Biographical Sketch
Rev. Monica A. Coleman, Ph.D. is an ordained elder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the author of The Dinah Project: a Handbook for Congregational Response to Sexual Violence and Making a Way Out of No Way: a Womanist Theology. Coleman is the Associate Professor of Constructive Theology and African American Religions at Claremont School of Theology and Co-Director of the Center for Process Studies. In 2005, the interdenominational preaching magazine The African American Pulpit named Coleman one of the “Top 20 to Watch” – The New Generation of Leading Clergy: Preachers under 40.
A native of Ann Arbor, MI, Monica graduated cum laude from Greenhills School. She graduated magna cum laude with honors from Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges with her undergraduate degree in Afro-American Studies. She earned the Master’s of Divinity degree and Certificate in the Study of Religion, Gender and Sexuality from Vanderbilt Divinity School. There she focused her studies on theology, Christian education, ethics and sexuality. She received her doctorate in Philosophy of Religion and Theology from the School of Religion at Claremont Graduate University. She has received additional professional development at the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership.
She is the founding Director of Womanist Religious Studies at Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, NC, the first undergraduate religious studies program to focus on the spiritual experiences of women of African descent. She also served as Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. An avid writer, Coleman’s articles have been published in a variety of publications including ESSENCE Magazine, The A. M. E. Review, Ecumenical Trends and The Women of Color Study Bible.
In 1997, Coleman founded and coordinated “The Dinah Project,” an organized church response to sexual violence, at Metropolitan Interdenominational Church in Nashville, TN. In its first three years, The Dinah Project reached over 3000 people. She wrote about her experiences in The Dinah Project: a Handbook for Congregational Response to Sexual Violence. Monica’s expertise in religion and sexual violence has taken her around the country to speak at churches, colleges, seminaries, universities, and regional and national conferences.
Diverse audiences find The Dinah Project to be a helpful resource. The Dinah Project is being taught at Candler School of Theology of Emory University in Atlanta, GA, Union Theological Seminary in New York City and many other seminaries around the country. It is also used by personnel working at the Black Church Domestic Violence Institute and the Georgia Network to End Sexual Assault (GNESA).
Coleman has lectured on church responses to sexual violence at regional and national conferences hosted by the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, the Interfaith Sexual Trauma Institute, Area Health Education Centers Program of Tennessee and The Center for the Study of Violence and Health. Her diverse audiences have included social service workers, law enforcement, clergy, laity, full congregations and undergraduate students.
Coleman believes in working in her local communities. While living in Nashville, Coleman was an active volunteer for the Rape and Sexual Abuse Center of Middle Tennessee. She was a featured speaker at the “Take Back the Night” rallies in 1998 and 1999, the narrator for the center’s promotional video and a member of the Speakers’ Bureau. Coleman was often featured on local evening news programs that covered stories regarding sexual violence. Coleman also volunteered at Vanderbilt University where she spoke to all in-coming first year students about avoiding situations of date rape.
Coleman has talked about “The Dinah Project” on several radio programs in Nashville, TN, Baltimore, MD, XM Satellite Radio, and on the "Voices and Viewpoints" program of WFDD, the Piedmont Triad (NC) National Public Radio (NPR) station. The Alban Institute has identified Coleman as a “wise voice” in congregational leadership.
A self-described nerd, Coleman is equally committed to the work of the academy and contributing to the field of religious scholarship. She was named one of twenty-five “intellectual elite” of her graduating class at Harvard. Coleman’s academic work focuses on process theology, a religious perspective that affirms God’s compassion in every event believing that what we do and what creation does make a difference to God. Coleman also studies black and womanist theologies, African traditional religions and the representation of religion in literature. Coleman is the first person of color to serve as a Co-Director of the Center for Process Studies. Her academic writings can be found in journals such as Wesleyan Theological Journal, Soundings: an Interdisciplinary Journal, Journal of Caribbean Literature, Philosophia and Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion.