Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas facts for kids

Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas (born 1969) is an American author and teacher. She is a professor of ethics and society at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Professor Floyd-Thomas studies how faith and society connect, especially focusing on the experiences of Black women.

Her work looks at how people can face unfairness based on their race, social class, and gender. She explores how religious beliefs, especially Christian ones, can either help fix these problems or sometimes make them worse.

Floyd-Thomas is also the leader of the Society of Christian Ethics.

Learning and Education

Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas earned her highest degree, a Ph.D., from Temple University in 1998. Her main teacher and guide was Katie Geneva Cannon. Cannon, who was a student of Beverly Wildung Harrison, continues to inspire Floyd-Thomas's work and her teaching style.

Understanding Womanist Thought

In the 1960s and 1970s, the way people studied religion changed a lot. This was due to the rise of black theology, especially the ideas of James Hal Cone. Cone, a professor, taught that God supports those who are struggling and poor. He believed God is "on the side of the oppressed."

This idea was important for the fight for Black liberation from slavery, unfair laws like Jim Crow laws, and ongoing racism. Cone's work stressed that people's real-life experiences were key to understanding religion. However, his work often didn't include the voices of Black women.

This is where Womanist thought came in. It was created to add the missing voices of Black women to black theology and ethics.

In the early 1980s, Katie Geneva Cannon, Jacquelyn Grant, and Delores Williams were students at Union Theological Seminary. Their teachers included James H. Cone and Beverly Harrison. While Cone's ideas didn't focus on women, Harrison's work mostly looked at the experiences of white women.

This meant that the experiences of Black women were often overlooked. Cannon, Grant, and Williams wanted a way to talk about their own unique experiences as Black women.

They found this way in Alice Walker's book, In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose (1983). Walker described "Womanist" in four parts, which showed how the Black female experience was different from both white women and Black men. Using this idea, Womanist theology and ethics began through the work of Cannon, Williams, and Grant.

Professor Floyd-Thomas continues this important Womanist study in religion and ethics.

Key Books and Writings

Mining The Motherlode: Methods in Womanist Ethics

One of Professor Floyd-Thomas's most important contributions to Womanist thought is her book, Mining the Motherlode: Methods in Womanist Ethics. In this book, she clearly explains how Womanist ethics works. She uses Alice Walker's definition of "Womanist" to show that it is a special and important way of thinking within Christian ethics.

Her book makes it easy for anyone to understand and use Womanist ethics. She describes four main ideas of Womanist ethics: "Radical Subjectivity, Traditional Communalism, Redemptive Self-Love and Critical Engagement." These ideas help explore how Womanists use Walker's definition and the different ways they approach ethical questions.

Other Important Publications

Floyd-Thomas has also written or edited several other books. Deeper Shades of Purple: Womanism in Religion and Society is a collection of essays from many leading Womanist thinkers. Black Church Studies: An Introduction is a textbook that covers many topics related to the study of the Black church.

In 2010, she worked with theologian Anthony B. Pinn to edit "Liberation Theologies in the United States: An Introduction." In 2011, she co-edited two books with Miguel A. De La Torre called Beyond the Pale. One book looked at ethics, and the other looked at theology, both from a Christian liberation perspective. Her most recent book, written with Juan M. Floyd-Thomas and Mark G. Toulouse, is called The Altars Where We Worship: The Religious Significance of Popular Culture.

Professor Floyd-Thomas also leads two book series: "Religion and Social Transformation" and "'Making It Plain': Approaches in Black Church Studies."

Black Religious Scholars Group

The Black Religious Scholars Group (BRSG) is an organization started by Floyd-Thomas, her husband Juan Floyd-Thomas, and Duane Belgrave. They created it while they were graduate students in 1996.

The group's goal is to connect Black religious scholars with the larger Black community and its churches. They want to work together to help achieve the goals of Black religion, which include freedom and a good life for everyone.

To do this, the BRSG aims to make the academic work of Black religious scholars more useful and available to the Black church and community. They also create chances for scholars, churches, and community groups to work together. This includes addressing challenges facing Black communities.

The BRSG holds a meeting every year at the same time as the American Academy of Religion meeting. At these meetings, they encourage discussions between Black scholars and local Black churches. They also honor Black religious scholars who have made important contributions to the field and stayed committed to Black religion in their daily lives.

Many respected scholars have been honored by the BRSG, including James H. Cone, Cornel West, Jacquelyn Grant, Katie G. Cannon, Delores S. Williams, and Michael Eric Dyson.

Floyd-Thomas continues to be the executive director of the BRSG. Other leaders include Dr. Juan Floyd-Thomas, Rev. Dr. Duane Belgrave, Rev. Dr. Christine Wiley, and Rev. Dr. Dennis Wiley.