Murray H. Leiffer Associate Professor of Formation, Leadership and Culture
Director of the Center for the Church and the Black Experience
Education
- B.S., Tuskegee University
- M.Div., Candler School of Theology
- Ph.D., Northwestern University (in cooperation with Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary)
An Emancipatory Christian Education
I believe the purpose of Christian education is to be emancipatory, to set people free to be children of God and co-creators with God. Many personal, social, spiritual, and institutional hindrances prevent the people of God from becoming all that God has created them to be. Christian education ought to provide an emancipatory pedagogy that transmits to the Christian faith community its history and journey, and God's presence and intersection in that history and journey; that transforms people of faith in a way that aids them to claim meaning, purpose, and worth as children of God and co-creators with God; and that transgresses in a way that pushes against the boundaries that hinder people of faith from using their gifts to love God and to love their neighbor.
My research interests are in the areas of African American identity formation, adolescent and young adult identity formation, Christian education theory, Christian education and the black church, and African/African American spirituality. I am currently researching the role of the black church in the identity formation of African American youth.