Dr. Emilie M. Townes

Dr. Emilie Townes is associate dean of academic affairs and the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of African American Religion and Theology at Yale Divinity School. An FTE Doctoral Fellow and ordained American Baptist clergywoman, she is a leading scholar of Christian ethics, womanist ethics, critical social theory, cultural theory and studies, and social postmodernism. Prior to her appointment at Yale, Dr. Townes was the Carolyn Beaird Professor of Christian Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York. She served as president of the American Academy of Religion in 2008. Dr. Townes will serve as the dean of Vanderbilt University Divinity School beginning July 1, 2013.

Her specific interests include health and health care; the cultural production of evil; analyzing the linkages among race, gender, class and other forms of oppression; and developing a network between African American and Afro-Brazilian religious and secular leaders and community-based organizations. Townes is the author of "Faith, Health, and Healing in African American Life (Religion, Health, and Healing) ;" "Breaking the Fine Rain of Death: African American Health Issues and a Womanist Ethic of Care ;" "Womanist Justice, Womanist Hope ;" "In a Blaze of Glory: Womanist Spirituality as Social Witness " and numerous other nationally acclaimed publications.

Townes holds a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Chicago, a Master of Arts and Doctor of Ministry degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School, and a Ph.D. in Religion in Society and Personality from Northwestern University.

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