Rodney S. Sadler, Jr., is a graduate of Howard University (1989, B.S. Psychology/Philosophy), Howard University School of Divinity (1992, M.Div.), and Duke University (2001, Ph.D. Hebrew Bible and Biblical Archaeology), and has also studied at Hebrew University (1990). An ordained Baptist minister, he is former Assistant Project Director with the Leadership Development Programs of the Congress of National Black Churches, the former director of the Office of Black Church Studies at Duke University Divinity School, and is currently Associate Professor of Bible and director of the Center for Social Justice and Reconciliation at Union Presbyterian Seminary (Charlotte Campus).
He is the managing editor of the African American Devotional Bible, associate editor of the Africana Bible, and the author of Can a Cushite Change His Skin? An Examination of Race, Ethnicity, and Othering in the Hebrew Bible and co-author of The Genesis of Liberation. He has published articles in Interpretation, Ex Audito, Christian Century, the Criswell Theological Review, and the Journal of the Society of Biblical Literature and has essays and entries in True to Our Native Land, the New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, the Westminster Dictionary of Church History, Light against Darkness, the Oxford Handbook on the Psalms, the Fortress Commentary on the Hebrew Bible, and several other publications. Among his research interests are the intersection of race and Scripture, the impact of our images of Jesus for the perpetuation of racial thought in America, the development of African American biblical interpretation in slave narratives, the enactment of justice in society based on biblical imperatives, and the intersection of religion and politics. Dr. Sadler has been invited to serve as an expert on matters of race by Churches Uniting in Christ, the National Council of Churches, and the World Council of Churches.
Dr. Sadler’s work in the community includes terms as a board member of the N.C. Council of Churches, Siegel Avenue Partners, Union Presbyterian Seminary, and Mecklenburg Ministries (now Meck MIN), and currently he serves on the boards the Hispanic Summer Program, the NC Department of Environmental Quality’s Environmental Justice Advisory Committee, and the North Carolina Executive Committee of the NAACP. His activism includes work with the Community for Creative Non-Violence in D.C., Durham C.A.N., H.E.L.P. Charlotte, the U.S. Africa Ebola Working Group, the board of People Demanding Action, the Justice Action Mobilization Network (JAMN) and he has worked organizing clergy with and developing theological resources for the Forward Together/Moral Monday Movement in North Carolina. In addition, Dr. Sadler hosted a weekly national radio program for the People Demanding Action Network called, the “Politics of Faith.” He currently serves as the NC NAACP chairperson of their Healthcare Committee.
Dr. Sadler resides in Charlotte with his daughter Ariyah Sadler, where he has lived since 2002.