The Board of Trustees of Hood Theological Seminary has voted to grant academic tenure to two professors, Dr. Dora R. Mbuwayesango and Dr. Christopher R. Hutson.
These are the first two Hood professors to be so highly honored by the board for their service and valuable contribution to the seminary. The board based its decision on their academic and scholarly accomplishments, their teaching and mentoring of students, their engagement in their academic guilds, the church, the wider community and on the strong recommendation of the president, Dr. Albert J. D. Aymer.
Mbuwayesango, a native of Zimbabwe and the elder daughter of retired Archdeacon Lawrence Mbuwayesango of the Anglican Church of Zimbabwe, holds two bachelor of arts degrees, one with honors, from the University of Zimbabwe. She continued her studies in the United States, earning a master of theological studies degree from Harvard University Divinity School in 1990 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Emory University Graduate School of Arts and Science in 1998.
She began her teaching career at Hood in 1995 as an instructor in Old Testament studies and Hebrew language, while researching and writing her doctoral dissertation. Upon completion of her dissertation, she was promoted in 1998 to assistant professor, and then, on the basis of her excellent work as a teacher, mentor and scholar, was promoted to associate professor in 1999.
She has published numerous articles primarily dealing with the Old Testament. In 2003-04 she attended a workshop for pre-tenure faculty in theological schools sponsored by the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion. More recently, she received a grant from the Lilly Foundation which has enabled her to continue work on her book, “Wrestling with Sexuality in the Hebrew Bible: Sexuality in Priestly Theology.”
As a participating member of the Society of Biblical Literature, she founded and chaired the African Biblical Hermeneutics Section and currently serves on its Executive Committee. She has also served on the Executive Committee of the Association of Anglican Biblical Scholars. She is a member of the editorial board of Teaching, Theology and Religion, a journal published by Blackwell Publishers for the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion.
Locally, she has been a volunteer with Rowan Helping Ministries for 10 years and is now member of the Board of Directors.
Hutson, a native of Tennessee, graduated magna cum laude from David Lipscomb College in Nashville with a bachelor of arts degree in biblical languages. He then earned a master of arts degree in classics at the University of Cincinnati, where he wrote a thesis on Josephus. He also studied at Hebrew Union College/Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati.
He earned a master of divinity from Yale University Divinity School in 1989 and a Ph.D. in New Testament studies from Yale University. His doctoral dissertation was “My True Child: The Rhetoric of Youth in the Pastoral Epistles.”
Hutson was a teaching assistant and instructor at the University of Cincinnati and at Yale Divinity School and an adjunct instructor at Xavier University in Chicago. He joined Hood’s faculty as assistant Professor of New Testament in 1998. In 2001, he was promoted to associate professor of New Testament, and was appointed associate dean for extension programs in 2006 with oversight of Hood’s extension program on the campus of Lomax-Hannon College in Greenville, Ala.
Every other year, he teaches a seminar on the cultural context of St. Paul’s ministry and leads a student group to Greece.
He has written a book, “I Corinthians: A Community Not of this Age” and has published articles and essays in various books and journals. He also contributed the sections on First Corinthians and First and Second Thessalonians in the Restoration Bible Commentary, soon to be published by ACU Press.
A frequent preacher and speaker to a variety of audiences and to churches of many denominations, he leads adult Bible studies at the Central Church of Christ in Salisbury. He has served on the board of Habitat for Humanity in New Haven, Conn., and in Rowan County and has been an occasional participant in productions of the Piedmont Players in Salisbury.