Womanist theologian emilie m. townes, the Martin Luther King, Jr., Professor of Religion and Black Studies at the School of Theology, is working to bridge religious and secular scholarship at Boston University. Photo by Tony Luong

Academics

STH Womanist Theologian Has a Dream: A Religion and Pan-African Studies Program at BU

Martin Luther King, Jr., Professor of Religion & Black Studies emilie m. townes is on a mission to build a bridge between religious and secular scholarship—and “transform the world”

When emilie m. townes (who styles her name in lowercase) was a young religion scholar and the world of theology opened up to her, she quickly realized there was something missing.

“I didn’t see represented the religious world of the Black folks who raised me and taught me the basics of what it meant to be a spiritual person and a Christian; [in particular] the religious worlds of Black women and girls were not present,” she says. “And I thought, now that is really strange, because if you look at the majority of predominantly Black churches, most of the people there are women and girls. So why are they being left out of the academic study of religion?”

She was not the only academic who grappled with those feelings. As townes progressed through her master’s and doctoral programs and seminary, she was introduced to the work of other Black women scholars—such as Katie Cannon, Dolores Williams, and Jacqueline Grant—who felt the same way. Like townes, they were inspired by Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of the novel The Color Purple. Walker’s 2003 collection of essays, In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens: Womanist Prose, was never intended to be an academic tract, but it became the foundation of townes’ work as a scholar of religion and social ethics.

Womanism, which explores the lived experiences of Black women, emphasizes the community’s joy, ingenuity, self-reliance, community, and liberation. While midcentury feminism grew from the work of gender scholars and social theorists, womanism’s scope exists both within and outside the academy. In the context of townes’ theological scholarship, womanism is a way to view religion, spirituality, and social ethics through the perspectives of Black women and girls.

“I look at systems and structures and try to understand how they are built and maintained and how people participate in them or not, and how people react,” townes says. “For me, it becomes that space where more people are blocked out than are welcomed in. And that has been so much of the story of not only Black women, but also Black folk in general and other groups that are not seen as the archetypal elite in our country.”

Theology that transforms the world

Joining the Boston University School of Theology in 2024 as the Martin Luther King, Jr., Professor of Religion and Black Studies, townes is a leading womanist theologian in the United States. A dean emerita of Vanderbilt Divinity School, she was the first African American and first woman dean of academic affairs at Yale Divinity School. She also was the first African American woman elected to the presidential line of the American Academy of Religion, where she served as president in 2008. She has held named professorships at Vanderbilt Divinity School, Yale Divinity School, and Union Theological Seminary.

She sees activism and advocacy as twin missions that accompany her scholarship and has lectured on issues of social justice at dozens of institutions during her career. “Activism, for me, is much more than marching in the streets,” she says. “It’s how I construct my syllabi, the subjects I teach, the conversations that we have in the classroom and out in the community. The whole idea is to help transform the world.”

Through womanism, activism, and the field of social ethics, townes seeks to prove that the study of theology has a very real place outside of universities and houses of worship. The more connections are made, the more that link becomes apparent: “I and others have spent a lot of time amassing a great deal of knowledge that needs to be shared—not just in the classroom, but in wider circles in our society,” she says. “The ways in which we think about religion in this country are so truncated, and a lot of that has to do with there not being enough of us in the theological academy talking to the public sphere.”

Beyond the church walls

Now ensconced at STH, townes plans to expand on this mission through intersectional collaboration, which begins with womanism and extends to myriad areas of secular study. Since her arrival, she has been motivated to launch a new religion and pan-African studies program that would bring together academic departments from across BU’s schools and colleges. The proposed certificate-granting program, which would be grounded in STH’s theological curriculum, has a natural tie-in with the College of Arts & Sciences African American & Black Diaspora Studies Program and the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies African Studies Center. It also has the potential for collaboration with American studies, sociology, English literature, and other fields in the humanities.

“Race, gender, and class, at a bare minimum, were the places I started, but as I continued to work and think and be in church settings, academic settings, and just walking around being Black and a woman, I [saw that] what is troubling our world is hardly ever just one thing,” townes says. “It’s never just race, it’s never just sex, it’s never just gender, it’s never just transphobia. They are all held together in a very tight matrix. In order to address one thing, you have to take into account the other things that are holding it in place.

“One of the things that I wanted to do was grow from where we are,” she adds. “We’re in a position to reach out and ask folks if they are interested in what we are building, and it’s my hope that we can use an academic lens and a religious, communities-based lens, and use them intentionally.”

In discussions with G. Sujin Pak, dean of STH, townes discovered a great deal of enthusiasm for the program.

“I cannot imagine anyone better than emilie townes to rally people and resources at BU to ignite a religion and pan-African studies program at Boston University,” Pak says. “Her scholarship and leadership bring to Boston University and the School of Theology enhanced capabilities for interdisciplinary analysis of the social ills that plague our world today, constructive responses, and the equipping of skills for effective social change.”

Pak and townes have tapped into the diverse scholarship represented by the STH faculty, which would form the basis of the emerging program and set the tone for partnerships across the University. Faculty members have already professed interest in the proposed program, among them Nimi Wariboko, Walter G. Muelder Professor of Social Ethics; Luther Young, Jr., an assistant professor of religion and society; Shively Smith, an associate professor of New Testament and director of the PhD program; Timothy Adkins-Jones, an assistant professor of homiletics; Dana Robert, a William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor; and Nicolette Manglos-Weber, an associate professor of religion and society and associate dean of students and community life.

”That’s just what we generate in the School of Theology alone,” townes says.

She has also forged a partnership with the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania to facilitate a public theology and racial justice collaborative within the program. She is working to launch a symposium that would allow students, faculty, staff, clergy, laity, and activists to share resources and insights.

“It wouldn’t just be academic,” townes says. “It would also have experiential elements and would bring together folks that sometimes don’t talk to each other—but need to.

“It’s certainly in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. (GRS’55, Hon.’59), and also of someone I call the real patron saint of the School of Theology: Howard Thurman (Hon.’67),” she adds, referring to the late professor of spiritual resources and dean of Marsh Chapel from 1953 to 1965—the first Black dean at a mostly white American university. “It’s really the power of networking, and that’s one of the things that I want this program to emphasize. We can be resources to one another, and that’s my hope as this continues to unfold.”

And, townes points out, the program is also in the spirit of her early guidestar, Alice Walker: “She had a point when she told us to look up and out, to look at the world around us to see how fascinating it is, to not get scared of difference. It is far too easy to be narrow-minded and singularly focused, and the world is bigger than that.”