James Abbington’s research interests include worship and music in the Christian church, African American sacred folk music, organ, choral music, and ethnomusicology. He was previously associate professor of church music and worship at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Ga. and associate visiting professor of Christian hymnody at Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music and Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Conn. He has served as executive editor of the African American Church Music Series published by GIA Publications in Chicago for over 25 years and as a fellow of The Hymn Society of the United States and Canada. Read more about Abbington and the Joseph B. Bethea Chair.

Dr. Vilma “Nina” Balmaceda is a scholar-practitioner whose work focuses on civic leadership development and education for just peace and reconciliation. She is the director of the Americas Initiative for Transformation and Reconciliation, and of the Certificate in Conflict Transformation and Reconciliation, and co-director of the graduate certificate program in Faith-based Organizing, Advocacy and Social Transformation; a member of the Duke Climate and Sustainability Advisory Council and of the Duke Human Rights Center’s faculty board. Dr. Balmaceda also serves as president of Peace and Hope International, a Christian organization dedicated to address injustice and preventing violence against vulnerable communities in Latin America. She joined Duke Divinity School in 2020 as a missional strategist and consulting faculty and has since served as the associate director of the Center for Reconciliation.

Natalie Carnes is a constructive theologian invested in questions that cross the fields of aesthetics, feminism, and systematics. She has published several books, including Beauty: A Theological Engagement with Gregory of Nyssa (Cascade 2014), Image and Presence: A Christological Reflection on Iconoclasm and Iconophilia (Stanford 2017), Motherhood: A Confession (Stanford 2017), and most recently Attunement: The Art and Politics of Feminist Theology (OUP 2024). She is currently at work on a co-authored volume with Matthew Whelan on art and poverty, beginning a project on creativity that draws from psychological literature, and guest editing a special edition of Modern Theology. A graduate of Duke’s Ph.D. program (’11), she was previously professor of theology, affiliate faculty member in women’s and gender studies, and the director of the Baylor Initiative in Christianity and the Arts at Baylor University.

Jonathan Tran’s research examines the theological and political implications of human life in language. His most recent book is Asian Americans and the Spirit of Racial Capitalism (OUP 2022), and he served as co-editor of “Reflection and Theory in the Study of Religion” Series for of the American Academy of Religion/Oxford University Press. A graduate of Duke’s M.Div. (’02) and Ph.D. (’06) programs, he was previously associate professor of great texts at Baylor University, where he also served as associate dean for faculty. 

Matthew Whelan’s research centers on Catholic social teaching, Latin American and liberation theologies, and ecological theology and ethics. He is the author of the award-winning book Blood in the Fields: Óscar Romero, Catholic Social Teaching, and Land Reform (Catholic University of America Press, 2020). His current book projects include Christianity and Agroecology (under contract with Cambridge University Press), and Poverty, Luxury, and Art (co-authored with Natalie Carnes). A graduate of Duke’s M.T.S. (’08) and Ph.D. (’16) programs, he was previously assistant professor of moral theology at Baylor University.