Seth Gaiters

Bio

Seth Emmanuel Gaiters is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Africana Studies at North Carolina State University. He is a scholar of African American religious studies, with particular interest in the exploration of religion and race through Black progressive social movements and cultures in America. His interdisciplinary research and teaching trajectory engages the intersection of African American religious thought, political theology, race, African American literature, and critical theory. He is currently completing his book manuscript, tentatively entitled #BlackLivesMatter and Religion in the Street: A Revival of the Sacred in the Public Sphere. In this project, he brings his interests to a study of #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) to broaden normative notions of (Black) religiosity and elucidate the synchronicity of spirituality and social justice in Black political organizing. His scholarly work has been supported with fellowships from the Ford Foundation, Louisville Institute, Forum for Theological Exploration, Social Science Research Council, and Public Religion Research Institute, to name a few.

Gaiters’ classes are compelling. He teaches in ways that are broadly relevant so that his students perceive how the subject relates to the truth of their lives. In his courses, students are welcomed to think freely and critically about religion, race, politics, and culture. They are invited to wrestle with complex issues about the world as we have it and are encouraged through critical reflection and study to reimagine and remake it.

He earned a B.A. in Psychology from the Ohio State University, an M.Div. in Theology from Capital University’s Trinity Lutheran Seminary, a Th.M. in Theology and Ethics from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Studies and Religious Studies from the Ohio State University.