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Moses Moore

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SHPRS Religious Studies Faculty
Associate Professor
Faculty, TEMPE Campus, Mailcode 4302
Affiliate Faculty, Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict
Assoc Professor
Faculty, TEMPE Campus, Mailcode 4302
Biography: 

Moses N. Moore, Jr. was born in Clearwater, Florida. He received a B.A. from Eckerd College and subsequently studied church and mission history at Yale Divinity School where graduated with an Master’s of Divinity degree. He completed a doctorate in American and African American Church History at Union Theological Seminary (NYC). His dissertation explored the African and African American religious encounter with modernity.

Professor Moore has taught American and African American Religious History at William and Mary; the University of Missouri-Columbia; and Arizona State University. He has also served as chair of the Afro-American history section of the American Academy of Religion.

Among the courses that Moore has taught are: History and Historiography of the Social Gospel, Spirituals and the Blues,W. E. B. Du Bois and the Religious Imagination, African American Religious History and Historiography, Religion in America, American Religious Traditions, and African American Religion: A Biographical Approach.

Moore has been the recipient of a research fellowship from Yale Divinity School; twice received Cross Current (The Association for Religion and Intellectual Life)  fellowships; and been the recipient of the “Woodrow Wilson Award” for his study of Edward Blyden.

Education: 
  • Ph.D. Union Theological Seminary, NY
  • M.A. Yale Divinity School
  • B.A. Eckerd College
Research Interests: 

Research and publication projects include a study of the African and Diaspora African encounter with modernity (with ongoing study in West African, South American and the Caribbean); the missionary encounter with modernity; the history of black theological education; Africans, African Americans and Native Americans in the American West; the intersection of race, religion, gender and modernity.

A new research project is focused on new religious movements and religious pluralism and examines the religious, political and cultural response to Scientology.

 

Major Publications:

Orishatukeh Faduma Liberal Theology and Evangelical Pan-Africanism– July 11, 1996

 Review

A penetrating analysis of the life and writings of a Sierre Leonean Christian who contributed to Pan-Africanism on two continents... (Missiology)

..this study documents and interprets the fascinating career of a man born in British Guyana as William J. Davis who, after converting to Christianity in his parents' adopted country of Sierra Leone, took the name Orishatukeh Faduma, symbolic of his lifelong effort to proselytize for pan-Africanism...Faduma's writings demonstrate that theological modernism made important inroads among African-American religious thinkers, who have been too often sterotyped as immune to the "New Theology"...essential for African-American religious and intellectual history. (Religious Studies Review)

  •  “Edward Wilmot Blyden: From Old School Missionary to ‘Minister of Truth,’” Journal of Presbyterian History, (1997). (Winner of Woodrow Wilson  Award)
  • “From Atlanta to Brooklyn: The Social Gospel Ministry and Legacy of  Henry Hl Proctor,” Union Seminary Quarterly Review (2011)
  • “‘Behold the Dreamer Cometh’: Pan-Africanism and Biblical Hermeneutics” in African Americans and the Bible, ed. Vincent Wimbush, (New York: Continuum, 2000), pp. 418-432.
Publications: 

Books: 

  • "Orishatukeh Faduma, Liberal Theology and Evangelical Pan-Africanism, 1857-1946" (Scarecrow Press, 1996).
  • “’Minister of Truth:’ The Religious Odyssey and Legacy of Edward Wilmot Blyden” (under contract). 

Book Chapters

  • “‘Testifying and Testimony’: Critical Reflections on Resources for Teaching African American Religious History” in Teaching African American Religions, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 95-107.
  • “‘Behold the Dreamer Cometh’: Pan-Africanism and Biblical Hermeneutics” in African Americans and the Bible, ed. Vincent Wimbush, (New York: Continuum, 2000), pp. 418-432.
  • "Archival Resources for the Regional Study of African-American Religion: The Central Midwest," in African American Religion: Research Problems and Resources for the 1990s, (New York: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 1992), pp.108-114.
  • "Richard H. Jesse: Religion and the Making of a Modern University," in Paine Lecture: Department of Religious Studies, University of Missouri-Columbia, (Columbia: University of Missouri, 1990), pp. 7-21.

Scholarly Articles

  • “From the Archives: Whither the Black Church in the Twenty-First Century?”  Reflections: A Journal of Theological and Ethical Inquiry. Yale Divinity School (2013).
  • Moses Moore, Dr. Yolanda Smith (YDS). From the Archives: Withier the Black Church in the 21st Century?" Reflections: A Journal of Theological and Ethical Inquiry. Yale Divinity School (article requested for special edition focused on "The Future of Race." (2013).
  • “From Atlanta to Brooklyn: The Social Gospel Ministry and Legacy of  Henry Hl Proctor,” Union Seminary Quarterly Review (2011)
  • “A West African at Yale Divinity School,” (online) Been In the Storm So Long   (2008)
  • “Solomon M. Coles: The First Black Student Officially Enrolled in Yale Divinity School,” coauthored with Yolanda Y. Smith. Yale Divinity School Spectrum, Vol. 6, No. 1 (2007).
  • “From the Archives: The Prophetic Ministry of Henry H. Proctor,” coauthored with Yolanda Y. Smith. Yale Divinity School Reflections , Vol. 93, No. 1 (2006)
  • “Revisiting the Legacy of Black Presbyterians,” Journal of Presbyterian History, ( 2006).
  • "History and Historiography: Revisiting the Presbyterian Schism of 1837" AME Church Review, (2005).
  • “Orishatukeh Faduma and the AME Church,” AME Church Review, Vol. CXX (2004). 
  • “Black Presbyterians and the Schism of 1837,” Union Seminary Quarterly Review, Vol. 54 (2000).
  •  “Edward Wilmot Blyden: From Old School Missionary to ‘Minister of Truth,’” Journal of Presbyterian History, (1997).
Research Activity: 
  • “Through the Prism of Race and Ethnicity: Re-imagining and Re-conceptualizing the Religious History of the American West,” Institute for Humanities Research, Arizona State University, April 2005.
  • “‘Been in the Storm So Long’: Yale Divinity School and the Black Ministry—One Hundred and Fifty Years of Black Theological Education,” The Louisville Institute, January 2004.
  • “Yale Divinity School and the Black Ministry,” Yale Divinity School, December 2003.
  •  “Henry H. Proctor and the Social Gospel Movement,” Louisville Institute for the Study of Protestantism and American Culture, summer 1997.
Spring 2020
Course NumberCourse Title
REL 792Research
REL 799Dissertation
Fall 2019
Course NumberCourse Title
REL 792Research
REL 799Dissertation
Spring 2019
Course NumberCourse Title
REL 321Religion in America
REL 323African American Religion
REL 792Research
REL 799Dissertation
Fall 2018
Course NumberCourse Title
REL 321Religion in America
REL 324Spirituals and the Blues
REL 792Research
REL 799Dissertation
Summer 2018
Course NumberCourse Title
REL 321Religion in America
Spring 2018
Course NumberCourse Title
REL 321Religion in America
REL 323African American Religion
REL 792Research
REL 799Dissertation
Fall 2017
Course NumberCourse Title
REL 321Religion in America
REL 420Religion in Amer Life/Thought
REL 792Research
REL 799Dissertation
Spring 2017
Course NumberCourse Title
REL 321Religion in America
REL 324Spirituals and the Blues
REL 690Reading and Conference
REL 792Research
REL 799Dissertation
Fall 2016
Course NumberCourse Title
REL 792Research
Summer 2016
Course NumberCourse Title
REL 321Religion in America
Spring 2016
Course NumberCourse Title
REL 321Religion in America
REL 324Spirituals and the Blues
REL 690Reading and Conference
REL 792Research
Fall 2015
Course NumberCourse Title
REL 307Approaches to Religion
REL 321Religion in America
REL 792Research
Presentations: 
  • Moses Moore. RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS OF RENEWAL, REVIVAL, AND REVITALIZATION IN THE HISTORY OF MISSIONS AND WORLD CHRISTIANITY. Yale-Edinburgh Group on the History of the Missionary Movement and World Christianity Consultations (Jun 2014).
  • Moses Moore. Missions and Technology. Mission Symposium at Emory University (May 2014).
  • Moses Moore. "Edward Blyden and the 'Atlantic World'". American Academy of Religion (Western Regional) (Mar 2014).
  • Moses Moore. "Adjudicating Race, Religion, Gender and Modernity. . .". ASU Faculty Forum (Oct 2013).
  • Moses N. Moore. "Missions and Healing". Yale Edinburgh Conference (Jun 2013).
  • Moses Moore. History of Diversity at YDS. YDS Student Open House (Nov 2012).
  • Moses Moore. "YDS and the Black Ministry". YDS 1912 Convocation (Oct 2012).
  • Moses Moore. "Tongues of Fire and Iron: The King James Bible and African American Culture". "The Dawn of the King James Bible in America" Sponsored by the School of Historical, Philosophical (Nov 2011).
  • Moses N. Moore, Jr. "The Religious Significance and Legacy of Edward Wilmot Blyden". Edward Blyden Symposium (Oct 2011).
  • Moses N. Moore, Jr. "Okashe". delivered at Commemorative Service for Edward Blyden (Oct 2011).
  • Moses Moore. "Edward Blyden: The Man and His Legacy". On Air University (Oct 2011).
  • Moses Moore. "Orishatukeh Faduma: Transatlantic Emissary of Liberal Theology, Missiology, and Pedagogy". Yale-Edenburgh Conference (Jul 2011).
  • Moses Moore. "Edward Blyden and the Emergent Discipline of Religious Studies. ASU Religious Studies Faculty Forum (Mar 2011).
  • Moses N. Moore, Jr. "African Life and Customs". Yale-Edinburgh Conference (Jun 2009).
Service: 
  • Western Regional American Academy of Religion, Participant/mentor (2014 - 2015)
  • Yale/Edenburgh Conference, Member/Presenter (2011 - 2014)
  • Yale/Edinburgh Conference, Member/Presenter/Session Chair (2011 - 2014)
  • Religious Studies Personnel Committee, member/chair (2011 - 2013)
  • Religious Studies Personnel Committee, member/chair (2011 - 2012)
  • Religious Studies Faculty Forum, chair/convener (2011 - 2012)
  • Religious Studies Faculty Forum, Planning committee/chair/convener (2011 - 2012)
  • American Academy of Religion, Member (2011 - 2011)
  • American Society of Church History, member (2011 - 2011)
  • Yale/Edenburgh Conference, Member (2011 - 2011)
  • American Academy of Religion, Senior Member African American Religious History Group (2009 - 2011)
  • Department Personell Committee, Member /Chair (01-2010 - 2011)
  • Obama Scholars Project, Mentor (2010 - 2010)
  • Yale/Edinburgh Conference, Participant/Presentor (2004 - 2010)
  • Search Committee Native American Hire, Chair of committee (2010 - 2010)
Expertise Areas: 
Religious Studies
Africana Language, Literature, and Culture