“Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God”

Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas is the Susan D. Morgan Professor of Religion at Goucher College in Baltimore, MD. Prior to coming to Goucher, she was Associate Professor of Theology at Howard University School of Divinity (1987-2001) and Assistant Professor of Religion at Edward Waters College (1986-1987).

A leading voice in the development of a womanist theology, she is widely published in national and international journals. Her groundbreaking and widely used book Sexuality and the Black Church: A Womanist Perspective (1999) was the first to address the issue of homophobia within the black church community.

Her latest book, Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God (2015) examines the deep roots of  “Stand Your Ground” culture in America and the challenges it brings for the Black Church community.

Other books include The Black Christ (1994), What’s Faith Got to Do With It?: Black Bodies/Christian Souls (2005), and Black Bodies and the Black Church: A Blues Slant (2012). She is also the co-editor of Sexuality and the Sacred: Sources for Theological Reflection (2010). Dr. Douglas has been a pioneering and highly sought after voice addressing sexual issues in relation to the black religious community. She has been very active in advocating equal rights for LGBT persons.

Dr. Douglas is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Denison University. She went on to earn a Master of Divinity and a Doctorate in Systematic Theology from Union Theological Seminary (New York City).

Kelly Brown Douglas was ordained at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in 1985 — the first black woman to be ordained an Episcopal priest in the Southern Ohio Diocese, and amongst the first ten to be ordained nationwide. She was the first to receive the Anna Julia Cooper Award by the Union of Black Episcopalians (July 2012) for “her literary boldness and leadership in the development of a womanist theology and discussing the complexities of Christian faith in African-American contexts.” She currently serves at the Washington National Cathedral.

We will provide recommended readings for those who register for this talk.

---