SALISBURY — The fall term is underway at Hood Theological Seminary (HTS) as students and faculty returned to the classrooms last week. One of the new faces on campus is that of Rev. Sharon J. Grant, who holds a doctorate and who has joined the full-time faculty at HTS as assistant professor of the history of Christianity.

Dr. Vergel Lattimore, president of the seminary, described Grant as “a young 21st century scholar in the history of Christianity.” He stated further that “in addition to prestigious recognition for two consecutive years as a North American Doctoral Fellow by the Fund for Theological Education, Dr. Grant brings to the classroom extensive practical pastoral experience and community leadership, which extends her value as a mentor to students pursuing a variety of creative ministries. Her first professional career was as a research scientist.”

Prior to joining the Hood faculty, Dr. Grant served in the department of religious studies at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Tx. She has also taught doctor of ministry courses in the Wesleyan studies program at Colgate Rochester Crozer Seminary in Rochester, N.Y.

Grant teaches the major required surveys on the history of Christianity and elective courses in the fields of American religious history, black church history and world religions.

In addition, Grant is involved in the scholarly conversations taking place in the fields of Wesleyan and Methodist studies. She has participated in the Wesley studies group at the American Academy of Religion, and the summer Wesley Studies Seminar at Duke Divinity School.

Grant’s current research is focused on Wesleyan studies, Methodist church history, black church studies in the Americas and rites of Christian initiation. Her published work includes book reviews, and contributions to journals such as Wesley and Methodist Studies, Methodist History and the AME Review. She has contributed to resources such as the “Equipping global ministry: Wesleyan studies project,” a digitally recorded lecture series designed to instruct Methodist clergy all over the world. She is an ordained itinerant elder in the Southwest Texas Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Hood Theological Seminary, located at 1810 Lutheran Synod Drive, is a graduate and professional school sponsored by the A.M.E. Zion Church and approved by the University Senate of the United Methodist Church. Its student body currently comprises persons from many different denominations. As a theological seminary, it provides for the church an educational community in which Christian maturity and ministerial preparation take place together.