Rev. Dr. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite

Senior Fellow

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Rev. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. She is also Professor of Theology at Chicago Theological Seminary and its former president between 1998 and 2008. An ordained minister of the United Church of Christ since 1974, she is the author or editor of 13 books and has been a translator for two different translations of the Bible. Thistlethwaite is currently working in a new area she calls “Public Theology” and a new book on human nature and public policy. She writes a weekly column for the Washington Post “On Faith” online section and is a frequent media commentator on religion and public events.

Her previous works include Interfaith Just Peacemaking: Alternatives to War, edited with Glen Stassen (United States Institute of Peace, 2008); Adam, Eve and the Genome: Theology in Dialogue with the Human Genome Project (Fortress Press, 2003); Casting Stones: Prostitution and Liberation in Asia and the United States with Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock (Fortress, 1996); and The New Testament and Psalms: An Inclusive Translation (Oxford University Press, 1995).

Thistlethwaite currently serves on the boards of the Center for American Progress, Faith in Public Life, the Interfaith Youth Core, and the Medill Center for Religion in the News Media. She has a Ph.D. from Duke University, a Masters of Divinity (Summa Cum Laude) from Duke Divinity School and a B.A. from Smith College.