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Emilie M. Townes

Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School, Distinguished Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society, Vanderbilt University

The Rev. Dr. Emilie M. Townes, a distinguished scholar and leader in theological education, is dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School. She is also Distinguished Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society.

Townes' broad areas of expertise include Christian ethics, cultural theory and studies, postmodernism and social postmodernism. She has been a pioneering scholar in womanist theology, a field of studies in which the historic and current insights of African American women are brought into critical engagement with the traditions of Christian theology. Townes has a strong interest in thinking critically about womanist perspectives on issues such as health care, economic justice, poetry and literary theory.

Experience

  • –present
    Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School, Distinguished Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society, Vanderbilt Divinity School