L. Gregory Jones, former dean of Duke Divinity School, has been named the Ruth W. and A. Morris Williams Jr. Professor of Christian Ministry. Along with 36 other faculty members who were also honored with a distinguished professorship, Jones was recognized during a May 1 dinner at the Washington Duke Inn.

Jones, who is also senior strategist for Leadership Education at Duke Divinity School, is a theologian whose work centers on the nature of forgiveness, the significance of Christian ministry and pastoral leadership, and social innovation and entrepreneurship. He has also served as Duke’s chief international strategist to advance and coordinate the university’s global engagement. Between 1997 and 2010, Dr. Jones served as the eleventh dean of Duke Divinity School.

The author or editor of sixteen books, he has also published more than 200 articles and essays. His most recent book, coauthored with Celestin Musekura, is Forgiving As We’ve Been Forgiven. He has also coauthored a book with Kevin R. Armstrong, Resurrecting Excellence: Shaping Faithful Christian Ministry. An earlier book, Embodying Forgiveness, was named an Outstanding Book by both Christianity Today and The Academy of Parish Clergy. Dr. Jones coedited, with Stephanie Paulsell, The Scope of Our Art: The Vocation of the Theological Teacher. He has also published Everyday Matters: Intersections of Life and Faith. Dr. Jones is an active contributor to both scholarly and popular publications; his reviews, opinion-editorials, and other articles have appeared in a variety of journals, magazines, and other media, including a regular column for Leadership Education’s Faith & Leadership web magazine. Dr. Jones and his wife, the Rev. Susan Pendleton Jones, have written Adult Bible Studies and two books in the Living the Good Life Together series for the United Methodist Publishing House. He is an ordained elder in the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church.