Columbia Theological Seminary has a first-class class faculty. They are leaders in their disciplines, represent a variety of Christian traditions, received their training from the finest institutions of higher learning, and come from around the world to serve at Columbia. They are inspired and driven each day to form the next generation of pastors who will serve the church and the world.
“It is a privilege and joy to introduce my colleagues, the faculty of Columbia Theological Seminary. They are world-class and gathered here from around the world. They are esteemed scholars who shape their disciplines and connect the academy, the Church, and society in ways that model publicly engaged faith. They are celebrated teachers who inspire and challenge our students. They are gifted administrators who lead with wisdom and steward the resources of the Seminary to fulfill our educational mission with excellence. And they are ordained and lay leaders in the church, representing 10 denominations, and teaching, preaching, and serving congregations, communities, and governing bodies with intelligence, imagination, and love. Columbia is distinguished by this faculty of the highest quality and character.”
— Dr. Christine Roy Yoder,
Senior Vice President Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty
Faculty in the News
Read the latest blog posts, publications, and news stories about and by Columbia's faculty.
“One of the most essential responsibilities of faculty members is to enhance the student learning experience. Columbia Theological Seminary is enriched by the depth and breadth of our faculty's commitment to academic excellence and ministry formation. As a theological institution, we celebrate the accomplishments and milestones of these champions of scholarly rigor and innovation. Their involvement in the church's life is equally inspirational, of which I am grateful!”
— Rev. Dr. Victor Aloyo, Jr.
President
Keep Up with Columbia’s Faculty
Our faculty preach and teach around the world traveling to other institutions of higher learning as well as conferences and meetings to share their insights and knowledge.
Dr. Brennan Breed
Presented a paper at the Hebrew Bible Colloquium, Duke University: “Mediation and Totality: A Reconsideration of Qohelet among the Philosophers.”
Presented a public Lecture at Duke Divinity School: “Disruptive Innovations within an Ancient Faith: The Transformation of the Early Hellenistic Jewish Imagination.”
Dr. William Brown
Presented a paper at a biblical aesthetics conference held at Humboldt University, Berlin, titled “The Aesthetics of Torah in the Psalms”
Officiated at the memorial service for Frans de Waal
Served as panelist at a virtual conference in honor of Rabbi Ellen Bernstein.
Led a Macedonian Ministry’s clergy retreat in Green. Valley, AZ on “Biblical Aesthetics for Ministry”
Guest speaker at the January meeting of the Society for Old Testament Studies (SOTS), a British based organization. He Zoom-presented the paper “Aesthetizing Torah: The Case of Psalm 19.” Thereafter, he was inducted as an honorary member of SOTS.
Dr. Kelly Campbell
Selected to attend the 2024 Through Hispanic Eyes, a program of the Summer Hispanic Program held at Villanova University June 23- 26.
Received a second $30,000 Theological Librarian Leadership Intergenerational Mentoring Cluster Grant from the Wabash Center for 2024-2025.
Will attend the ForAtl (Forum for Asian Theological Librarians) Workshop and Consultation at the Malaysia Bible Seminary in Selangor, Malaysia. Keynote presentation is on “Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Digital Libraries.”
Dr. Kathy Dawson
Led a workshop on the Wonder of Worship Grant at the Association of Partners in Christian Education annual event.
Dr. Mark Douglas
Nominated to chair the Banking and Governance sub-committee of the Mission Responsibility Through Investment committee of the PC(USA)
Meeting with representatives of PC(USA) related colleges and universities and seminaries as well as representatives of the Protestant Theological Faculty of Charles University in Prague about building more connections between PC(USA)-related schools and Charles University.
Taught “Food, Faith, and Justice” for Trinity Presbyterian Church
Helped organize the Pastoral Care for Climate Change retreat, sponsored by Creation Justice Ministries and GIPL, among other organizations, at Epworth by the Sea in January. Co-led a workshop with Dr. Jake Myers on conflict transformation and the church.
Dr. Anna Carter Florence
Present a lecture at Notre Dame’s Marten Program in Homiletics and Liturgics at their Seminar on Homiletical Pedagogy
Preached and taught at the Festival of Homiletics
Guest on the Church ANEW podcast to launch the summer series “The Good Book: Meeting Our Ancestors in Faith, One Story at a Time”
Guest lecturer for preaching cohorts at Pepperdine University through the Lilly Compelling Preaching initiative
Featured speaker at Renew 2024, a Church ANEW event for preachers from around the country.
Guest on the podcast “Leading and Thriving in the Church” produced by Faith & Leadership at Duke Divinity School
Led the Selwyn Presbyterian Church all-weekend retreat at Montreat Conference Center
Serving a term on the editorial board for Homiletic, the peer-reviewed journal of the Academy of Homiletics.
Dr. Israel Galindo
Presented “Leading Through Change and Transition,” at the Bowen Faith Leadership Conference.
Presenting at the Advanced Clergy Clinical Program, Lombard Mennonite Peace Center, Lombard IL.
Presented at the ALLLM “A Collaborative for Leaders in Lifelong Learning” at the Center for Lifelong Learning.
Dr. Tim Hartman
Taught the Credence Class at Peachtree Presbyterian Church in May.
Received a Wabash small grant following the Wabash cohort on Becoming a White Antiracist— “Teaching Intercultural Intelligence.”
Preached and Celebrated Communion, Presbyterian Church of East Africa—Lodwar, Turkana, Kenya.
Blog post: “No Wizard Behind the Curtain”: The Incarnation and the Not-So-Hidden God for the God Here & Now blog of the Barth Center at Princeton Theological Seminary (12.4.2023).
Dr.Tony McNeill
Awarded the inaugural National Treasure Award by the American Baptist Home Mission Societies
Served as worship arts curator for the 2024 Pride in the Pews State of the Black Church Symposium in February on the campus of Spelman College.
Served as guest worship leader and conference musician for the 2024 Youth Theology Network (YTN) conferenceto be held in Indianapolis, IN in late January.
Served as worship coordinator and conference musician for the Matthew 25 Summit: An Invitation to Innovation, hosted by the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PCUSA).
Dr. Jake Myers
Participated in the International Conference on Philosophy in Finland with a paper presentation entitled, “Speaking Jokes to Power: Stand-up Comedy as a Pathway to Alternative Futures.”
Co-presented a paper at the Academy of Homiletics with Alyce McKenzie of Perkins School Theology titled “Stand-up Preachers: Unleashing a Comic(al) Vision on a Tragic World.”
Invited to lead the Identity and Imagination workgroup for the Academy of Homiletics.
Invited to join the editorial board of Homiletic.
Inaugurated as the Wade P. Huie, Jr. Associate Professor of Homiletics
Dr. Mindy McGarrah Sharp
Consultant for the “How Doctors Become Our Priests” project at the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics, Houston, TX.
Received a Wabash grant entitled “Teaching and Learning Deep Listening” from March-October 2024.
Article, “’It Isn’t Finished Yet’: Parenting, Postcolonializing, and Possibilities of Healing in Hadestown,” was accepted for publication in a forthcoming issue of Pastoral Psychology on Aesthetics of Spiritual Care.
Accepted a second term on the Wabash Center Advisory Committee.
Dr. Martha Moore-Keish, J.B. Green Professor of Theology
Preacher at the Montreat Workshop and Music Conference of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians.
Taught adult Sunday school at Covenant Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, NC. Spoke about the work of the General Assembly committee to write a new confession for the PC(USA).
Speaker in a webinar sponsored by the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (ECCB) and the PC(USA) on the topic “A Lamp Unto Our Feet: How do We Read the Bible Today?”
Dr. Mitzi Smith
Invited to join a panel discussion “Leading “Leading, Teaching and Managing in faith-based units during unprecedented times” at Clark Atlanta University’s Higher Education Leadership Program annual Summer Doctoral Residency
Presented a paper entitled “Reading the Lucan parables through the eyes of a freedman” at Baylor University’s Parable Conference.
Selected as a participant of the Wabash 2024 creative writing roundtable entitled, 2024 Breaking the Academic Mold: Liberating the Powerful, Personal Voice Inside You.
Presented on the topic “Re-reading Luke’s slave parables through the eyes of a freedman” at Baylor University’s Parable Conference.
Keynote speaker at the Annual Conference of the Society for the Study of Black Religion in Nashville, TN. The conference theme is “Economies of Black Bodies: Medicine, Music, Memory, and Black Religion.”
Invited by the Center for Lifelong Learning at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth to speak for the Stalcup School of Theology for the Laity continuing education event on the topic “Womanist Critical Inquiry: Interpreting Jesus and Justice.”
Dr. Nicole Symmonds
Inducted into the Morehouse Collegium of Scholars.
Inducted into the Society for the Study of Black Religion.
Selected to participate in the Wabash Center 2024 Early Career Theological Faculty Workshop titled “Craft in the Teaching Life: Sustaining Pleasure throughout the Teaching Life.”
Invited Scholar to micro-mentor students, Student and Invited Scholar Reception, Society of Christian Ethics.
Panelist, Fieldwork in Ethics: Positioning Yourself as an Early Career Ethnographic Theologian/Ethics, Society of Christian Ethics.
Dr. Jeffery Tribble
Elected to a two-year term on the ADME Board leadership team and presented a Barnabas Award in recognition of his five years of service advancing DMin Education.
Presented a workshop, “Developing Rigor in Research in Doctor of Ministry Programs,” at the annual conference of the Association for Doctor of Ministry Education.
Appointed by Bishop Kenneth Monroe to serve as the Dean for the South Atlantic Episcopal District Conference Course of Studies for Conference Year 2023-2024.
Served as an external reviewer for promotion and tenure of a faculty member at Iliff School of Theology.
Invited by the Senior Accreditation Officer of the Association of Theological Schools to serve as a peer reviewer for a focused one-day visit to Oakwood University School of Theology Graduate Department in support of Oakwood School of Theology’s petition to offer a DMin Program.
Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes
Keynote speaker at the annual meeting for the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education.
Presented a workshop entitled, “Sacred Self-Care: A Trauma-Informed Workshop for Minoritized Students,” and a lecture entitled, “Terror and Tenderness: Reckoning with Trauma in Faith-Based Activism” at Duke Divinity School.
Featured plenary speaker, Power Rising conference.
Guest lecturer, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Foundation Social Justice Fellows Program.
Speaker and chapel preacher at Calvin Festival of Faith & Writing
Keynote speaker, RISE Together in Ministry Conference
Dr. Ralph Watkins
Elected as Vice Chair Southeast Region at the Society for Photographic Educators National Meeting.
Second Part of Six Part Documentary Series: Seeing the Future of the African American Church in the Rainbow, “Becoming Bishop Troy Sanders: A Journey to Freedom” was accepted for AAR Annual Meeting in 2024.
Paper: “Mapping the Margins of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries: A Documentarian’s Theological and Creative Journey”, was accepted for AAR Annual Meeting in 2024.
Artist in Residence, Pride in the Pews @ Spelman College, February 2024.
Solo Photo Exhibition, Future of the African American Church in the Rainbow, Spelman College.
Awarded Ally of the Year by the Crystal Ball Foundation for work with the LGBTQ+ community in Atlanta, February 2024.
Appointed to American Academy of Religion, Religion Film, and Visual Culture Unit Steering Committee.
Dr. William Yoo
Published “Western Colonialism and Christian Mission,” in Uncovering the Pearl: The Hidden Story of Christianity in Asia, edited by Amos Yong, Mark A. Lamport, and Timothy T.N. Lim (Cascade, 2023).
Speaker for the Duerr Lecture Series at St. Philip Presbyterian Church in Houston, TX.
Invited participant for the Wabash Center Virtual Blog Writers’ Workshop, in recognition of previous blogs, such as “Does Theological Education for Purple Churches Require a Purple Seminary?” and “Can the Seminary Faculty Meeting Be Saved?”
