Kyle E. Brooks, ’05 B.A., ’08 M.A., ’12 M.Div., ’15 M.A.R., Delaware, OH

The Rev. Kyle Eugene Brooks, Ph.D., a native of Detroit, MI, is an Assistant Professor at Methodist Theological School in Ohio. He received his B.A., M.A., and M.Div. degrees from Yale University and Yale Divinity School as a fellow in the Institute of Sacred Music. He completed his Ph.D. in Religion at Vanderbilt University. His current book project draws upon Avery Gordon’s elaborations on haunting along with Jacques Derrida’s concept of hauntology in order to reinterpret the recurring historical and contemporary roles of black clergymen in social movements, ultimately disputing the mythology of black male charisma and rhetorical performance as the core mechanisms of sociopolitical change. His research interests include African American religious histories, the intersections of black creative arts and religion, performance & communication studies, and black cultural studies. His work has been published in various print and digital venues, including the Journal for Feminist Studies in Religion, Fire! The Multimedia Journal for Black Studies, the Working Preacher Lectionary, and the Political Theology Network. He has been an invited academic lecturer at the University of San Diego, Colgate Rochester Crozier Divinity School, Denison University, James Madison University, and the East Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church.

 

Beyond his scholarly work, he expresses his creativity as a poet and multi-instrumentalist. As an ordained minister and liturgist, he works to curate spaces and rituals for sacred memory and worship. He served as the pastor of the Black Church at Yale from 2007 – 2009, and currently serves as a musician at New Salem Baptist Church in Columbus, OH.