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Dean Teresa Smallwood is pleased to introduce the first cohort of students for the Ph.D. in Public Theology and Witness for fall 2024.
The Rev. Dr. Lawrence E. Claiborne is a native of Lansdowne, PA. He attended the Episcopal Academy. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Albright College with a dual concentration in Communications and Music Business. He furthered his education receiving both a Master of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry degree from United Lutheran Seminary. While there he was a Yocum Scholar, J. Q. Jackson Merit Award Recipient, and an inaugural Croft Doctoral Fellow.
Dr. Claiborne received both licensing and ordination under the Rev. Dr. Alyn E.Waller at the Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Philadelphia, PA. Through the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Dr. Claiborne attended their Presidential Interfaith Conference. With a focus on Human Rights and Theology, he participated in the Global Migration Summit at the United Nations.
He is currently serving as the Youth and Young Adult Pastor at the St. Paul’s Baptist Church in West Chester, PA. Additionally, he serves as an Adjunct Professor, Lecturer, Advisor, and Mentor at several institutions. Above all else, he is married to DaéNelle Claiborne, M.Ed., and is the father of their sons, Logan Michael and Linden Edward.
He has devoted his life to public service by working in the fields of Advocacy, Education, Ministry, Music, Philanthropy, and Social Work. This work allowed him to connect components of public life, faith, and education as a means to impact and engage people and systems. Whether preaching in the pulpit, teaching in the classroom, advocating for marginalized and oppressed communities, or the plethora of professional spaces, he’s found there is a need for substantive and sound theological discourse.
In particular, his research interests are focused on Christian Traditions and Culture as well as Church in Society. This is centered around the intersection of traditional and non-traditional modes for theological discourse in African American spaces. He considers it paramount to identify ways to make space for the diversity of perspectives that are rooted in theology and African American lived experience.
He believes that this is a critical moment that can help people reimagine traditional and non-traditional methods. Can the Pastor, Professor, Podcaster, Parishioner, Seminarian, and others find methods and spaces to engage in theological discourse? He sees a need to rise to the occasion andcreate avenues to provide help and assistance to those who are called to these spaces. This is where the pulpit, the academy, and the public square are uniquely positioned for a transformative opportunity.
He sees it as a nexus moment in the life of African American Christianity. He believes that many need to consider meeting these different populations and generations where they are by adapting and adopting diverse methods. Ultimately, he is committed to assisting persons called to the pulpit, academy, and the public square. He believes that in this ever-changing world, leaders must be prepared to step into all spaces to speak theological truth with power.
Rev. Joy Gonnerman and her husband Wayne Gallipo live in Sioux City, Iowa. They met the first day of seminary at Luther Seminary in St Paul. There Gallipo serves as an interim at St. John Lutheran Church and Gonnerman just finished her call as a Certified Prevention Specialist for Rosecrance Jackson Centers. Gallipo will remain in Sioux City while Gonnerman begins her study at ULS.
Gonnerman spent time in Palestine and was thrown out of Gaza by the IOF as a student for simply witnessing the truth. This started her advocacy work recognizing that what we are told is not always what is truth. The Kairos invitation to “came and see,” has formed much of Gonnerman’s understanding of advocacy in the world. Be curious, listen, learn and preach the gospel at all times in words if necessary.
Gonnerman was ordained into Word and Sacrament in 2008 after actively resisting seminary for 20+ years! Before seminary, Gonnerman lived and worked in Japan for almost 3 years as a lay missionary for the old American Lutheran Church, worked as Humane Educator for a Humane Society and began her own business, All Creatures Great and Small, which she ran for 11 years. This business taught about diversity, kindness, responsibility and pre-conceived ideas by bringing creatures like tarantulas, giant millipedes, scorpions, snakes and chickens into classrooms and boardrooms. The visceral response to these creatures even though people never spent any time with them made her wonder, why? Clearly too many people base their understanding of the world around them not on personal experiences but on hearsay, propaganda and other people’s prejudices. It was very gratifying to have children, overtime, respond with excitement and joy when the creatures once reviled were once again present proving that having the courage in engage with our fears and prejudices can and does change the way we are in the world.
In her most recent work as a prevention specialist this concept also enforced this idea. Addiction has long been associated falsely with morality and character. But as a prevention specialist, working with populations at risk of disordered substance use or behaviors, it became clear that SUD is not a character flaw but rather, a most often a response to trauma whether personal or generational.
From her work it was clear that the institutional church was a major contributor to that trauma. The church provided the doctrine of discovery, justified enslavement of people based on race, instituted residential schools (for indigenous peoples across the globe), created American Christian Zionism, banned books and has actively shamed folks in the LGBTQI+ community to the point that youth become homeless. While vitriolic language absolutely causes trauma, so does silence. The church has been silent or silenced for far too long on issues that matter not only for individuals who feel cast out but also for community health and welfare. This is what drives Gonnerman to this new work in Public Ministry and Witness. As a specialized call not tied to a particular congregation or church council, Gonnerman has had the freedom to preach on these issues and finds that folks are actually open to hearing what the gospel has to say when a preacher can proclaim without fear.
The Rev. Mark A. Thompson, M.Div., was raised in Nashville’s Clark Memorial United Methodist Church where the Rev. James Lawson taught nonviolence to John Lewis and other students for the Nashville Sit-In Movement. He has practiced public theology as just one of the organizers involved in every major civil and human rights mobilization over the past 40 years, as a television commentator, radio broadcaster and Host of Make It Plain.
Research Interests:
Public Theology in Practice, Christian Nationalism and Reparations
Specific Topics for Concentration:
Public Theology 101: Towards A Public Theology in Practice
A Theology to End Christian Nationalism
Christ, Lawson and King: the Holy Trinity of Public Theology
The Public Theology of a God of the Oppressed
A Theology of Reparations
God and Law Enforcement
