The Rev. Dr. Serene Jones is the 16th President of the historic Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. The first woman to head the 176-year-old interdenominational seminary, Jones occupies the Johnston Family Chair for Religion and Democracy and has formed Union’s Institute for Women, Religion and Globalization as well as the Institute for Art, Religion and Social Justice. Jones came to Union after seventeen years at Yale University, where she was the Titus Street Professor of Theology at the Divinity School, and chair of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She holds degrees from the University of Oklahoma, Yale Divinity School and Yale University. Jones is ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ. The author of several books including Calvin and the Rhetoric of Piety and Trauma and Grace, Jones is a leading theologian who regularly contributes to scholarly and public discussions on matters of faith, social justice, and public life.
Professor Cynthia Rigby joined the faculty of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 1995. In an article in the Dallas Morning News, on March 28, 2006, Rigby was cited as one of the great theologians of our time. In his article, William McKenzie wrote about twelve contemporary theologians who can “span the gap between church and society. Attention to theology, politics and sociology allows these thinkers to shape the world, not just follow in its wake.” Dr. Rigby’s special area of interest is setting Reformed theologies in conversation with theologies of liberation, particularly feminist theologies.
An energetic scholar, Dr. Rigby is the author of more than thirty articles and book chapters. She is the author of The Promotion of Social Righteousness(Witherspoon Press, 2010) and she is currently completing a book titledShaping our Faith: A Christian Feminist Theology (Baker Academic, forthcoming). She is the co-editor (with Beverly Gaventa) of Blessed One: Protestant Perspectives on Mary (Westminster John Knox Press, 2002) and editor of Power, Powerlessness, and the Divine: New Inquiries in Bible and Theology (Scholars Press, 1997). Dr. Rigby is also working on two additional projects, one focused on the doctrines of “sin and salvation” and the other on developing a systematic theology especially for pastors.
Dr. Stroup, the J.B. Green Professor of Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary, is a seventeenth-century Calvinist whose interests are contemporary and constructive theology, including hermeneutics, Christology, and the role of narrative in theology. He hold degrees from Vanderbilt University, Rice University, and Yale University.
Rev. Dr. David W. Johnson was called in 2001 to serve as director of Supervised Practice of Ministry (now called the Program of Formation in Ministry) at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Prior to joining the Austin Seminary administration, Johnson served churches in Galveston and Irving, Texas, and Watchung, New Jersey. From 1989-1993 Johnson served as assistant professor of historical theology at Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, Texas.
Johnson is the author of a number of articles, including "Making Theology Come Alive in the Parish," in the fall 1995 issue of Pro Ecclesia. He contributed two entries to the Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation: "Cassiodorus" and "Pelagius." Johnson also writes occasional book reviews, stories, essays, and poems. Click here to read Professor Johnson’s article in the Fall 2006 issue of Insights.
An ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Johnson is a member of Mission Presbytery.