CHICAGO–Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS) is pleased to announce the hiring of Rev. Dr. Kamilah Hall Sharp as Director of the Doctor of Ministry in Public Ministry Program and Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible and Public Ministry.

 

Kamilah Hall Sharp is a native of St. Louis, Missouri. She most recently resided in DeSoto, Texas, with her husband Nakia and daughter Anaya. After practicing law for ten years, she accepted her call to ministry to preach, teach, and engage in social activism in the streets. Her scholarship focuses on the intersection of race, gender, and class within biblical texts and contemporary culture, womanist leadership, and community building.

 

“From CTS’s founding in 1855 in a western edge of the United States at that time, CTS has consistently ‘lived on the edge.’ We have courageously blazed new trails for innovative ministry and social engagement that unite diverse communities,” said Rev. Dr. Brad R. Braxton, President of CTS. “Dr. Kamilah Hall Sharp is an extraordinary scholar, pastor, and community leader who also ‘lives on the edge.’ She is bravely demonstrating how religious communities must transform themselves to offer socially relevant ministry in public contexts that are both perilous and promising.”

 

Dr. Hall Sharp is a co-author of The Gathering, A Womanist Church: Origins, Stories, Sermons, and Litanies; and a contributor to Bitter the Chastening Rod: Africana Biblical Interpretation after Stony the Road We Trod in the Age of BLM, #SayHerName, and #MeToo and Slavery’s Long Shadow: Race and Reconciliation in American Christianity. Additionally, she is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She currently serves as co-pastor of The Gathering, A Womanist Church in Dallas, Texas; an interfaith member of the clergy advisory board for Faith in Action; and a Girl Scout Troop Leader. Dr. Hall Sharp holds a B.S in Business Economics from Florida A&M University, an M.Div. from Memphis Theological Seminary, a J.D. from Indiana University-Bloomington, and a Ph.D. in Biblical Interpretation – Hebrew Bible from Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University.

 

“We are incredibly excited to bring Dr. Hall Sharp on as Director of our D.Min. in Public Ministry Program,” said Rev. Dr. Stephanie Buckhanon Crowder, CTS’s Vice President of Academic Affairs and Academic Dean. “Dr. Hall Sharp has shown throughout her scholarship that she is dedicated to the same kind of progressive theological education CTS has stood for throughout its nearly 170 years of existence. Her work in the public square is noteworthy and rooted in a social justice ethos and praxis.”

 

The Doctor of Ministry in Public Ministry degree is a three-year, thirty-credit advanced program focusing on public ministry. The D.Min. curriculum equips leaders for serious engagement with significant public issues from the perspective of diverse religious, spiritual, and ethical traditions. This fully online degree, offered in partnership with Bayan Islamic Graduate School, is organized around CTS’s Mission and Commitments of Interreligious Engagement, the Study of Black Faith and Life, LGBTQ+ Religious Studies, and Chaplaincy Studies.

 

The partnership with Bayan Islamic Graduate School will allow Bayan students to pursue a degree at CTS that prepares them for Islamic Religious Leadership. “The D.Min. in Public Ministry is an important aspect of our ongoing partnership with CTS,” said Dr. Jihad Turk, President of Bayan, which collaborates with CTS to grant degrees to Muslim students wishing to advance their theological studies. “CTS’s commitment to diversity and interreligious engagement was a major reason Bayan entered into partnership with CTS. We look forward to working with Dr. Hall Sharp to enhance our students’ knowledge and skills for effective public ministry.”

 

Dr. Hall Sharp begins her new position on July 1, 2023.

 

About Chicago Theological Seminary:

For over 167 years, CTS, located in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood, has pushed at the boundaries of theological education with an ongoing legacy of progressive firsts and historic social justice initiatives. With more than 300 students, the seminary offers online and on-campus masters and doctoral degrees in theology, ministerial leadership, and social services, as well as certificate programs in chaplaincy, the study of Black faith and life, LGBTQ+ studies, interreligious engagement, and Muslim studies. CTS is considered one of the most forward-thinking graduate schools of theology in the United States.