Almeda M. Wright
B.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
M.A.T. Simmons College
M.Div. Harvard University
Ph.D. Emory University
Professor Wright’s research focuses on African American religion, Womanist spirituality, adolescent spiritual development, and the intersections of religion and public life. She is currently directing the Communitas research initiative on young adult spirituality and innovation, as well as serving as the co-principal investigator for the Conectere initiative to support parents and caregivers in encouraging the faith development of their children.
Professor Wright’s publications include: Teaching to Live: Black Religion, Activist-Educators, and Radical Social Change (Oxford University Press, February 2024); The Spiritual Lives of Young African Americans (Oxford University Press, July 2017); a coedited book with Mary Elizabeth Moore, Children, Youth, and Spirituality in a Troubling World; an issue of Religions Journal; and various articles in scholarly journals. She has also contributed to several edited volumes, including Albert Cleage, Jr. and the Black Madonna and Child (Palgrave 2016); Faith Forward: A Dialogue on Children, Youth and a New Kind of Christianity (Woodlake 2013); Adoptive Youth Ministry (Baker Academic 2016), and wrote introductory essays for the Common English Bible-Student Edition.
Professor Wright has been privileged to deliver the 2019 Princeton Lectures on Youth, Church and Culture and keynote addresses at the University of Vienna’s Religion(s) @ School Conference, the Trinity Wall St. Institute, and the Faith Forward conferences. She also has given research presentations at numerous conferences, including the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Childhood and Spirituality.
Her research has been supported by the Lilly Endowment, Inc., the John Templeton Foundation, the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning, the Forum for Theological Exploration, and the Louisville Institute.
Prior to her arrival at Yale, Dr. Wright served as assistant professor of religion and youth ministry at Pfeiffer University, and before that as a visiting faculty member and teaching assistant at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. At Candler, she also served as program director of the Wisdom of Youth Project and in various positions with the Youth Theological Initiative. She has served as a consultant to the Women’s Theological Center in Boston and has taught at several schools in the Greater Boston area, including Shady Hill School, the Young Achievers Science and Math Academy, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Open School.
Professor Wright is an ordained minister of the American Baptist Churches and has served on the ministerial staff of various churches, including Union Baptist Church (Cambridge, Massachusetts) and Victory United Church of Christ (Stone Mountain, Georgia).
Communitas at Yale Divinity School
Books
- Teaching to Live: Black Religion, Activist-Educators, and Radical Social Change. Oxford University Press, 2024.
- The Spiritual Lives of Young African Americans. Oxford University Press, 2017.
- Children, Youth, and Spirituality in a Troubling World. Ed. with Mary Elizabeth Moore. Chalice Press, 2008.
