Welcome & Opening Statement
Introduction of the 2026 King Scholar
Howard THurman Crown Forum
The Reverend Dean Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., Ph.D.
Thursday, November 20, 2025 | 11:00 a.m.
The Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel
The Reverend Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., Ph.D. Founding Dean of the Chapel, Professor of Religion, and Curator
The Reverend Dean
Introduction of Speaker Naivion Makai Stephens ’28 Historian, Chapel Assistants Program, Morehouse College
Speaker
College Hymn
“WE NEED MORE...HOUSE”
Stacey Floyd-Thomas, Ph.D. E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Ethics and Society, Vanderbilt University
J.O.B. Mosley ’29 THemed message
Dr. Stacey M, Floyd-Thomas is an esteemed educator and researcher focused on improving society through ethics, justice work, and faith.
As The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University, she passionately pursues her interests in feminist/womanist studies, Black Church studies, and social justice. Dr. Floyd-Thomas believes in addressing the “why crisis” of faith by promoting constructive ethics and liberationist discourse. She considers the work of religious discourse and Christian faith to be inseparable from thinking about how to construct a justiceseeking community.
This is exemplified in her numerous publications including numerous articles, book chapters, and ten books, that range from Mining the Motherlode: Methods in Womanist Ethics (Pilgrim Press, 2006) to U. S. Liberation Theologies: An Introduction (New York University Press, 2010) to The Altars Where We Worship: The Religious Significance of Popular Culture (2016) to Religion, Race, and COVID-19: Confronting White Supremacy in the Pandemic (2021) and
“Dear Old Morehouse”
Guest Speaker
the forthcoming When the Good Life Goes Bad: The US and its Seven Deadly Sins.
As a the leading womanist, liberation ethics scholar, ordained minister, prolific writer, and award winning teacher of her generation, whether you engage her through her books and articles, hear her sermons, follow her on the lecture circuit ot enroll in her classes, read her online lectionaries, or attend the many workshop and seminars she gives, it is blatantly clear, as her self-professed scholarly Godfather, James Cone, has said, that “Stacey Floyd-Thomas is phenomemal in that she is the most accessible scholarteacher-practitioner to any woman or man of good will who is committed to justice-making in academy, church, and society. ” It is because of this reputation that she has received numerous national honors and teaching awards across our nation and globe not least of which is having received the honor of being JP Morgan Chase Woman of the Year and American Academy of Religion Excellence in Teaching Award as its youngest ever recipient to date.
Our esteemed featured lecturer, prides her greatest work to be the family she and her husband, Dr. Juan Floyd-Thomas, have co-created in the embodiment of their daughter, Lillian Makeda Floyd-Thomas.
