Candler Welcomes Three New Faculty Members

Candler School of Theology has added three scholars to the ranks of its distinguished faculty. Jehu J. Hanciles will serve as D.W. and Ruth Brooks Associate Professor of World Christianity; Susan E. Hylen will serve as associate research professor of New Testament; and Ted A. Smith will serve as assistant professor of preaching and ethics.

Hanciles comes to Candler from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., where he was associate professor of history of Christianity and globalization and founding director of the Center for Missiological Research. A native of Sierra Leone, Hanciles’ current research aims to survey the history of global Christian expansion through the lens of migration. He is the author of Beyond Christendom: Globalization, African Migration and the Transformation of the West (2008) and Euthanasia of a Mission: African Church Autonomy in a Colonial Context (2002).

Hylen’s previous post was at Vanderbilt Divinity School, where she taught for seven years. She received her PhD from Emory’s Graduate Division of Religion in 2004. Hylen is the author of three books on John: Imperfect Believers: Ambiguous Characters in the Gospel of John (2009), John (2006; co-author), and Allusion and Meaning in John 6 (2005). Her current research explores the roles and authority of women in the first five centuries of Christianity.

Smith, who received his PhD from Emory’s Graduate Division of Religion in 2004, also comes to Candler from Vanderbilt Divinity School. He is the author of The New Measures: A Theological History of Democratic Practice (2007). His research deals with the intersections of practical and political theology, with special attention to the forms preaching and worship take in modern societies. Smith’s current research explores the notion of “divine violence” through a study of sermons, speeches, and essays about the abolitionist John Brown.