Karen Ellis has been appointed director of the Center for the Study of the Bible & Ethnicity (CSBE) at RTS Atlanta. Currently a Ph.D. candidate in virtue ethics at the Oxford Center for Mission Studies, she has worked since 2003 as an advocate for the global persecuted Church raising awareness and promoting indigenous leadership in countries where Christianity is restricted or repressed. Her current research explores the relationship between the African-American Christian experience and those of others around the world experiencing religious marginalization. “As I travel, I’ve witnessed Christians of all stripes discussing what it means not merely to be counter-cultural or engaged politically, but to be ‘other-cultural’ and ‘other-political’ — reflecting something completely foreign to what the rest of the world offers.,” says Karen, wife of Dr. Carl Ellis, provost’s professor of theology and culture at RTS. “Some are asking what it means to be defined by ‘faithful obedience’ in places where it’s difficult and costly to be a Christian, whether those places be global or on our own domestic margins. In history and today, we find those for whom ‘minority status’ has been defined primarily by a transformed life in Christ that impacts their surrounding society. How have these biblically sound Christians lived ‘in the world but not of it,’ and what can we learn from them?" "[RTS Atlanta executive director] Dr. [Guy] Richard has prioritized this conversation at a critical time in church history, and the lens of Christ’s work in redemptive history will serve these discussions well. I’m humbled to be involved with the CSBE, and to explore how God moves through these oft-overlooked voices.” The CSBE equips leaders to minister effectively within multi-ethnic, cross-cultural, and mono-ethnic contexts by fostering an appreciation for the histories and cultures of people groups outside of the dominant culture. It promotes theological education and reflection on these topics and how they inform and impact local and global ministry in the 21st century. The CSBE seeks to accomplish its mission by offering special classes throughout the academic year and by organizing certain co-curricular events (like conferences, formal discussion groups, etc.) that will complement those classes. It is also expected that informal discussions between professors and students and between the students themselves will be fostered by the CSBE and will play an important role in the culture it creates on campus.
To learn more about the CSBE, contact Pascuel Thedford, RTS Atlanta director of admissions, at pthedford@rts.edu.
