The PhD program in African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric now has 2 cohorts full of high impact preachers and scholars. One such student is Rev. Moya Harris. Rev. Harris has had a significant impact on her community as former executive minister at Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, DC and in her current role as Church Network Coordinator & Fellowship Program Director at Sojourners, and her scholarship continues to amplify this impact.
Last month, Rev. Harris’ article “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life” co-authored by PhD Program Director Dr. Frank A. Thomas was published in the Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric.
This month, Rev. Harris will serve as the moderator for the Faith & Action Project Fall Event featuring Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II.
When asked how her CTS studies and present ministry work has prepared her to moderate the conversaton, Rev. Harris had this to say: “I am grateful that the work that I have done in this PhD program, in my former role as executive minister at Metropolitan AME, and my current work at Sojourners has had a great synergy. I am able to tap in to my many passions in scholarship, fighting for justice, and my love of Black culture in an authentic way. I am looking forward to a rich conversation with Dr. Barber on how we can put feet on the faith that we have. The world is not what God intends and we each have a role to play, so I am anticipating a memorable and life changing conversation with Bishop Barber.”
Rev. Moya Harris is former Executive Minister at Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, DC. She currently serves as Church Network Coordinator & Fellowship Program Director at Sojourners. She’s interested in the intersection of womanism, hip hop, homiletics, and rhetoric. Generation X, also known as the hip hop or post-soul generation, has often been neglected or overlooked by the church. Through her research, she hopes to create a fresh way to share God’s in-breaking in the world through the preached Word. For her dissertation, Moya aims to articulate a womanist hip hop hermeneutic and homiletic by examining the homiletical and rhetorical endeavors of female hip hop artists such as Lauryn Hill.
She chose CTS because she was drawn to the notion of a PhD program that had African American preaching at the center instead of on the periphery, as well as a focus on sacred rhetoric. She wants to be able to share the genius of Black preaching and Black oratory with a hip hop sensibility.
Recent accomplishments include:
- Presenting a paper entitled “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The Theorhetorical Nature of Club Quarantine” at the “Contours and Configurations of Black Religious Rhetoric,” symposium sponsored by The Center for the Study of African American Rhetoric and Public Address and Memphis Theological Seminary
- Presenting a paper entitled “Signifying and the Null Persona” at the 16th Biennial Communication Conference at Duquesne University and at the National Communication Association Annual Conference
- Publishing of “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The Theorhetorical Nature of Club Quarantine” in the Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric’s Hip Hop issue
- Serving on the panel for the AME Department of Research and Scholarship roundtable conversation regarding the realities and importance of preaching both historically and contemporarily
