Dr. Emily A. Holmes

Emily A. Holmes, Professor, joined the Religion and Philosophy faculty at CBU in 2008. She holds degrees from Emory University (Ph.D.), Harvard University (M.T.S.), University of Cambridge (M.Phil.), and Tulane University (B.A.). Trained as a constructive theologian grounded in the history of theology, her research focuses on the incarnation and its implications for Christian life and practices. Her book, Flesh Made Word: Medieval Women Mystics, Writing, and the Incarnation, places medieval women’s writings in conversation with postmodern feminist theory to suggest an expansive understanding of incarnation. Her co-edited collections (Women, Writing, Theology, and Breathing with Luce Irigaray) present innovative international work in the areas of women’s theological writing and feminist engagements with the philosophy of breath. Her current research extends an incarnational framework to community-based food practices enhancing the ways we grow, eat, and share food.

Dr. Holmes’s current work around food justice has been inspired and informed by partnerships with a variety of community organizations addressing food insecurity and access, including Grow Memphis, the Memphis Center for Food and Faith, Memphis Tilth, Church Health, Delta EATS, Big Green Learning Gardens, and the Mid-South Farm to Table Conference. These partnerships have also shaped her leadership of the CBU food committee and the CBU Vanderhaar Community Peace Garden.

At CBU, Dr. Holmes teaches courses in world religions, Christian spirituality, women and Christianity, religion and environment, and the spirituality and ethics of eating. She also teaches in the D.Min. program in Land, Food, and Faith Formation at Memphis Theological Seminary and is an affiliate faculty in the Rhodes College Institute for Health Equity and Community Justice.