Virginia Seminary welcomes Rosemary Gooden as first Martha J. Horne Visiting Professor

The Horne fund was established in May 2007 in honor of the distinguished service of the Very Rev. Martha J. Horne, 13th dean and president of VTS (1994-2007). Its purpose is to increase the international, racial, ethnic, or cultural diversity of the seminary community and its academic curriculum by providing funds for a visiting professor who will teach at least one course for a full semester while in residence at the seminary.

“Rosemary’s arrival reminds us of Dean Horne’s unceasing efforts to increase the seminary’s awareness of, and responsiveness to, the complex issues of racial, ethnic and cultural diversity,” said the Very Rev. Ian Markham, dean and president of Virginia Seminary. “We welcome Rosemary and look forward to learning from her wisdom and understanding."

Gooden’s research project while at VTS, titled “African American Episcopalians in Washington, D.C.,” will explore ways in which African American Episcopalians such as Thurgood Marshall, Pauli Murray, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Charles Willie, and Kenneth Clark have influenced American culture and social movements and the magnitude of their leadership roles in the Episcopal Church. The final product will be a book-length study of these Episcopalians, whose leadership encouraged specific and effective responses of activism around issues of racial and social justice in the church and, more broadly, in American culture.

Gooden holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan's Program in American Studies. She specializes in the history of American religion, African American women’s religious history, African American Episcopal history, and the ministry of healing. In 2007, she received a Conant Fund Grant from the former Office for Ministry Development of the Episcopal Church to support her research and writing. Gooden is also a past recipient of the Leverhulme Fellowship from Exeter University, England, where Markham also did his doctoral work.

In 2002, Gooden wrote the introduction for and edited Faith Cures, and Answers to Prayer by Mrs. Edward Mix, a reprint of the 1882 accounts of the first known African American healing evangelist in the United States and the first known female to have a full-time healing ministry.

Gooden has also been invited to contribute to an edited volume titled Faith, Health, and Healing in African American Life (Praeger, scheduled for release in the fall of 2008). Her chapter, “Seeking Health for the Body in the Well-Being of the Soul,” explores a variety of perspectives on healing, including self-help literature and healing affirmations. Gooden will also contribute to another edited volume, Singing the Lord’s Song in a Strange Land: African Americans, Racial Justice and White Protestant Denominations, in which her chapter will be titled “Lord Make Us Servants of Your Peace.”

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