Curriculum Vitae
As the school’s chief academic officer, Dr. Rogers oversees all educational programs, provides leadership for the faculty in shaping and articulating a common vision and sense of vocation for theological education at CRCDS, and supervises the academic life administrative staff. With experience in the business sector and higher education administration, she has served as Director of Lane Institute and as Assistant Chaplain at Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee since May 2018. Dr. Rogers earned her BS (summa cum laude) in Mathematics and Secondary Education from Howard University, MA in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary, and Ph.D. in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is a member of the American Academy of Religion and serves currently as co-chair of the guild’s Women of Color Scholarship, Teaching, and Activism Unit.
Dr. Mark Brummitt is the Associate Professor of Old Testament Interpretation. He gained a BA in Theology (First Class Honors) at King’s College London, received the English Fellowship to complete the Master of Sacred Theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York, studied theater and performance at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts/King’s College London, and completed a PhD in Biblical Studies with Yvonne Sherwood at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. Dr Brummitt writes regularly for the Expository Times and the Encyclopedia of Biblical Reception; he is publishing Jeremiah: Reconstructing the Prophet (2013) with Oxford University Press and a commentary on Jeremiah for the Fortress Commentary of the Old Testament (2014). Other areas of interest include Bible and culture; reading theory (structuralism; poststructuralism; gender theory; critical theory); and the literary reception of the Bible.
Dr. Jin Young Choi is Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins and the Baptist Missionary Training School Professorial Chair in Biblical Studies. She earned her Ph.D. in New Testament and Early Christianity at Vanderbilt University and was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the Louisville Institute as part of the Institute’s Vocation of the Theological Educator Initiative.
By weaving biblical narrative together with diverse interpretative threads, her work focuses on the intersection of race/ethnicity, gender, empire, and early Christianity. Choi is the author of the book, Postcolonial Discipleship of Embodiment: An Asian and Asian American Feminist Reading of the Gospel of Mark (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) and co-editor of the volumes, such as Minoritized Women Reading Race and Ethnicity: Intersectional Approaches to Constructed Identity and Early Christian Texts (Lexington Books, 2020); Faith, Class, and Labor: Intersectional Approaches in a Global Context (Wipf & Stock, 2020); and Systemic Racism and the Global Pandemic: Negotiating Race and Ethnicity in Asian American Biblical Criticism (The Bible and Critical Theory journal, 2020).
Attuned not only to the local church but also to the life of global Christianity, Choi has authored Bible study books and lectionary resources for the church and has given lectures and presentations to diverse audience—most recently for the Council for World Mission (2017-2019) and the Society of Asian Biblical Studies (2018). Her scholarship is also dedicated to the wider academic society in the U.S. and internationally. Choi has served the Society of Biblical Literature in several capacities and currently is a co-chair of the Minority Criticism and Biblical Interpretation steering committee and a member of editorial boards of Semeia Studies; and International Voices in Biblical Studies.
Dr. Melanie A. Duguid-May teaches and learns theology as discursive and poetic language with which to engage the flesh and blood realities of life, local and global. Rooted in Christian communities and traditions of doing theology, I am committed to paying attention to God as the living God whose creative work continues and who opens possibilities to make ways out of no way. Convinced theology is a morally obligated task, I am committed to investigate where and among whom the doing of theology intersects with political and economic and gender and racial and cultural and ecological dynamics in ways that are life giving or death dealing. Particular foci of courses include: Christian theology as morally obligated community discourse, particularly as articulated worldwide; images and voices of women and gender in Christian tradition; mysticism, community and revolutionary change; earth justice and spirituality (e.g., water is life; pandemic, political ecology, theology, and responses of the faithful; forest spirituality); Kairos as call to repentance and cry of hope, engaging the worldwide movement led by South African and Palestinian Christian voices. Having first lived and studied in Jerusalem and environs in 1975, I have returned often to engage Palestinians, as well as do research and writing. For the last ten years, my colleague Dr. Mark Brummitt and I have led study pilgrimages that feature at once walking where Jesus walked and seeing what Jesus saw: a people—Palestinian Christians and Muslims—living under military occupation.
My publications include many articles, book reviews, chapters, and essays in anthologies, dictionaries, edited volumes, encyclopedias, and journals—academic, ecclesial, and ecumenical, including international—and magazines. I have also authored and edited five books, including Bonds of Unity: Women, Theology and the Worldwide Church (Scholars Press, 1989); A Body Knows: A Theopoetics of Death and Resurrection (Continuum Publishing, 1995); and Jerusalem Testament: Palestinian Christians Speak, 1988-2008 (Eerdmans Publishing, 2010).
I have been part of the teaching and learning community at CRCDS since August 1992. During these years I have served as Dean of The Program for the Study of Women & Gender in Church and Society (1992-2000) and Vice President for Academic Life & Dean of Faculty (2000-2009), as well as Professor of Theology to the present. From 2004 to 2020, I was the John Price Crozer Professor of Theology.
Having grown up in the Church of the Brethren, one of the Historic Peace Churches, I am now an ordained Priest in the Episcopal Church. I serve as Priest-in-Charge (part-time) of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Bath, New York.
With my spouse, I live near Naples, New York, where we cultivate an ancient and indigenous form of farming modeled on a forest, i.e., an organic forest garden, an ecosystem that integrates the care of our dairy goats and ducks, together with our own food needs.
Having earned degrees at Manchester College, IND (B.A. Religion & Peace Studies); Harvard University Divinity School (M.Div.); and Harvard University (A.M., Ph.D.), I also studied at the Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches and the University of Geneva (Chateau de Bossey). Manchester University (formerly, college) conferred the degree Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.), in 2016.
Dr. Kishundra D. King holds a Ph.D. degree in Religion, Psychology, and Culture from Vanderbilt University, where she was a Theology and Practice Program fellow. She has also earned an M.Div. from Yale University Divinity School and an M.S. in Counseling from Creighton University.
Dr. King’s research focuses on Womanist pastoral theology grounded in Black girlhood experiences where she draws on her clinical counseling experiences and employs a Womanist approach to ethnography. In her classroom, Dr. King aims to create a formative learning environment where students develop their own identity and practice in Black religious thought and life. She has also served as a co-convener and conference planner in various academic settings.
On July 1, 2021, Dr. King joined the faculty of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School as the Assistant Professor of Practical Theology and Director of the Black Religious Thought & Life Program.
The Rev. Cynthia Rasmussen, Ph.D. is the pastor of St Mark’s and St John’s Episcopal Church. She received her Ph.D. in Theology and History from Union Presbyterian Seminary in Virginia. Cindy has been an Adjunct professor for CRCDS since 2006 and serves on the Women and Gender Advisory Board.
Dr. Scarsella comes to us from the Memphis Theological Seminary where she was the Visiting Assistant Professor of Theology and Ethics. She is a fellow with the Louisville Institute. Dr. Scrsella earned her Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University and focuses her research, writing, and teaching around the intersection of Christian ethics with women, race, gender, and sexuality studies. In close connection with her academic work, she is the Director of Theological Integrity for a national nonprofit that supports survivors of sexual violence in diverse Christian contexts and strategizes for systemic transformation.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Email: sthompson-hill@crcds.edu
Rev. Shazetta Thompson-Hill, D.Min. is a native of Flint, Michigan. The youngest of five children born to the Reverends Hank and Carmen Thompson, she is married to the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Hill. Together, they are the parents of two sons, Isaac James-Henry Hill (18) and Alexander Wesley-Louis (6). Dr. Thompson-Hill acknowledged the call of God on her life at the age of sixteen. In August 2020, Dr. Thompson-Hill joined the adjunct faculty of CRCDS in Homiletics and in June 2021 was named an Affiliate member of the faculty. In addition, Dr. Thompson- Hill recently accepted the position of Resident Minister at Georgetown University (Washington, DC). She and her husband are also owners of Hill House Media Company. In addition to the BA and MDiv, Dr. Thompson-Hill also holds the Master of Social Work (MSW) and the Master of Education (M.Ed) degrees from Loyola University Chicago and the Doctor of Ministry (DMin) degree from Perkins School of Theology,
Dr. Thompson-Hill is also a documentary filmmaker and author known for her passion for social justice and activism. Having been active in Ferguson, Baltimore, Prairie View, Flint, Michigan and other places, she brings a fresh perspective to what it means to do ministry as the Body of Christ saying often that the Church is called to “pray AND be present.” Dr. Thompson-Hill’s ministry and preaching style allows her to reach people and congregations of all ages and walks of life. Ever evolving, but well respected among her peers and elders, Rev. Dr. Shazetta Thompson-Hill is indeed a leader among the preachers and activists of her generation.
A life-long United Methodist, John R. Tyson was born in Pittsburgh, Pa. He first became interested in the hymns of Charles Wesley, as child, when he sang them in the yellow-brick Center Avenue United Methodist Church, in Pitcairn, PA. He would subsequently become an internationally known expert in the life and work of Charles Wesley.
While trying his hand at Business Administration as a major, at Grove City College, John experienced a call to ministry and switched to majors to History and Religion. He attended seminary at Asbury Theological Seminary, receiving the M.Div. After pastorates in Cocoa, FL and New Kensington, PA, he pursed doctoral studies at Drew University, in Madison, NJ where he earned the M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Theological and Religious Studies. Desiring to discover his own theological heritage, John wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on “Charles Wesley’s Theology of the Cross.”
Tyson has been teaching the History of Christianity and Historical Theology at CRCDS for more than a decade. He previously taught broadly in the field of religion at the undergraduate level, as well as at two other divinity schools. An ordained Elder, in full connection with the Upper New York Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, John also serves CRCDS as Director of United Methodist Studies.
In addition to teaching and mentoring responsibilities, John R. Tyson has authored more than 80 articles and conference papers and produced more than a dozen books. Among his impactful publications are: Charles Wesley: A Reader, and Invitation to Christian Spirituality, (both by Oxford University Press), Assist Me To Proclaim: The Life and Hymns of Charles Wesley and The Way of the Wesleys (both by Eerdmans), the award-winning In the Midst of Early Methodism: the Life and Letters of Selina Hastings, the Countess of Huntingdon (Scarecrow Press), The Great Athanasius (Wipf and Stock), A School of Prophets the Bicentennial History of CRCDS (Judson Press), and Praying with the Wesleys (Abingdon/UMCPH). After another decade of pastoral service in UMC Churches in rural Western New York, Tyson recently retired from regular pastoral work. He currently does guest preaching, leads retreats, church seminars, and educational events throughout the region. He is a frequent teacher in the UMC Course of Study program, where he teaches a variety of subjects to help equip bi-vocational lay pastors.
In his spare time John enjoys reading, writing, attending live music, swing dancing, biking, and walking the Erie Canal Path, and sports of all sorts. He is an avid Pittsburgh Pirates, Penguins and Steelers fan.
Shatavia L. Wynn is a doctoral candidate in the Ethics and Society cohort. After earning her B.A. in Philosophy and Religion from Claflin University, Shatavia earned a Master of Arts in Religious Studies with a concentration in Black Religion in the African Diaspora from Yale Divinity School. Shatavia’s interests include: popular culture, phenomenology, aesthetics, and black feminist and womanist ethics.
2021 - 2022 Academic Year
James H. Evans, Jr.
H. Darrell Lance
Gail Ricciuti