Author Archives
Kelly Brown Douglas is Professor and Director of the Religion Program at Goucher College where she has held the Elizabeth Conolly Todd Distinguished Professorship. She was recently awarded The Goucher College Caroline Doebler Bruckerl Award for outstanding faculty achievement. Prior to coming to Goucher College she was Associate Professor of Theology at Howard University School of Divinity (1987-2001) and Assistant Professor of Religion at Edward Waters College (1986-1987).
Kelly holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Denison University where she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and graduated Summa Cum Laude. She received her Masters of Divinity and Doctorate of Philosophy from Union Theological Seminary. While at Union she received the Hudnut Award for Preaching Excellence and the Julius Hanson Award for Outstanding Student in Theological Studies.
A leading voice in the development of a womanist theology, Essence magazine counts Douglas “among this country’s most distinguished religious thinkers, teachers, ministers, and counselors.” She has published numerous essays and articles in national publications, and her books include The Black Christ, Sexuality and the Black Church, What’s Faith Got to Do With It?: Black Bodies/Christian Soul. Black Bodies and the Black Church:A Blues Slant is her most recently released book (Palgrave Macmillan, Fall 2012).
Kelly is also a priest in the Episcopal Church and has served as Associate Priest at Holy Comforter Episcopal Church in Washington D.C. for over 20 years.
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Moral Accountability, Prophetic Responsibility, and Selma by Kelly Brown Douglas
I have been struck in this new year by the reactions to the recently released movie Selma. There has been a palpable recognition by those of who have seen it, that “the more things change, the more they stay the… Read More ›
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To Be an Advent People by Kelly Brown Douglas
In my church tradition, we have just entered the 3rd week of Advent. In today’s blog I share just a brief excerpt from the sermon which I preached on Sunday. I hope it at least inspires reflection on where we… Read More ›
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Thinking Out Loud About Protecting Our Borders and the Ebola Crisis by Kelly Brown Douglas
Just as crises can reveal the strengths of our infrastructure, so too can they reveal the weaknesses. At the same time, a crisis can disclose the enormity as well as the limitations of our humanity. Even as the current Ebola… Read More ›
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Domestic Violence: The Sin that Sin Created by Kelly Brown Douglas
In these last several weeks, the horror that one out of four women will encounter domestic violence- sometimes referred to as “intimate partner” violence- in their life time has come to the national forefront. Indeed, women are more likely than… Read More ›
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Theological Reflection: Outward, Not Inward by Kelly Brown Douglas
I was asked recently what frustrates me most about theology. I am a theologian, and love doing theology. Nevertheless, I do have my moments of frustration with the theological enterprise. I am most frustrated when theology loses its dynamic edge… Read More ›
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Crucifixion, Resurrection, and the Reversal of Power by Kelly Brown Douglas
Within the Christian tradition, this week – l known as Holy Week – is perhaps the most significant week on the Christian calendar. During this week Christians are called to contemplate and to remember the core events of Christian identity—the… Read More ›
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The Black Christ by Kelly Brown Douglas
As a “Christian womanist theologian” I was very engaged by the recent dialogue concerning “Gendered Imagery of God” (March 13). In response to that very thoughtful post, it was asserted that Christian womanist have not addressed this issue, especially as… Read More ›
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To Do Justice for Jordan Davis by Kelly Brown Douglas
Theology is faith seeking understanding. Faith is that ineffable, intangible spiritual apparatus that keeps us in relationship to a transcendent, infinite god. It is, for Christians, the core of their relationship with the god of Jesus Christ. Yet, as Karen… Read More ›
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How is it That God Speaks? by Kelly Brown Douglas
A few weeks ago, after delivering a sermon, a young woman approached me and said she had a question about my sermon. I of course braced myself for the question as I ran my sermon back over in my head… Read More ›
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What Does Jesus Have to Do with Whiteness? by Kelly Brown Douglas
It matters that he consistently affirmed, empowered, and befriended those who were the outcast, marginalized, oppressed, and rejected of his day—such as Samaritans and women. A firestorm has been set off recently concerning the self-assured observations by Fox News anchor… Read More ›
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Moral Courage by Kelly Brown Douglas
The time for false solidarity is over…Let’s us stop talking about it, let us just dig deep inside of ourselves and find a way to do it. Fifty years ago in response to President Kennedy’s assassination Martin Luther King Jr…. Read More ›
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The Little Words by Kelly Brown Douglas
As I contemplate the state of our world from the rhetoric of shut-downs to stand your ground, from the self-righteousness of political discourse to the dogma of ecclesiastic pronouncements, and from the justifications for political inequality to the explanations for… Read More ›
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“Stand Up Straight” by Kelly Brown Douglas
When I was little my mother use to always tell me to “stand up straight.” It is probably because of my mother’s plea that one particular bible story became one of my favorites. It is a story that comes from… Read More ›
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Unjust Wars and ‘Innocent’ Bodies by Kelly Brown Douglas
According to a recent online CNN report (15 September 2013) an 8 year old girl in Yemani died from internal injuries after her wedding night. Apparently this was not the first time a young Yemeni girl died under these circumstances. … Read More ›
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A Dream Too Far . . .? by Kelly Brown Douglas
Not too long ago I heard an interview with Eugene Allen’s son. The recently released movie, The Butler is inspired by Eugene Allen’s life in the White House. Mr. Allen served in the White House through the terms of 8… Read More ›
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The Words Ring Hollow by Kelly Brown Douglas
July 2008 the United States House of Representatives passes a resolution apologizing for the more than two hundred years of slavery and the decades of Jim Crow that followed. June 2009 the United States Senate passes a resolution apologizing for… Read More ›
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The Story of Juneteenth by Kelly Brown Douglas
Tomorrow is a special day for me. It is Juneteenth. On June 19, 1865, news finally reached Galveston, Texas that slavery had been abolished. This was of course two and a half years after Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. While… Read More ›
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Betraying Bodies by Kelly Brown Douglas
Her name was Tricia Meili. Their names were Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Antron McCray, Korey Wise and Kevin Richardson. On April 19, 1989 all of their lives were irrevocably changed. They would never meet, but their lives would become forever… Read More ›
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Dialogues With Our Children by Kelly Brown Douglas
Son: My friends and I were stopped for going 61 mph in a 55 mph zone, frisked and had our car searched. We thought the police were going after the car of white boys in front of us going at… Read More ›
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Knowledge is Power by Kelly Brown Douglas
If knowledge is power, not knowing is privilege. It has long since been understood that knowledge is power. Women and other subjugated voices have recognized that those who control the world are those who define the world— and define not simply what… Read More ›
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Body Talk by Kelly Brown Douglas
The more I reflect upon the complex and multiple ways in which various bodies are put upon and disregarded, the more I am persuaded that we have a body problem. Our bodies communicate to us in many ways. They are… Read More ›
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Random Questions? by Kelly Brown Douglas
The notion of the bad body allows for bad things to be done to any body and anything human or non-human that has become body identified. Where did it all begin? How has it happened that we have nurtured such… Read More ›
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Having the world “in a jug with the stopper in your hand” by Kelly Brown Douglas
When we were growing up, my dad would often exclaim to my sisters, brother and me, “You got the world in a jug with the stopper in your hand.” He most often said this when he noticed us indulging in… Read More ›
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Freedom from Unjust Privilege by Kelly Brown Douglas
Freedom is about the elimination of systems and structures that privilege some and penalize others. Not too long ago, my son asked me how people who knew what it felt like to be denied justice, could deny others justice. It… Read More ›
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The Black Church, the Blues, and Black Bodies by Kelly Brown Douglas
“Ooh, Ohh there’s something going all wrong”, Ma Rainey sang. There is indeed something going all wrong in the black church. This church, which is born out of the commitment to safeguard the life and freedom of all black… Read More ›
