Willie James Jennings

Willie James Jennings (born April 29, 1961) is an American theologian, known for his contributions on liberation theologies, cultural identities, and theological anthropology. He is currently Andrew W. Mellon Professor of systematic theology and Africana studies at Yale University Divinity School.

Career Jenning gained his B.A. in religion and theology at Calvin College in 1984, and his M.Div. at Fuller Theological Seminary in 1987. He completed his Ph.D. in religion, with a concentration on theology and ethics, at Duke University in 1993, supervised under Geoffrey Wainwright. His Ph.D. dissertation topic was "Reclaiming the Creature: Anthropological Vision in the Thought of Athanasius of Alexandria and Karl Barth."

From 1990 to 2015, Jennings worked at Duke University Divinity School and taught theology and black church studies there, before he was appointed associate professor of systematic theology and Africana studies at Yale in 2015. He is an ordained Baptist minister and has served as interim pastor for several North Carolina churches. He presented the 2026 Warfield Lectures on the theme "Only Then Will We Build: Forming a Real Doctrine of Creation."

Writings In 2010, Yale University Press published Jennings's The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race. The book is a study of the circumstances and theology precipitating Christian participation in racism and colonialism. Syndicate editor-in-chief Christian Amondson considered it a "bold, creative, and courageous critique" of supersessionism and its entanglement in socially constructed ideas about race. Carroll College professor Eric Dayl Meyer called the book "a significant contribution to academic theology".

Selected works The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2010. Acts: A Theological Commentary on the Bible. Westminster John Knox Press, 2017. After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman's Press, 2020.