Willie James Jennings is joining the faculty at Yale Divinity School as an associate professor of systematic theology and Africana studies. He was an associate professor of theology and Black church studies at Duke University Divinity School. At Duke Divinity, Dr. Jennings also served as senior associate dean for academic affairs.
Earlier this year, Dr. Jennings, an ordained Baptist minister, was awarded the 2015 Grawemeyer Award in Religion. The award included a $100,000 prize. Dr. Jennings was honored for this book The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race (Yale University Press, 2010). The book also won the best book award in the constructive-reflective category from the American Academy of Religion.
Greg Sterling, dean of Yale Divinity School, said that “Jennings has few peers as a scholar, teacher, and writer. He is an outstanding addition to our faculty and will be a tremendous resource for our students and for the Yale community more broadly.”
Dr. Jennings is a graduate of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He holds a master of divinity degree from Fuller Technological Seminary in Pasadena, California, and a Ph.D. from Duke University.
