Serene Jones

American Protestant theologian and seminary president (born 1959)

The Reverend

Serene Jones

Jones at the Presbyterian Historical Society in 2023

Born|

Lynda Serene Jones

(1959-07-31) July 31, 1959 (age 66)

New Haven, Connecticut, US

Title| President of Union Theological Seminary (since 2008)
Ecclesiastical career
Religion| Christianity
Church|

* Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
* United Church of Christ

Academic background
Alma mater|

* University of Oklahoma
* Yale University

Thesis| "Fulfilled in Your Hearing" (1991)
Doctoral advisor|

* David Kelsey
* Kathryn Tanner

Influences| John Calvin
Academic work
Discipline| Theology
School or tradition|

* Christian feminism
* theological liberalism

Institutions|

* Yale University
* Union Theological Seminary

Notable works| Feminist Theory and Christian Theology (2000)

Lynda Serene Jones (born 1959) is an American Protestant theologian. She is the president and Johnston Family Professor for Religion and Democracy at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. She was formerly the Titus Street Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and chair of gender, woman, and sexuality studies at Yale University.

## Biography

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Born Lynda Serene Jones on July 31, 1959, she is the eldest of three daughters. Her mother, Sarah Jones, was a licensed psychotherapist. Her father, Joe Robert Jones, was a graduate of Yale Divinity School and served as Dean of the Graduate Seminary (1975–1979) and President of Phillips University from 1979 to 1988. Serene is a graduate of Enid High School in Enid, Oklahoma. Serene's younger sister Kindy Jones is Assistant Attorney General for the State of Oklahoma. Her youngest sister, Verity Jones, is a former Disciples of Christ pastor and editor of DisciplesWorld.[1][2]

After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Oklahoma, Jones earned a Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School in 1985, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in theology from Yale University in 1991. She is an ordained minister in both the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ. She taught at Yale University for seventeen years. On July 1, 2008, Jones succeeded Joseph Hough as President of Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York.[3]

Jones is the 16th president of the historic Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. The first woman to head the 179-year-old interdenominational seminary, she occupies the Johnston Family Chair for Religion and Democracy and has formed Union's Institute for Women, Religion and Globalization, as well as the Institute for Art, Religion and Social Justice. Jones came to Union after seventeen years at Yale University, where she was the Titus Street Professor of Theology at the Divinity School and chair of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She was the president of the American Academy of Religion for 2016.[4]

## Publications

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* Jones has published 37 articles and book chapters since 1991.[5]

* Her work has appeared in Time magazine.[6]
* In May 2014 she was interviewed by Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs.[7]
* She has written and co-written over 10 articles for the Huffington Post.[8]

## Works

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### Books

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* Jones, Serene (1995). Calvin and the Rhetoric of Piety. Louisville, KY: Westminster, John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-22070-9. OCLC 32551494.
* 

 (2000). Feminist Theory and Christian Theology: Cartographies of Grace. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press. ISBN 978-1-4514-1822-4. OCLC 43708566.[9]
* 

 (2009). Trauma and Grace: Theology in a Ruptured World. Louisville, KY: Presbyterian Publishing Corp. ISBN 978-0-664-23410-2. OCLC 308214892.[10]
* 

 (2019). Call It Grace: Finding Meaning in a Fractured World. New York, NY: Viking. ISBN 9780735223646.

### Edited

[edit]

* 

; Pauw, Amy Plantinga, eds. (2006). Feminist and Womanist Essays in Reformed Dogmatics. Columbia Series in Reformed Theology. Louisville, KY: Westminster, John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-22437-0. OCLC 61879752.
* 

; Lakeland, Paul, eds. (2005). Constructive Theology: A Contemporary Engagement with Classical Themes ; Workgroup on Constructive Christian Theology. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0-800-63683-8. OCLC 56194890.
* 

; Farley, Margaret A., eds. (1999). Liberating Eschatology: Essays in Honor of Letty M. Russell. Louisville, KY: Westminster, John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-25788-0.[11]
* 

; Brock, Rita Nakashima; Camp, Claudia, eds. (1995). Setting the Table: Women in Theological Conversation. St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press. ISBN 978-0-827-23433-8. OCLC 33008267.

### Articles and chapters

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* 

 (1995). ""Women's experience" between a rock and a hard place: feminist, womanist and 'mujerista' theologies in North America". Religious Studies Review. 21 (3): 171–178\. doi:10.1111/j.1748-0922.1995.tb00117.x.
* 

 (2005). "Companionable Wisdoms: What Insights Might Feminist Theorists Gather from Feminist Theologians?". In Ward, Graham (ed.). The Blackwell Companion to Postmodern Theology. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 294–308\. ISBN 978-1-405-12719-6.
* 

 (2001). "Bounded Openness: postmodernism, feminism, and the church today". Interpretation. 55 (1): 49–59\. doi:10.1177/002096430005500105. S2CID 144325223.

## References

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1. ^ Jones, Joe (September 17, 2011). "Remembrance of Things Past and the Present Discontent". Yale Divinity School 50th Reunion Website. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
2. ^ White, Perry (July 2, 1983). "Budding Theologian's Plans Full". The Oklahoman. NewsOK. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
3. ^ Banerjee, Neela (2008-02-26). "Union Theological Gets New President". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
4. ^ "Serene Jones | Union Theological Seminary". Archived from the original on 2015-07-02. Retrieved 2015-07-01.
5. ^ "Union Theological Seminary Appoints First Woman President in Its 172-year History". Union Theological Seminary. February 26, 2008. Archived from the original on May 1, 2008. Retrieved February 26, 2008.
6. ^ "Dear Christians: Stop Opposing Obama's Ban on LGBTQ Job Discrimination". Time. July 3, 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
7. ^ "A Discussion with Serene Jones, President of Union Theological Seminary". berkleycenter.georgetown.edu. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
8. ^ "Serene Jones | HuffPost". www.huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
9. ^ Jones, Serene (29 July 2000). Feminist Theory and Christian Theology: Cartographies of Grace. ISBN 9781451418224. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
10. ^ Jones, Serene (January 2009). Trauma and Grace: Theology in a Ruptured World. ISBN 9780664234102. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
11. ^ Russell, Letty M.; Farley, Margaret A.; Jones, Serene (January 1999). Liberating Eschatology: Essays in Honor of Letty M. Russell. ISBN 9780664257880. Retrieved April 18, 2016.

## External links

[edit]

* Profile on the Union Theological Seminary website

* v
* t
* e

Union Theological Seminary

Affiliates|

* Columbia University
* Jewish Theological Seminary

Presidents|

* Henry Sloane Coffin
* Joseph C. Hough Jr.
* Serene Jones

Faculty|

| Founding|

* Charles Butler

|

Former|

* William Greenough Thayer Shedd
* Charles Augustus Briggs
* Reinhold Niebuhr
* Paul Tillich
* John Macquarrie
* Robert Pollack
* Raymond E. Brown
* Edward Robinson
* Henry Sloane Coffin
* James H. Cone
* Dorothee Sölle
* Beverly Wildung Harrison
* Harry Emerson Fosdick
* Harry F. Ward
* Walter Wink
* Roger Haight
* Harrison S. Elliot
* J. Brooke Mosley

Present|

* Mary C. Boys
* David M. Carr
* Paul F. Knitter
* Chung Hyun Kyung
* Christopher Morse
* John Anthony McGuckin
* Ann Belford Ulanov
* Cornel West

Publications|

* Union Seminary Quarterly Review

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Australia
* Netherlands
* Norway
* Israel

People|

* Trove

Other|

* IdRef
* Yale LUX

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