Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones ("AVA") is Assistant Professor of Theology and Africana Studies in the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.
Her scholarship specializes in Mariology, technology (AI), and Womanist and Black feminist thought. Her first monograph, Immaculate Misconceptions: A Black Mariology, offers a theological account of the rise of the global sex trade. Centering the icon of the Black Madonna, the book holds accountable theological notions of purity and rape at the site of black flesh. Her second project, See No Evil: Technology, Violence, and the Future of Black Being (in progress), explores how visual technologies impact public perception of violence and Black death, developing a theological framework for Black protest.
AVA is a member of the American Academy of Religion, the American Studies Association, the National Women’s Studies Associations, and the Society of Christian Ethics.
conversations
conference presentations
“Refracted Blackness: The Black Madonna(s) of Soweto.” Invited session, Association for
the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora biennial meeting: Accra, Ghana (Aug 2023)
“Beyond Man: Race, Coloniality, and the Philosophy of Religion.” Invited session, American
Academy of Religion annual meeting: San Antonio, TX (Nov 2021)
“Covid-19 and the Black Church.” Invited session, American Academy of Religion annual
meeting: San Antonio, TX (Nov 2021)
“Agency, Liberation, Transformation: Feminist Comparative Theological Perspectives.”
Respondent, American Academy of Religion annual meeting: San Antonio, TX (Nov 2021)
“Theological Reflections on the Work of Hortense Spillers.” invited session, American
Academy of Religion annual meeting (invited 2020, deferred to 2021).
“The Maps of Spring: Race, Westworld, and the Overrepresentation of the Imago Dei.”
American Academy of Religion annual meeting: Denver, CO (Nov 2018, accepted to
program but unpresented due to medical leave).
“On Mysticism and Race.” American Academy of Religion annual meeting: Denver, CO
(Nov 2018, accepted to program but unpresented due to medical leave).
“Black the Color of Blood: Embodied Imaginaries and the Shrine of the Black Madonna.”
American Academy of Religion annual meeting: Boston, MA (Nov 2017).
“Africa on Abernathy: Embodied Imaginaries and the Shrine of the Black Madonna.”
Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora biennial meeting: Seville,
Spain (Nov 2017).
“Between Two Worlds: Bodily Remains” Transdisciplinary Theological Colloquium
(Africana Religious Studies): Drew Theological School, Madison, NJ (Mar 2017).
“Other Diasporas: Mary, Glissant, and Theology-in-Relation.” American Academy of
Religion annual meeting: San Antonio, TX (Nov 2016).
“For the Love: Mary, Glissant, and Theology-in- Relation.” Anthropos Research Group,
Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven: Leuven, BE (Sept 2016).
“Hail, Mary: Intimacy, Ecstasy, and the Lesbian Relation of the Annunciation.” American Academy of Religion annual meeting: Atlanta, GA (Nov 2015).
“Who’s A Sinner, Who’s A Slave? Sex Trafficking and the Rescue Industry” Roundtable
Discussion. American Academy of Religion annual meeting: Atlanta, GA (Nov 2015).
“Uncontested Arrivals: Baartman, Borders and the Theopolitics of the Global Sex
Trade.” American Academy of Religion annual meeting: San Diego, CA (Nov 2014).
“Women Are From Venus: Baartman and the Pornotropic Imaginations of Border
Crossing.” National Women’s Studies annual meeting: San Juan, PR (Nov 2014).
“Women Are From Venus: Saartjie Baartman and the Theo-Logics of Captivity.” Centre
for Women’s and Gender Research, University of Bergen: Bergen, Norway (Apr 2014).
“From Hottentot to HeLa: The Unsolicited Immortality of Black Women’s Bodies.”
American Academy of Religion annual meeting: Baltimore, MD (Nov 2013).
“Even Unto Death: Posthumous Theology and the Unsolicited Immortality of Black
Women’s Bodies.” University of Virginia, Graduate Colloquium on Theology, Ethics &
Culture: Charlottesville, VA (Apr 2013).
“Black Madonna or Mammy?: Configurations of Iconography and the Performative
Aesthetics of Darkness,” American Studies Association annual meeting: San Juan, PR
(Nov 2012).
invited lectures
“'Would you like to see in her how you are loved?’ Mary, Consent, and the Call to Care.” Brite Divinity School, Ministry Week 2026, McFadin Lecture (Feb 2026)
"She Refuses to be Comforted: Black Madonnas, Black Study, and Birth in the Time of Death," African and African Diaspora Studies Program, New Directions Lecture Series, Boston College (Nov 2025)
“Moving Toward Home,” Annual Theotokos Lecture, Marquette University (Oct 2023)
“Black Death and Black Life,” Symposium on the 16th Street Bombing, Yale University (Sept
2023)
“Black Movements, Black Mothering, Black Futures,” Pauli Murray-Nannie Helen Burroughs
Lecture, Duke University (Mar 2023)
“A Place to Stand: Rethinking Legacy, Futurity, and Liberation-and-Reconciliation” J. Deotis
Roberts Memorial Symposium, Duke Divinity School (Oct 2022)
“Woman, Behold Thy Son: Black Movements and Black Mothering Beyond the Economies
of Pain.” Junior Scholar Keynote, Society for the Study of Black Religion annual meeting:
virtual (Mar 2022)
“Letting Go of Survival (of the Fittest): On Joy, Jesus, and the Zombie Apocalypse,” Chapel
House Short Residency, Colgate University (Mar 2022)
“The Theological Legacy of Audre Lorde,” Anglicanism and Social Justice, Episcopal Divinity
School, (Mar 2022)
“a benediction for bell hooks,” Talking Back: The Genius of bell hooks, Northeastern
University, (Feb 2022)
“The Fierce Urgency of Now,” MLK Keynote Speaker, Anselm University, (Feb 2022)
“Antiracism and Her Afterlives: Blackness and the Zombie,” Fordham University, (Jan 2022)
“Visuals of Blackness and the Black Madonna in Christian History,” Race and Justice Series,
Union Theological Seminary of New York (Oct 2022)
“Blood in the Water: The Theological Afterlives of Race and Human Trafficking” Women’s
Consultation in Constructive Theology, Catholic Theological Society of America annual
meeting (invited 2020, deferred to June 2021)
“What Remains: Reflections on Pedagogy, Pandemics, and Practices of Freedom” Keynote,
Excellent in Teaching Day, Boston College Center for Teaching Excellence: Chestnut Hill,
MA (May 2021)
“Do Black Lives Matter to God?” Boston College School of Theology and Ministry
Continuing Education Series: Chestnut Hill, MA (Oct 2020).
“Claiming Our Voices: #SayHerName (Toward a Womanist Ethic of Resilience and
Hope)” Spelman College, Consultation of African and African Diasporan Women in
Religion and Theology: Atlanta, GA (July 2016).
“Mistaken Identities: Sex, Sarah Baartman, and the Imaginaries of Border Crossing,” KU
Leuven, Liberation Theology Forum: Leuven, BE (May 2016).
“#BlackLivesMatter and the Ethics of Solidarity,” Vrije Universiteit, “Religion, Violence and
Trauma” Course (R. R. Ganzevoort and S. Sremac): Amsterdam, NL (Oct 2015).
“Mary and the Incarnation,” Duke Divinity School, Introduction to Theology Course (Willie
Jennings): Durham, NC (Oct 2014).
“Sex Sells: Race and Theology in the Global Sex Trade.” Duke University, GradX
Presentation Series: Durham, NC (Apr 2013).
“Theology of the Body (Parts): HeLa Cells and the Afterlife” Duke University, Duke
Theology Colloquy: Durham, NC (Feb 2013).
“Race, Rape and Redemption: Theologically Rendering Sexuality and the Black Church,”
Duke Divinity School, Theology of Black Church Traditions Course (J. Kameron Carter):
Durham, NC (Oct 2012).
Gender,” North Carolina State University Department of Social Work, “Healing in Broken
Places” Symposium: Raleigh, NC (Mar 2012).
“Silencing Simone: Between Frantz Fanon and the Second Sex,” Center for Philosophy, Arts
and Literature, “Simone de Beauvoir Today” Symposium: Durham, NC (Sept 2011).
“Race and Confinement: The Theological Implications of Solitary Confinement as Torture,”
Duke Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute, Toward a Moral
Consensus Against Torture Conference: Durham, NC (Mar 2011).
“Why We Write: An Introduction to Spiritual Autobiography at the Intersections of Race
and Gender,” Duke Divinity School, Identity and Spiritual Autobiography Seminar (W.
Jennings and M. Fulkerson): Durham, NC (Jan 2010).
“Introduction to Close Reading and Theological Writing,” Duke Divinity School, Office of
Black Church Studies: Durham, NC (Sept 2009).
panels
“HOMEGOING Live Concert, Ashon T. Crawley; Beyond Granite: Pulling Together
installation, National Mall, Washington, DC (Sept 2023)
“Virgin Territory: Configuring Female Virginity in Early Christianity (Julia Kelto Lillis)
Webinar” Union Theological Seminary in New York City: NY (Feb 2023)
“Breonna Taylor, Womanist Theology, and the Legacies of Justice” Union Presbyterian
Seminary, Katie Geneva Canon Center for Womanist Leadership: Richmond, VA (Mar
2021). Virtual.
“otherwise is not a place but a practice (A. Crawley, 2021); New City Arts Initiative
Fellowship art exhibition opening, artist talkback: Charlottesville, VA (Jan 2021)
“Radical Equality, Radical Congregants,” Duke University, Women’s Studies Colloquium,
Respondent to Stephanie Rytilahti: Durham, NC (Jan 2014).
“Theologies of Human Trafficking,” Duke Divinity School, Black Seminarians Union guest
speaker: Durham, NC (Apr 2013).
“Mariology, Augustine and the Public/Private Distinction” Duke University, Duke Theology
Colloquy, Respondent to Sean Larsen: Durham, NC (Dec 2012).
“Fields of Mudan—An Investigation of Intersectionality and Sex Trafficking,” Duke Divinity
School, film screening and faculty discussion: Durham, NC (Jan 2010).
“Theological Implications of Sex-Trafficking in Northern India: An Investigation of Impacts of
Race and Gender in Christian Thought and Society,” Duke Divinity School, Slavery and
Obedience Seminar (W. Jennings): Durham, NC (Dec 2008).
“Homosexuality, Allies and the Black Church,” Duke Divinity School, Office of Black
Church Studies panelist: Durham, NC (Nov 2008).
“Race, Politics, and the Black Church in the Obama Moment,” Duke Divinity School,
respondent to Dr. J. K. Carter lecture: Durham, NC (Oct 2008).
public lectures (selected)
Keynote (Preacher), Princeton University Chapel (Dec 2023)
Keynote (Preacher) “Black History, Black Luxury, Black Liberation” Sisters Chapel and
Wisdom Center, Spelman College (Feb 2023)
Keynote, “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens,” Marble Collegiate Church Women’s
History Month Series (Mar 2022)
Panelist, “To Set the Captives Free,” Marble Collegiate Church Black History Series (Feb
2022)
Keynote, “The Funny Thing About Figs,” 44th Annual Theodore D. Mann Mayor’s
Community Prayer Breakfast (Newton, MA), Boston College: Newton, MA (May 2018)
Plenary Preacher, “Nevertheless, She Persisted,” Annual Black Campus Ministries (BCM)
New England Conference, Morningstar Baptist Church: Mattapan, MA (Feb 2018)
Plenary Preacher, “To Prophesy As Commanded,” Black Campus Ministries National Staff
Conference, InterVarsity: Atlanta, GA (Mar 2017)
Workshop Leader, “Lent In A Time of Protest,” Black Campus Ministries National Staff
Conference, InterVarsity: Atlanta, GA (Mar 2017)
Keynote, “Disturbing the Peace: Reconsidering Global Crisis and Christian Mission,”
Anderson University, “Peace and Conflict Transformation” Series: Anderson, IN (Mar
2012).
Visiting Lecturer, “The Black History of the Episcopal Church” and “Legacies of Pauli
Murray,” The Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter, Black History Month Adult
Education Series: Mebane, NC (Jan—Feb 2011).
Keynote, “Community and Growth: The Transformational Theologies of Ability in L’arche
Community,” Word Made Flesh Beggars Society Forum (International Podcast): Omaha,
NE (Feb 2008).