Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson

With her appointment as President in 2021, the Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson became the first Black woman and non-Presbyterian to lead Auburn Theological Seminary. With Rev. Jordan-Simpson’s leadership, Auburn Seminary is leaning forward in its mission to identify and strengthen leaders – from the pulpit to the public square – to build communities, bridge divides, pursue justice, and heal the world. Advancing a long-term view of social change, she is preparing Auburn to seed a thriving future with a new intergenerational focus on the formation of leaders the world needs.

Rev. Jordan-Simpson serves on the pastoral team of the Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, NY. Prior to her appointment at Auburn, Rev. Jordan-Simpson was the 26th Executive Director of Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR USA); and has led the Children’s Defense Fund – New York, Girls Inc. of New York City, was Executive Vice President of the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation.

Rev. Dr. Jordan-Simpson earned the Executive Level Certificate from the Columbia Business School Institute for Not-for-Profit Management; the Doctor of Ministry Degree (with distinction) from Drew Theological School; Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary; and BA from Fisk University. She is the immediate past President of American Baptist Churches of Metropolitan New York.

Rev. Patrick B. Reyes, Ph.D.

A Chicano writer, theologian, and executive leader, he is the bestselling and award-winning author of The Purpose Gap and Nobody Cries When We Die. Patrick serves as Auburn Theological Seminary’s first Dean of Latinx or Indigenous descent. Prior to joining Auburn, he worked in administration in higher education and the faith-based non-profit sector. Patrick provides leadership on several boards in theological and higher education, publications, and the nonprofit sector, supporting the next generation of Black, Indigenous, and Chicano spiritual and cultural leaders. He is a current board director for the American Academy of Religion and is the Co-Dean of the Freedom Seminary for the Children’s Defense Fund. He is a past board president of the Religious Education Association.

In the last decade, he has been recognized for his service and scholarship by Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Boston University, Drew University, Duke Leadership, Children’s Defense Fund, Hispanic Theological Initiative, Hispanic Youth Leadership Academy, and Raices Latinas, among others. Patrick was recently inducted into the Morehouse College MLK Jr. Collegium of Scholars. The Council of Independent Colleges NetVUE selected The Purpose Gap as the Big Read for 2022-2023.

Patrick holds a doctorate and masters from Claremont School of Theology, an M.Div. from Boston University School of Theology, and is a proud graduate of California State.

Past Russell Lectureship Speakers

2024 - Dee-1, "My Joy Is My Weapon: Lyrics, Prayer, and Spiritual Repair"

2023 - Dr. Ofelia Zepeda, "Our Language is our Strength"

2022 - Valarie Kaur, "Revolutionary Love In Action"

2021 - Reverend Adam Russell Taylor, "The Work Ahead: Building a Just, Beloved Community"

2020 - Lecture not held, due to the coronavirus pandemic

2019 Eboo Patel "Division or Unity: Religious Diversity and the American Promise"

2018 The Reverend Dr. Thandeka "Why Love Beyond Belief Today?"

2017 150th Anniversary – The Reverend Osagyefo Sekou “The Role of the Prophet in a Time of Monsters”

2016  Professor Diana Eck “The Crisis of American Religious Diversity: Excluding or Engaging Difference”

2015  The Reverend Janet Cooper Nelson G72 “Questions without Answers: Education, Worth, and Empathy”

2014 James Carroll “Christianity and Anti-Semitism”

2013 Sister Simone Campbell

2012 Sherman Teichmann, Tufts Institute for Global Leadership

2011 The Reverend Peter Morales, President of the Unitarian Universalist Association

2010 Michael Flaherty A90

2009 Professor Elizabeth Prodoromou

2008 The Reverend James W. Skehan

2007 Professor Max L. Stackhouse, “Faith and Globalization”

2006 The Reverend Dr. Gloria White-Hammond, “A Career in Medicine vs. a Ministry of Healing”

2005 Dr. Ingrid Mattson

2004 The Reverend J. Bryan Hehir, “War, Peace and Terror: Defining the Relationship”

2003 The Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church, Harvard University (Rededication Ceremony of Goddard Chapel after Renovation)

2002 Archbishop Desmond Tutu

1989-2001 [No record]

1988 Professor George Ursul, Emerson College

1985-1987 [No record]

1984 Professor Brian Smith

1983 Dr. Lamin Sanneh

1982 Dr. Spencer Lavan

1981 [No record]

1980 Professor George Goethals

1979 Dr. George Rupp

1978 The Reverend Dr. Victor Carpenter

1977 The Reverend Dr. Constance Parvey

1976 Dr. J. Robert Nelson

1975 Professor William Jones

1974 [No record]

1973 [Professor Mary Daly scheduled but did not speak]

1972 Roger Hazelton

1971 The Reverend Frederick Buschner

1970 The Rev. Theodore Lockhart

1969 The Rev. Dr. Harvey Cox

1968 100th Anniversary: The Rev. Ralph Norman Helverson, “Theseus and the Minotaur”

1967 Dr. Joseph N. Barth

1966 Dr. C. Conrad Wright, “Piety, Morality, and the Commonwealth”

1965 Dr. Rhys Williams, “The Future of Man”

1964 Dr. Bradford Eugene Gale, “The Religion of Time and the Religion of Eternity”

1963 Dr. Edwon Prince Booth

1962 Dr. Brainard F. Gibbons, “Christian Principles and Business Practices”

1961 Dr. Samuel Howard Miller, “Character and the Sacraments of the Self”

1960 Dr. Albert J. Penner, “Christian Faith and Ethical Decision”

1959 The Right Rev. Anson Phelps Stokes, Jr., “The People of God”

1958 Dr. Philip Randall Giles, “The Christian Faith, the Good Man, the World Citizen”

1957 Dr. Roy Messer Pearson, “The Prophetic Voice of the Church”

1956 Dr. Dana McLean Greeley, “Religion Makes the Difference”

1955 Dr. George A. Buttrick, “Beyond Idolatry”

1954 Dr. Henry J. Cadbury, “The Application of Religion to Public Affairs”

1953 James Luther Adams, “Affirmative Religion the Vocation of Citizenship”

1952 Parker McCollester

1951 Herbert Gezork, “The Fate of Religion Under Totalitarianism”

1950 Charles Whitney Gilkey, “Contemporary Religious Trends Among American Students”

1949 Robert H. Pfeiffer, “Is the Gospel Obsolete?”

1948 Harold A. Bosley, “The Nature of Religious Liberalism”

1947 Eugene G. Bewkes, “Reflections on Religion and Ethics”

1946 Clarence Russell Skinner, “Superstition, Reason and Faith”

1945 Bruce W. Brotherston

1944 Julius S. Bixler

1943 William Wallace Rose, “Religion and the Religious”

1942 Frederick M. Eliot

1941 Willard L. Sperry, “The Dilemma of Christianity”

1940 Robert Cummins, “Religious Implications of the Democratic Process”

1939 Rufus Jones

1938 Lee S. McCollester, “Religion, Learning and Men of the Free Spirit”

1937 John Haynes Holmes, “The New Warfare of Science and Religion”

1936 Laurence H. Seelye

1935 Charles E. Park, “Faith with the Mind’s Permission”

1934 Paul D. Moody

1933 Louis C. Cornish

1932 William E. Hocking, “Religion and Philosophy in Occident and Orient”

1931 J.A.C. Fagginger Auer, “A Religion for Today”

1930 Russell Henry Stafford, “The Indispensable Gospel”

1929 F. O. Hall

1928 Harold E.B. Speight, “Gains for Religion in Modern Thought”

1927 J. Edgar Park, “Creation in Literature and Life”

1926 Samuel A. Eliot

1925 Gaius Glann Atkins

1924 Charles R. Brown

1923 Kenyon L. Butterfield

1922 Nehemiah Boynton, “The Importance of Christian Faith and Belief”

1921 S. M. Crothers

1920 J. F. Newton

1919 F. W. Perkins

1918 [No lecture due to wartime conditions]

1917 Francis G. Peabody, “Religion After the War”

1916 Marion D. Shutter, “A Working Theory of Life”

1915 I. M. Atwood

1914 C. R. Henderson

1913 W.H.P. Faunce, “The Sufficiency of the Gospel to Meet the Reasonable Needs of Men Both in Time and Eternity”

1912 John van Schaick

1911 F. O. Hall

1910 C. A. Barney

1909 H. I. Cushman

1908 L. M. Powers

1907 F. W. Perkins

1906 A. W. Grose

1905 F. W. Hamilton

1904 Herbert Ernest Cushman, “What Is Christianity?”

1903 John Vannevar

1902 G. W. Penniman

1901 Vincent H. Tomlinson

1900 D. M. Dodge

1899 H. W. Rugg

1898 W. H. Ryder

1897 W. S. Perkins

1896 J. C. Snow

1895 C. E. Nash

1894 T. E. Busfield

1893 G. L. Demarest

1892 E. E. Hale

1891 J. C. Adams

1890 C. H. Eaton

1889 A. P. Putnam

1888 I. C. Knowlton

1887 C. F. Lee

1886 A. A. Miner

1885 Edward J. Young, “The Sufficiency of Christianity”

1884 W. H. Ryder

1883 A. P. Peabody

1882 Henry Blanchard

1881 J. Smith Dodge

1880 [No record]

1879 [No record]

1878 C. H. Leonard

1877 W. R. Shipman

1876 W. E. Gibbs

1875 A. St. John Chambre

1874 I. M. Atwood

1873 E. C. Bolles

1872 T. J. Sawyer

1871 Thomas Baldwin Thayer, “Christianity Sufficient for the Present and the Future”

1870 Elbridge Gerry Brooks

1869 Ebenezer Fisher

1868 First Lecture: The Reverend Massena Goodrich