As the 2016-2017 academic year approaches, Candler School of Theology welcomes five new faculty and senior staff members to its ranks, and congratulates four current faculty members who have received promotions. 

SoulenKendall Soulen 86T has been named to the faculty as professor of systematic theology. Soulen comes to Candler from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., where he has taught since 1992. He received his MDiv from Candler and undergraduate and PhD degrees from Yale University. Regarded as a leading post-supersessionist theologian, Soulen devotes much of his scholarship to the idea that the Christian faith becomes more authentically Christian as it overcomes its legacy of anti-Judaism. A frequent lecturer and speaker, he has authored numerous articles and books, and is an ordained elder in the Virginia Conference of The United Methodist Church (the UMC).

GoodpasterLarry M. Goodpaster 73T 82T joins the Candler faculty as bishop-in-residence, succeeding Woodie W. White. Goodpaster retires this summer as resident bishop serving the Western North Carolina Conference of the UMC. At Candler, he will teach courses, preach and preside at chapel worship and ceremonial occasions, and offer counsel to students, particularly those seeking ordination in the UMC. Goodpaster earned both master of divinity and doctor of ministry degrees from Candler, and served as a pastor and district superintendent in the Mississippi Conference. He was elected to the episcopacy in 2000 and assigned to the Alabama-West Florida Conference, where he served for eight years before moving to serve the Western North Carolina Conference in 2008. Goodpaster has accrued an impressive record of conference and general church leadership, serving on such institutions as the Council of Bishops, Methodist Health Systems, and 14 boards of trustees. He was president of the Council of Bishops from 2010–2012.

Williams Khalia J. Williams comes to Candler as assistant dean of worship and music and assistant professor in the practice of worship, succeeding Barbara Day Miller. Williams earned her MA in Theological Studies from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, and received her PhD in Liturgical Studies with a focus on theology and worship from Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, this May. She is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and American Baptist Churches USA. A native of Los Angeles, Williams has lectured widely and serves on the boards of trustees for both the Disciples Seminary Foundation and the Higher Education and Leadership Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She has served as the chapel coordinator at Columbia Theological Seminary and on the Worship Planning & Chapel Leadership Team at the American Baptist Seminary of the West in Berkeley, California.

Daniel David Daniel will serve the Candler community part time as director of chapel music and assistant professor in the practice of music ministry. In his role as director of chapel music, he will organize musicians for all liturgical services, provide leadership to all music ensembles and choirs, and be responsible for congregational music in worship services.  

Diana Carter joins Candler’s senior staff as the school’s new chief business officer, succeeding Brad Jones. She holds a BBA and a MA from the University of Georgia, and comes to Candler from Emory University’s Finance Division, where she served as senior director of finance operation. Carter also has worked as the associate director of business operations on the Institute Planning and Resource Management team at Georgia Tech, and as manager of audit and enterprise risk services at Deloitte and Touché.

In addition to these new faces, Dean Jan Love has announced several faculty promotions. Associate Dean of Faculty and Academic Affairs Jonathan Strom has been promoted to professor of church history. Dan and Lillian Hankey Associate Professor in World Evangelism Arun W. Jones has been granted tenure, and Jennifer Ayres was granted tenure with promotion to associate professor of religious education.

Love also shared that, in addition to his title of Aquinas Professor of Historical Theology, Philip L. Reynolds has been appointed by Emory University Provost Claire Sterk to serve as Charles Howard Candler Professor of Medieval Christianity. The Charles Howard Candler professorships honor senior scholars who have shown outstanding teaching ability and productive scholarship in one or more fields of learning, and have further distinguished themselves through long and substantial service to the university and in advancing the cause of higher education. Reynolds joined the Candler faculty in 1992.