The Women's Center and Office of Black Church Studies are delighted to co-host the annual Jill Raitt Lecture at Duke Divinity School this year. The Jill Raitt Lecture celebrates the life and witness of Dr. Jill Raitt, the first woman tenured at Duke Divinity School in 1977. Since 2009, the annual lecture has celebrated women who are making a transformative impact on the theologies and practices of the church.
The guest speaker is Candice Marie Benbow, Duke Divinity alum and one of Sojourner's "10 Christian Women Shaping the Church in 2020." Her recent book, Red Lip Theology: For Church Girls Who Have Considered Tithing to the Beauty Supply Store when Sunday Morning Isn't Enough, invites readers to discover freedom in a progressive Christian faith that incorporates activism, feminism, and radical authenticity.
Benbow has written for various outlets including ESSENCE Magazine, Glamour Magazine, The Root, VICE, Shondaland, MadameNoire, and the "Me Too" Movement. Her essays in Red Lip Theology touch themes of heartache, loss, forgiveness, sexuality, and empowering women who struggle with feeling loved and nurtured by church culture.
Dr. Valerie Cooper, associate professor of religion and society and Black church studies, will facilitate the conversation with Benbow about her journey as a Black woman in the church and academy. Dr. Cooper was the first African American woman to receive tenure at Duke Divinity School in 2014. Using historical and theological methodologies, her wide-ranging scholarship examines issues of religion, race, politics, and popular culture.
The event is free and open to the public.
- Guest Speaker
Candice Marie Benbow is a multi-genre theologian who situates her work at the intersections of beauty, faith, feminism and culture, giving voice to Black women’s shared experiences of healing and journeying toward wholeness. Reimagining how faith can be a tool of liberation and transformation for women and girls, she challenges Black women to think critically about how they see God and the world. She holds degrees from Tennessee State University, North Carolina Central University, and Duke Divinity School.Recognizing the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic on Black and Brown communities, Benbow served on the Ad Council’s "Healthy and Whole Vaccine Awareness Steering Committee" to establish best practices related to COVID-19 vaccine education within African American and Latinx communities of faith and to create activities and events encouraging proper education and vaccination.
Benbow is the founder of Zion Hill Media Group, a media boutique that produces messages of hope and healing across various platforms. In memory of her mother, Benbow also established The LouiseMarie Foundation. Focusing on faith and education, the foundation supports HBCU nursing students, provides micro-grants for community mental health projects, and creates opportunities for spiritual growth and development.
Her first book, Red Lip Theology: For Church Girls Who’ve Considered Tithing to the Beauty Supply Store When Sunday Morning Isn’t Enough, was released January 11, 2022 and is currently available for purchase.
- Facilitator
Professor Valerie Cooper, the first African American woman to earn tenure at Duke Divinity School, joined the faculty at Duke Divinity in 2014. She has published essays on African American evangelicals (particularly in Pentecostalism and the Holiness Movement), on African Americans’ use of the Bible, and with political scientist Corwin Smidt, co-authored an essay on the roles of religion and race in the 2008 election of President Barack Obama. Her article on "Black Theology” is forthcoming in the Oxford Handbook of Political Theology.Her book, Word, Like Fire: Maria Stewart, the Bible, and the Rights of African Americans, analyzes the role of biblical hermeneutics in the thought of Maria Stewart, a pioneering 19th-century African American woman theologian and political speaker.
Cooper is also working on Segregated Sundays, a book evaluating the successes and failures of the racial reconciliation efforts of Christian congregations and ministries from the 1990s to the present. In addition to examining why such efforts frequently fall short of their stated goals, she also hopes to propose methods for achieving meaningful cross-racial relationships in America’s still very segregated churches and religious organizations. In this research, she is particularly interested in recovering and recording the stories of ordinary men and women of faith.