Convocation Addresses Issues of Faith and Modern Society

September 20, 2016

Acclaimed theological scholar and ethicist Rev. Dr. Emilie M. Townes will present Carleton’s weekly convocation on Friday, Sept. 30 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel. In her presentation, “The Future of Religion is Ascendant – But It is Not the Religion of the Past,” Townes will reflect upon recent events in the United States and around the world and their links to religious ideologies. She will discuss how faith, rooted in both spirituality and social justice, can help us confront pressing and relevant issues such as health care and economic justice.

Carleton convocations are free and open to the public. They are also recorded and archived for online viewing at go.carleton.edu/convo/.

Townes is a distinguished scholar and leader in theological education. She is the dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School, and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society. Her book Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil (Palgrave Macmillan Press, 2006) has been lauded as “groundbreaking,” critically examining racism, sexism, poverty, and stereotypes and analyzing how and why evil works in the world as it does. Her other books include Breaking the Fine Rain of Death: African American Health Care and A Womanist Ethic of Care (Continuum, 1998), In a Blaze of Glory: Womanist Spirituality as Social Witness (Abingdon Press, 1995) and Womanist Justice, Womanist Hope (Scholars Press, 1993.)

Townes' broad areas of expertise include Christian ethics, cultural theory and studies, postmodernism and social postmodernism. She has been a pioneering scholar in womanist theology, a field of studies in which the historic and current insights of African American women are brought into critical engagement with the traditions of Christian theology. Townes has a strong interest in thinking critically about womanist perspectives on issues such as health care, economic justice, poetry and literary theory.

Dr. Cornel West calls Townes “…the towering womanist ethicist of our time. In this ice age of indifference and evasion, her powerful voice and viewpoint summon us. And we thank her for her vision and courage!”

Townes currently serves as president of the Society for the Study of Black Religion (2012–2016) and previously served as the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of African American Religion and Theology and associate dean of academic affairs at Yale Divinity School. Townes is a contributing blogger for the religion page of the Huffington Post and the Feminism in Religion Forum.

This event is sponsored by the Carleton College Convocations Committee. For more information, including disability accommodations, call (507) 222-4308. The Skinner Memorial Chapel is located on First and College Streets in Northfield.