chalice Press imprint highlighting diverse faith-based leaders of social change, and is the author of numerous other books and journal articles. She is a United Methodist clergy woman who facilitates interfaith gatherings of women and is active in […]
David White
David White is the C. Ellis and Nancy Gribble Nelson Professor of Christian Education and Professor in Methodist Studies at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. His recent publications include Dreamcare: A Theology of Youth, Spirit, and Vocation and Awakening Youth Discipleship in a Consumer Culture, as well as a number of journal articles.