The Rev. Dr. Teresa L. Fry Brown

Denomination: Other
Organization: Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA

Rev. Teresa L. Fry Brown, PhD is the fourteenth Historiographer of the African Methodist Episcopal (2012). She serves as the editor of the A.M.E. Review and is the Executive Director of Research and Scholarship for the A.M.E. Church. She holds the Bandy Professor of Preaching at Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia and is the first tenured Black female Candler School of Theology and the third Black female full professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Fry Brown served asDirector of Black Church Studies at Candler 2007-2015. Dr.Fry Brown obtained a Doctorate of Philosophy in Religious and Theological Studies from the Iliff School of Theology and the University of Denver, with an emphasis in Religion and Social Transformation (1996). She earned a Master of Divinity from Iliff School of Theology (1988), Master of Science degree (1975) and Bachelor of Science degree (1973) in Speech Pathology and Audiology from the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri.

Dr. Fry Brown has extensive teaching and preaching experience in national, international academic and ecumenical settings. A prolific author, Dr. Fry Brown’s books include Delivering the Sermon: Voice, Body and Animation in Proclamation, Fortress Press (2008); Can A Sister Get a Little Help: Advice and Encouragement for Black Women in Ministry, Pilgrim Press (2008); God Don’t Like Ugly: African American Women Handing on Spiritual Values Abingdon Press (2000); Weary Throats and New Song: Black Women Proclaiming God’s Word Abingdon Press (2003) and The 2006 African American History Devotional, Abingdon Press (2006). Additionally, she has published“Reestablishing the Purpose and Power of the Preached Word through Black Church Studies” in The Black Church Studies Reader (2015); “Poetic Persuasion: A Master Class on Speaking Truth to Power” in Our Sufficiency is of God: Essays on Preaching in Honor of Gardner C. Taylor (February 2010),“The Future of Black Preaching” in Homiletix (November 2007), five sidebars for the Wesley Study Bible (October 2008), “Mother Day/Pentecost” African America Pulpit Lectionary (2008), African American History Month Devotions (Abingdon 2006), “Preaching the Lesson, Lectionary Homiletics, (five entries 2006), Abingdon Press African American Pulpit Library, (eight entries 2006 ), Kirk Byron Jones, editor, A Letter From Jarena Lee in 1999; “Remember Who Made Us” in Those Preaching Women, vol. 3, Ella Mitchell, ed, Judson Press, 1996; “Easter Sunday” and “Easter 4” in Abingdon Women’s Preaching Annual, Series 1, Year C, Abingdon Press, 1997; “Avoiding Asphyxiation: A Womanist Perspective on Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Transformation” in Embracing the Spirit: Womanist Perspectives on Hope, Salvation and Transformation, Emilie Townes, ed., Orbis Press, 1997; “Renovating Sorrow’s Kitchen: African American Women Preaching Justice” inPreaching Justice, Christine Smith, ed., Pilgrim Press, 1998 and “Giving the Sermon Life” in Birthing a Sermon, (2001), Jana Childers, ed., Chalice Press. “Action Potential” in The Purpose of Preaching, Pilgrim Press (2004) as well over fifty other reviews, chapters and commentaries.

Dr. Fry Brown is a member of the American Academy of Religion (Steering Committee of Womanist Approaches to Religion and Society Group), Society for the Study of Black Religion, and the Academy of Homiletics (First Vice President). She was honored for her academic life achievements at the Eighteenth Annual Black Religious Scholar Group Consultation at the American Academy of Religion (2015), Emory-Williams Distinguished Teaching Award (2017), Samuel Dewitt Proctor Beautiful Are the Feet Award (2019), and Turner Theological Seminary Lifetime Achievement Award (2021). She is an ordained Itinerant Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and an Associate Minister at New Bethel A.M.E. Church, Lithonia, Georgia. She is the President of the General Officers’ Council of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

A native of Independence, Missouri, Dr. Fry Brown is the second oldest of seven children of (late) William M. Fry Sr. and (late) Naomi Parks Fry. She is the mother of Veronica (Jonathan) Perry. She is a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Dr. Fry Brown’s life is governed by the words of the Prophet Isaiah “Those whose hope is in the Lord gain new strength” and the words of Mohandas Gandhi, “We must be the change we want to see in the world”.