Willie James Jennings, associate professor of theology and Black church studies at Duke University Divinity School, has been selected as the winner of the 2015 Grawemeyer Award in Religion. The award is one of five Grawemeyers given out annually by the University of Louisville. The award includes a $100,000 prize.
Dr. Jennings was honored for this book The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race (Yale University Press, 2010).
“His book contains brilliant flashes of insight into Christianity and racial oppression,” said Shannon Craigo-Snell, a Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary professor who directs the Grawemeyer religion award. “He also sheds light on how Christianity has the potential to foster more just and respectful relations between religious and racial groups.”
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.
