Chanequa Walker-Barnes

Chanequa Walker-Barnes is an American theologian and psychologist. Her research as a clinical psychologist has focused on African American health disparities, and as a womanist theologian she has written about the myth of the "StrongBlackWoman" and the need for the voices of women of color. She has written two books, Too Heavy a Yoke and I Bring the Voices of My People.

Early life and education Walker-Barnes was born and raised in Atlanta. She has spoken about growing up in a "racially conscious family in the Deep South". Her grandfathers were sharecroppers, and her paternal grandfather and great-grandfather ran away from the White farmer who "owned" them in the early 1900s. She later earned a Masters of Divinity from Duke Divinity School, where she was mentored by Willie James Jennings. In 2015, she organised the first Women of Color retreat with Christena Cleveland to support and encourage women of color of faith. In 2019, she facilitated the Writing for Mystic Activists workshop for the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research.

Walker-Barnes was on staff at a white-majority church, but left after the George Zimmerman verdict saying, "We were mourning. And we went to church on Sunday morning hoping we would hear a word of comfort. And many of us who went to either multi-racial or predominately white spaces found no word of comfort. We found no word at all."

In 2021, Walker-Barnes was appointed to the faculty of Columbia Theological Seminary as Professor of Practical Theology and Pastoral Counseling.

Walker-Barnes is on the editorial board for the Society of Pastoral Theology's Journal of Pastoral Theology and is co-chair of their Embodiment Study Group. drawing on the work of womanist, feminist, and Black liberation theologians including James Cone and J. Deotis Roberts. The prayer, "Prayer of a weary Black Woman", provoked controversy. The prayer opens with, "Dear God, please help me to hate White people". Some called for Target to remove the book from stores, and described it as "anti-biblical". Walker-Barnes received harassing emails, calls and social media posts, as did her institution. Bessey defended Walker-Barnes, saying "While some may consider this to be a provocative start to a prayer, its intentional extraction from the rest of the prayer obscures its context and the biblical model it is based on ... Our sister is bringing her weariness and her anger over the real sin of racism to God."

Personal life Walker-Barnes is married to Delwin Barnes, a mechanical engineer. They have a son and live in Atlanta, Georgia.

Selected publications Books

Articles and chapters