Faculty Bios

Kenyatta R. Gilbert, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Homiletics

Dr. Kenyatta R. Gilbert is assistant professor of homiletics at the Howard University School of Divinity. He joined the School of Divinity faculty in August 2006. Dr. Gilbert is an ordained Baptist minister with 17 years of pastoral experience. Prior to joining the Divinity School's faculty, he served congregations in Texas, New York, New Jersey, and Kenya. Dr. Gilbert has also served as member of the teaching faculty at the Cathedral College of Preachers at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, and as an adjunct faculty member at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. He earned his B.A. in political science in 1996 from Baylor University, and both his M.Div., in 1999, and Ph.D. in practical theology, in 2007, from Princeton Theological Seminary. His doctoral dissertation is entitled A Time to Preach, A Time to Cry: An Investigation into the Nature of Prophetic Preaching in Black Churches during the Great Migration Period, 1916 - 1940. Dr. Gilbert specializes in the history, theory and practice of African American preaching. His research focuses on the theology and rhetoric of prophetic preaching, African American religion, hermeneutical theory, and constructive practical theology. Dr. Gilbert's awards and honors include: the Jagow Scholarship in Preaching, Jagow Prize in Homiletics and Speech, David B. Watermulder Prize in Church Leadership, American Baptist Churches of New Jersey's Doctoral Grant, Princeton's Doctoral Fellowship in Practical Theology, The Fund for Theological Education's Dissertation Fellowship, and he is the 2011 recipient of Howard University's prestigious Emerging Scholar Award. Dr. Gilbert is author of The Journey and Promise of African American Preaching (Fortress Press, 2011). His second book, which is in progress, is Cry Out!: Prophetic Word and African American Preaching. During the 2009-2010 academic year, his research for Cry Out was funded by a sabbatical grant from the Louisville Institute. Dr. Gilbert is married to Dr. Allison Blow Gilbert, a board certified pediatrician. The Gilberts have three daughters: Olivia Copeland, Ella Jane, and Ava Sage.