Marcia Y. Riggs
{{Short description|American author}}
{{use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox academic
| name = Marcia Y. Riggs
| occupation = J. Erskine Love Professor of Christian Ethics and the Director of ThM Program
| education = {{plainlist|
- Randolph-Macon Woman's College, BA '80
- Yale Divinity School, MDiv '83
- Vanderbilt University, PhD '91}}
| awards = Distinction in Theological Education Award, Yale Divinity School
| discipline = Womanist theologian and authority on the black woman’s club movement
| thesis_title = Toward a mediating ethic for black liberation: Ethical insights of black female reformers of the nineteenth century
| thesis_year = 1991
| notable_works = Plenty Good Room: Women Versus Male Power in the Black Church
}}
Marcia Y. Riggs is an American author, the J. Erskine Love Professor of Christian Ethics, and the Director of ThM Program at Columbia Theological Seminary, a womanist theologian, and a recognized authority on the black woman's club movement of the nineteenth century.{{cite book |last1=Mitchem |first1=Stephanie |title=Introducing Womanist Theology |date=2014 |publisher=Orbis Books |location=Maryknoll, New York}}{{cite encyclopedia |last=Radford Ruether |first=Rosemary |author-link=Rosemary Radford Ruether |editor-last= Parsons |editor-first=Susan Frank|encyclopedia=The Cambridge Companion to Feminist Theology |title=The Emergence of Christian Feminist Theology|year=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |series=Cambridge Companions to Religion|location= Cambridge, UK |pages=11 }} She was one of six Luce Scholars named by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS) and The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. as Henry Luce III Fellows in Theology for 2017–2018.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ats.edu/uploads/resources/publications-presentations/colloquy-online/2017-18-luce-fellows-announced.pdf|title=2017-2018 Luce Fellows Announced|last=Graham|first=Stephen|date=February 2017|website=Association of Theological Schools|access-date=November 24, 2018}}
Education
Riggs graduated cum laude from Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religion.{{Cite web|url=http://www.randolphcollege.edu/association/leadership-council/alumnae-achievement-awards/|title=Alumnae Achievement Awards|website=Randolph College|access-date=November 25, 2018}} She then proceeded with her education to Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Connecticut, where she graduated with a Master of Divinity degree in 1983.{{Cite web|url=https://divinity.yale.edu/alumni/alumni-awards/award-recipients/marcia-y-riggs-1983-mdiv|title=Alumni Awards- Past Award Recipients: Marcia Y Riggs|website=Yale Divinity School|access-date=November 25, 2018}} In 1991, she earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Religion (Ethics) from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.{{Cite web|url=https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2017/11/06/harrod-lecturer-seeking-beloved-community-in-21st-century/|title=Harrod Lecturer Seeking Beloved Community in 21st Century|last=Deer Owens|first=Ann Marie|date=November 6, 2017|website=Vanderbilt News|access-date=November 25, 2018}}
Career
Riggs began working at Vanderbilt University as a teaching assistant in 1985 and later a teaching fellow. She soon moved to Drew University Theological School-Madison in New Jersey, where she fulfilled the position of Instructor and Assistant Professor of Religion and Society. She has also taught at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California, in 1995, and Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 2005–2006. At the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago she was a Co-Teacher and ACTS Doctor of Ministry in Preaching. At Columbia Theological Seminary she is the J. Erskine Love Professor of Christian Ethics and also holds the position of Director of the ThM Program. She has also worked outside of academics as an Associate Minister at Hemphill African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Summerville, Georgia, and is an ordained minister in the AME Zion tradition.[http://www.ctsnet.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/RiggsMarciaCV2016.pdf MARCIA Y. RIGGS cv], Columbia Theological Seminary.{{Cite journal |date=1988 |title=Back Matter |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25002074 |journal=Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion |volume=4 |issue=1 |jstor=25002074 |issn=8755-4178}}
Riggs is the President and Founder of Still Waters: A Center for Ethical Formation and Practices, Inc., a Not-for-Profit Educational Organization in Stone Mountain, Georgia.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ctsnet.edu/faculty/riggs-marcia/|title=Dr. Marcia Riggs|website=Columbia University|access-date=November 24, 2018}} She is also the Chair of the North American Doctoral Fellows Selection Committee for Fund for Theological Education, as well as previously the Chair of Womanist Approaches to Religion and Society Group for American Academy of Religion.{{Cite journal|date=2014|title=Womanist Approaches to Religion and Society Group|url=https://www.aarweb.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/RSN/Print%20Back%20Issues/2004-01JAN.pdf|journal=AAR Call for Papers 2014|pages=12}}
Riggs has developed an ethical theory and practice called "religious ethical mediation". Religious ethical mediation prepares leaders to address religion, conflict, and violence in a transformative manner.
Riggs is the author of several books, including Plenty Good Room: Women Versus Male Power in the Black Church (Cleveland, Ohio: The Pilgrim Press, 2003), which has been listed as one of 40 essential books that are foundational for understanding the Black Church.{{Cite web |last=Blumberg |first=Antonia |date=January 3, 2017 |title=40 Essential Books for Any #BlackChurchSyllabus (and more) |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/these-books-need-to-be-on-your-blackchurchsyllabus_us_55d65fbae4b020c386de2b19 |access-date=November 20, 2018 |website=Huffington Post}} She has also published numerous scholarly articles and lectures.
Riggs has served on the editorial boards for the Encyclopedia on Women and Religion in North America, the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, and the Feasting on the Word Lectionary Commentary Series.{{Cite web |title=JSCE Editorial Board |url=https://scethics.org/jsce-editorial-board |access-date=November 25, 2018 |website=The Society of Christian Ethics}}{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary |url=https://www.feastingontheword.net/Content/Site118/Basics/58204Feastingon_00000018220.pdf |access-date=November 25, 2018 |website=Feasting on the Word}}
Riggs was selected as a Henry Luce III Fellow in Theology for the academic year 2017–2018. The annual fellowship is given to theologians, scholars or religious leaders in the United States and Canada whose work contributes to "significant and innovative contributions to theological studies".{{Cite web|url=http://www.hluce.org/hlucefellowtheo.aspx|title=The Henry Luce III Fellows in Theology Program|website=Henry Luce Foundation|access-date=November 24, 2018}}
She received the Distinction in Theological Education Award from Yale Divinity School in 2012.{{Cite web|url=https://divinity.yale.edu/news/four-alumni-honored-2012-alumni-awards-dinner|title=Four Alumni Honored at 2012 Alumni Awards Dinner|date=2012|website=Yale Divinity School|access-date=November 25, 2018}}
Books
- Awake, Arise, & Act: A Womanist Call for Black Liberation (Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 1994)
- Can I Get a Witness? Prophetic Religious Voices of African American Women, An Anthology (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1997), editor
- Plenty Good Room: Women Versus Male Power in the Black Church (Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2003)
- Ethics That Matters: African, Caribbean, and African American Sources (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2011), co-edited with James Logan
Awards
- 2006: Alumnae Achievement Award, Randolph College{{Cite web |title=Past Recipients of the Alumnae Achievement Award - Alumnae and Alumni Association |url=https://www.randolphcollege.edu/association/alumni-achievement-awards/recipients/ |access-date=2024-04-08 |website=www.randolphcollege.edu}}
- 2012: Distinction in Theological Education Award, Yale Divinity School
- 2017–2018: Luce Fellow, Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.ctsnet.edu/faculty/riggs-marcia/ Columbia Theological Seminary Profile]
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Category:21st-century African-American women writers
Category:21st-century African-American writers
Category:21st-century American philosophers
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:American religious writers
Category:American women academics
Category:American women religious writers
Category:Columbia Theological Seminary faculty