SALISBURY – As returning and new students arrive on campus of Hood Theological Seminary for the fall semester, among the new faces they’ll see are those of faculty members Dr. Eboni Marshall-Turman and Dr. Michael K. Turner. In announcing the addition of the two new faculty members, Dr. Albert Aymer, president of Hood Seminary, said, “We are very excited to have these two accomplished young professors as members of our distinguished faculty this year. Their primary disciplines will provide important dimensions in the education and preparation of our students as the future leaders of faith communities in today’s complex world.”
Marshall-Turman is a visiting professor of Christian Ethics. A native of New York City, she earned a B.A. in philosophy from Fordham University in 2002, a master of divinity degree in social ethics in 2005, a master of philosophy degree in African-American religion & social ethics in 2008, and the doctor of philosophy degree in social ethics in 2010 from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where she also served as an adjunct professor of social ethics in 2010-12.
Marshall-Turman has a forthcoming book, “Moving the Body: Toward a Womanist Ethic of Incarnation” and is working on a manuscript titled “Prophetic Disruptions: Sexism and the Black Church.”
Marshall-Turman is a member of a number of professional societies, including the American Academy of Religion, the Society for Christian Ethics and the Society for the Study of Black Religion. She is a co-founder of the Society for Black Critical Thought & Empowerment, and is an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.
She is the youngest woman to be licensed and ordained to the Gospel Ministry by the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in the City of New York (2005 and 2007, respectively). There she served as intern minister for Christian Education & Youth, then joined the ministerial staff as assistant minister for youth and became the second and youngest woman to preside over the ordinances in Abyssinian’s 204-year history. Prior to joining Abyssinian’s ministerial staff, Marshall-Turman was intern minister at Union Baptist Church in Montclair, N.J.
Marshall-Turman has received numerous awards and honors. In March 2012, she was featured in a segment titled “The Gender Gap in Christian Leadership” on Odyssey Networks. She was featured speaking about Christian marriage in a 2011 PBS segment of “Need to Know,” and was awarded the 2010 Rebirth Renaissance Award by the New York Urban League Young Professionals. In 2009, she was named one of The Network Journal’s “40 Under Forty” and was featured in EBONY Magazine as one among Young Leaders under 30 Serving God and the community. Her paper, “Do You Have The Fruit of the Spirit?” was published in the summer 2008 issue of The African American Pulpit’s “20 to Watch,” honoring emerging ministers under 40. She was a 2009-10 Dissertation Fellow for The Fund for Theological Education, and received the 2007-08 and 2008-09 North American Doctoral Fellowships for The Fund. Marshall-Turman received Union Theological Seminary’s 4-year Howard Moody Fellowship that is given to the doctoral student who demonstrates exceptional promise in the area of urban social justice. In 2007, she was honored as a “Woman In Action” by the New York Club of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, Inc.
Marshall-Turman is also trained in violin and classical ballet. She lives in both Manhattan and Charlotte with her husband, Rossie E. Turman III, Esq.
Turner joined Hood’s faculty as associate professor of the history of Christianity. He is a 1997 graduate of Emory & Henry College in Emory, Va., where he received a B.A. in religion and philosophy (double major), magna cum laude, was a member of the Sigma Mu and Blue Keys honors fraternities and received several scholarships and religion and philosophy awards. He earned a master of divinity degree from Emory University in 2000 where he received the Dean’s Award (1997-2000). He also earned a master of arts in religious studies, and a Ph.D. in religious studies (major area: historical studies; minor area: Native American religions) in 2009 from Vanderbilt University. He received full tuition scholarship while at Vanderbilt. His doctoral dissertation was titled “Redeeming the Time: The Making of Early American Methodism.” In 1996 he was a visiting student at the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Keble College, Oxford University.
Prior to coming to Hood, Turner was assistant professor of religious studies at Misericordia University in Dallas, Pa., since 2009. From 2002-2009 he was a teaching fellow in the history of Christianity at Vanderbilt Divinity School and was visiting assistant professor in the department of history at Volunteer State Community College from 2005-2008. He was also a teaching fellow in the department of American studies at Vanderbilt University and served the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the UMC as instructor and grader in the United Methodist Course of Study. He has been pastor of the United Methodist Church in Pittston, Pa., since 2009 and New Bethel and Centenary United Methodist Churches in Tennessee from 2006-2009.
Turner’s numerous published articles and reviews include, most recently, “Preaching and Revivalism” in the Cambridge Companion to American Methodism; and “‘Between God and the Devil’: Lorenzo Dow and the Magical Worldview,” in Perfecting Perfection: Studies in Honor of Henry D. Rack. He has lectured and delivered many academic papers in the U.S. and abroad including presentations at the American Academy of Religion’s Mid-Atlantic Region and Wesley Studies Group; the 11th and 12th Oxford Institutes of Methodist Theological Studies; and the Wesley Studies Seminar at Duke University.
He is a member of the steering committee of the Mid-Atlantic Region of the American Academy of Religion and is also a member of the American Society of Church History, the American Historical Association and the Oxford Institute of Methodist Theological Studies. While at Misericordia, Turner was secretary of the Graduate Curriculum Committee and a member of the Mission Integration and the Mentoring Committees.
His wife, Stephanie, is an nurse at Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro. They live in Salisbury’s West Square Historic District.