Monday, February 14, 3 PM
Reception, 2:30 PM
Carl Grant Events Center
Featured Speaker
Renita J. Weems, Ph.D.
Dr. Renita J. Weems currently serves as Vice President of Academic Affairs at American Baptist College (Nashville, TN), and she formerly served as a member of the faculty of Vanderbilt University and William & Camille Cosby Visiting Professor at Spelman College. Dr. Weems earned her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College in Wellesley, MA, and her Master and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ. Her graduation in 1989 with a Ph.D. in Old Testament studies from Princeton made her the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in Old Testament.
Dr. Weems is the author of several widely-acclaimed books on women’s spirituality and wholeness: "Just A Sister Away" (1987 & 2005), "Showing Mary: How Women Can Share Prayers, Wisdom, and the Blessings of God" (2003). A leader in the AME Church since 1984, Dr. Weems has written about the waxing and waning of faith all believers endure on the spiritual journey. Her 1999 book, "Listening for God" (Simon & Schuster), won the Religious Communicators Council’s prestigious 1999 Wilbur Award for "excellence in communicating spiritual values to the secular media". As a scholar she has numerous books, commentaries and articles on the Bible and prophetic religion to her credit. In 2008, Yale University invited Dr. Weems to give the prestigious Lyman Beecher Lecture, making her the first African American woman to do so.
When she is not travelling and speaking, Dr. Weems is in Nashville with her husband and daughter writing and serving in ministry at Ray of Hope Community Church in Nashville, TN.
