The Alonzo L. McDonald Family Chair on the Life and Teachings of Jesus and Their Impact on Culture is a distinguished visiting professorship at Candler School of Theology devoted to exploring Jesus’s effect on culture and, conversely, culture’s shaping of the figure of Jesus.
Interdisciplinary in nature, The McDonald Chair allows scholars to approach the concept of Jesus and culture from a variety of perspectives. Holders of the chair have included artists, musicians, and poets, as well as scholars in the humanities and social sciences.
The McDonald Chair is supported by gifts from the McDonald Agape Foundation, founded by The Honorable Alonzo L. McDonald 48C, a longtime trustee of Emory University. The McDonald Agape Foundation “supports lectures and other public presentations that deal creatively and imaginatively with the person and teachings of Jesus as they shape and form culture.”
Videos of past McDonald Lectures may be viewed in Candler’s Video Library.
The 2025-2026 McDonald Chair
The Rev. Dr. Sarah Coakley retired from the University of Cambridge in 2018, and has since continued work on her long-term project on systematic theology, begun in God, Sexuality and the Self: An Essay ‘On the Trinity’ (Cambridge University Press, 2013). Her latest (on Christology) is The Broken Body: Israel, Christ and Fragmentation (Blackwell, 2024). She is currently completing her next volume on sin and racism: Sin, Racism and Divine Darkness: An Essay ‘On Human Nature’ (Cambridge, forthcoming).
From 2007 to 2018, Coakley served in the Norris-Hulse Professorship at Cambridge University. Since 2018, she has been an Honorary Professor at the Logos Institute, St. Andrews University, and since 2022 an Honorary Professor at the Australian Catholic University (Melbourne and Rome). She previously served on the faculties of Lancaster University; Oriel College, Oxford; and Harvard Divinity School.
She is an Honorary Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, an Emeritus Fellow of Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, a Fellow of the British Academy, and a member of the European Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Coakley earned her BA/MA and PhD from Cambridge University, and her ThM from Harvard Divinity School. She holds honorary degrees from the Universities of Lund, St. Andrews, Toronto (St. Michael’s College), and London (Heythrop College).
An Anglican priest, Coakley co-founded with Samuel Wells the Littlemore Group, a small collection of Anglican priests and theological scholars devoted to the creative integration of pastoral ministry, prayer, and theological reflection done from a parish context. The group has published five books since its inception in 2005.
The 2025-2026 McDonald Lectures Theme
“Re-Thinking ‘Mysticism’ and ‘Mystical Theology’ in Turbulent Times”
In her two public McDonald Lectures, Coakley will explore why it is that “mysticism” is still a matter that fascinates many, both inside and outside the churches. The 20th century saw the development of several influential theories of mysticism that strongly distorted the goals of classic Christian “mystical theology,” while nonetheless also adding new insights which endure. Lecture I will critically compare the theories of William James, Ernst Troeltsch and Michel de Certeau, and reflect on what aspects of their work are still important in today’s context. Lecture II will probe the origins of “Mystical Theology” in the patristic period and beyond, and compare its demanding ascetical vision with current perceptions of mysticism in the churches and wider culture. Coakley proposes that classic apophatic “contemplation” has, today, a very particular challenge and application to our current political world circumstances.
Fall Lectures
In this lecture, Coakley critically compares the theories of William James, Ernst Troeltsch and Michel de Certeau, and reflects on what aspects of their work still have importance for today’s context.
In this lecture, Coakley probes back to the origins of “Mystical Theology” in the patristic period and beyond, and compares its demanding ascetical vision with current perceptions of “mysticism” in the churches and wider culture. A thesis is mounted that classic apophatic “contemplation” has, today, a very particular challenge and application to our current political world circumstances.
Past McDonald Chairs and Lectures
Brian Blount, 2024-2025
Ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and president emeritus of Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Lectures:
April 16, 2025
“Before He Was White: Jesus, Mark, and the Politics of Inclusion”April 23, 2025
“The Narrative Color of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark”
Hee-Soo Jung, 2023-2024
Resident bishop in the Wisconsin Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church since September of 2012
Lectures:
February 28, 2024
“Kenosis and Sunyata: Jesus Christ in Interfaith Context”March 22, 2024
“Jesus’ Tears: Messianic Hope and Liberation in the Korean Diaspora”
Christian Smith, 2022-2023
William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society, University of Notre Dame
Lectures:
October 6, 2022
“The Future of American Churches: Is the U.S. Finally Secularizing or Just Morphing Religiously?”October 12, 2022
“Converging Perfect Storms: Hard Hits on American Organized Religion Since 1990”
Luke Timothy Johnson, 2021-2022
Robert W. Woodruff Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Christian Origins
Lectures:
Sep 17, 2021
“Imitation of Christ: The Disputed Understanding of Christian Discipleship.”Nov 10, 2021:
“Imitation of Christ: Is a Unified Vision of Christian Discipleship Possible?”
M. Shawn Copeland, 2020-2021
Professor Emerita of Systematic Theology, Boston College
Lectures:
Oct 13, 2020
“The Political Imagination of Jesus of Nazareth”April 7th, 2021
“Beyond Imagining to Resurrection”
Roberto S. Goizueta, 2020
Margaret O’Brien Flatley Professor of Catholic Theology Emeritus, Boston College
Lectures:
February 12th, 2020
“In Christ: Salvation, Deification, and the Option for the Poor”March 31, 2020
“Christ on the Border: Retrieving a Dangerous Memory”
Walter Fluker, 2018-2019
Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Ethical Leadership at Boston University School of Theology
Lectures:
October 23, 2018
“Walking with God: Preparation, Presence and Practice.”November 29, 2018
“Speaking From Sites Reserved for the Dead: Lingering Memories of Martin Luther King, Junior’s Great World House and the Great Mistake Jamestown Made Long Ago.”
David F. Ford, 2017-2018
Regius Professor of Divinity Emeritus, University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Selwyn College
Lectures:
April 11, 2018
“Jesus in the 21st Century”April 18, 2018
“Reconciliation in the 21st Century,”
David H. Kelsey, 2016-2017
Luther A. Weigle Professor Emeritus of Theology, Yale Divinity School
Lectures:
February 1, 2017
A Human Being Just Like us But Raised From the Dead?”March 29, 2017
“Who is Christ For Us Today? God Crucified?”
Lloyd Baugh, 2015-2016
Pontifical Georgian University (Rome)
Lectures:
September 24, 2015
“The ‘God Question’ in Contemporary Cinema I: A Courageous Break with Tradition,”October 14, 2015,
“The ‘God Question’ in Contemporary Cinema II: Respecting Holy Mystery,”
Garry Wills, 2014-2015
Author, journalist and historian
Barbara Brown-Taylor, 2014
Priest, theologian, and author
Thomas Lynch, 2013
Poet, essayist, and undertaker
James Caroll, 2011
Suffolk University, Boston Globe
Beauty Maenzanise, 2010
Africa University
David C. Steinmetz, 2010
Duke University
Randall Balmer, 2009
Barnard College, Columbia University
Herbert L. Kessler, 2007
Johns Hopkins University
John Witte Jr., 2006
Emory University