XAVIER PICKETT University of Virginia Minor Hall 108 Charlottesville, VA 22904 XPickett@virginia.edu EDUCATION Ph.D., Religion & Society, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ, 2018. Th.M., Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ, 2010. M.Div., Westminster Theological Seminary, Glenside, PA, 2008. B.B.A., Marketing, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, 2003. ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS Visiting Assistant Professor, New York University, Religious Studies Program, 2018 present. Lecturer, University of Virginia, Dept. of African American & African Studies, 2018. Lecturer, Princeton University, Dept. of African American Studies, 2014 2016. AWARDS & HONORS Pre-Doctoral Residential Research Fellowship, The Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies at the University of Virginia, 2016 2018. Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, Honorable Mention, 2016. Louisville Institute Dissertation Fellowship, 2016. American Association of Blacks in Higher Education (AABHE) Dissertation Fellowship, Honorable Mention, 2016. The Forum for Theological Exploration Dissertation Fellowship, 2014 2015. The Fund for Theological Education Doctoral Fellowship, 2010 2012. Merit Tuition Scholarship at Princeton Theological Seminary, 2010 2014. Westminster Theological Seminary Leadership Scholarship, 2004 2008. Southern Company Academic Scholarship, 2002. Golden Key International Honor Society, 2001 2003. RESEARCH INTERESTS African American Religion, Religious Ethics, 19th & 20th century African American Literature, Emotions, Pragmatism, Political Theory, Moral Psychology, New Religious Movements, Sociology and Social Theory, 19th & 20th century African American History, African American Philosophy.!1
TEACHING EXPERIENCE University of Virginia, Lecturer Black Theology: From Black Power to #BlackLivesMatter, Summer 2018. Princeton University, Lecturer Race is Socially Constructed: Now What?, Spring 2016. Intro. to the Study of African American Cultural Practices, Fall 2015. Race is Socially Constructed: Now What?, Spring 2015. Intro. to the Study of African American Cultural Practices, Fall 2014 Princeton University, PUPP Teaching Fellow Literature and Ethics, Fall 2015 Spring 2016. Princeton Theological Seminary, Teaching Assistant Philosophy of Religion, Fall 2015. American Religion, American Literature, Fall 2014. American Religion, American Literature, Fall 2012. Critical Race Theory as Theological Challenge, Spring 2012. Summer Institute for the Gifted, Instructor Roots of Human Behavior (Psychology), Summer 2015. Improvement Science, Summer 2015. W. E. B. Du Bois Scholars Institute, Lecturer Ethics & Self-Development, Summer 2014. (Re)creating the Self: Literature, Race and Gender, Summer 2009 2014. Reformed Theological Seminary Orlando, Seminar Organizer/Lecturer Feminist/Womanist Perspectives on Reformed Theology, Fall 2011. Feminist/Womanist Theology and Biblical Hermeneutics, Spring 2011. Gender and Feminist Theory, Spring 2010. African American Religious Thought, Fall 2009. Introduction to Black Theology, Spring 2009. Black Reformed Theological Thought, Fall 2008 ACADEMIC PRESENTATIONS AND PAPERS The Political and Theological Failures of White Evangelicalism, Invited lecture in Intercultural City Ministry course at Covenant Theological Seminary, February 2018. Black Religion in a Crossroads Age, Invited panelist for the Mid-Atlantic Region Group at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, November 2017. Democracy Under Siege: Gleanings from African American Political Thinkers, Invited presentation at the Dialogues on Race and Inequity at the University of Virginia, September 2017. Learning from Malcolm X in the Age of Trump, Paper presented at the Muslim Student Association Colloquium at the University of Virginia, February 2017. Why Black Theology Then, Why Black Theology Now, Invited lecture in Intercultural City Ministry course at Covenant Theological Seminary, February 2017.!2
William James s Saint as Proto-Prophetic Pragmatist, Paper presented in the Pragmatism and Empiricism in American Religious Thought Group at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, November 2016. The Future of Theological Studies: Black Religion, Neuroscience, and Technology, Invited presentation at the Workgroup on Constructive Theology at Vanderbilt University, April 2016. The Formation of the Black Theological Mind and the Reformation of the White Theological Mind, Paper presented at the Graduate Student Forum at Princeton Theological Seminary, February 2016. The Historical and Philosophical Significance of Blackness in James Cone, Invited lecture in African American Religious & Political Thought course at Yale University, April 2015. A Scaffolding of James Baldwin s Moral Psychology, Paper presented in the Ethics Section at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, November 2014. Octavia Butler and the Emergence of Religious Humanism in a World of Change Lecture in American Religion, American Literature course at Princeton Theological Seminary, November 2014. From Lament to Love: James Baldwin s Letter to America s Michael Browns, Lecture in Intro. to the Study of African American Cultural Practices course at Princeton University, November 2014. Religious Skepticism and Self-Creation in Baldwin s Go Tell It on the Mountain, Lecture in American Religion, American Literature course at Princeton Theological Seminary, October 2014. A Country That Cannot Mourn: James Baldwin and A Moral Psychology of America, Paper presented in the Theology and Religious Reflection Unit at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, November 2012. From Consistency to Change: Toward an Earthseed Moral Vision in Octavia Butler s The Parable of the Sower, Lecture in American Religion, American Literature course at Princeton Theological Seminary, November 2012. James Baldwin and American Racial Melancholia, Lecture in Critical Race Theory as Theological Challenge course at Princeton Theological Seminary, March 2012. The Ethics of an Interdisciplinary Democratic Space and Public Theological Discourse, Paper presented at the University of Virginia Graduate Colloquium on Theology, Ethics, and Culture, April 2011. Reconsidering the Marginalization and Possibilities of James Baldwin s Religious Identity, Paper presented at Fordham University Graduate Theology Conference, April 2011. Historicizing Black Theology and Hermeneutics, Lecture in Introduction to the Old Testament course at Westminster Theological Seminary, March 2008. A Socio-Theological Perspective on Policing, Lecture at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, March 2007.!3
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE President and Co-Founder, Reformed Blacks of America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA, 2005 present. Princeton University Preparatory Program (PUPP) Teaching Fellow, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 2015 2016. Graduate Fellow, Princeton University, The Office of Religious Life, Princeton, NJ, 2015 2016. Instructor, Summer Institute for the Gifted, Princeton, NJ, 2015. Lecturer, W. E. B. Du Bois Scholars Institute, Princeton, NJ, 2009 2014. Founding Program Director, Becoming Role-Models for Successful Manhood, Newark, NJ, 2013 2014. Researcher, Gospel & Culture Project at Westminster Theological Seminary, Glenside, PA, 2006 2007. Business Operation Leadership Development (BOLD) Analyst, Navistar Financial Corporation, Atlanta, GA, 2002 2003. Financial Analyst, Southern Company, Atlanta, GA, 2002. E-business Analyst Intern, Southern Company, Atlanta, GA, 2000 2002. ECCLESIASTICAL EXPERIENCE Civic Engagement Intern, Atlanta Westside Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, GA, 2008. Church Planting Intern, Trinity Presbyterian Church, Norfolk, VA, 2005. Director of Christian Education, Christ Liberation Fellowship Church, Philadelphia, PA, 2004 2006. Co-planter and Overseer of Christian Education, Berean Church of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, 2003 2005. Youth Pastor, Mt. Nebo Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA, 2003 2004. PUBLICATIONS Articles: The Unforeseen Moral and Political Vision of Black Rage, Raritan (forthcoming 2018). The Sacred Fire of James Cone, Black Perspectives (forthcoming 2018). Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Rebirth of the American Citizen. Capital Commentary (January 2011). Policing Black Communities. Public Justice Report (2007, Quarter 1). ORGANIZATIONAL AFFILIATIONS & ACTIVITIES American Academy of Religion Co-chair of Black Theology inaugural program unit for the Mid- Atlantic Region, 2017 present. Featured Panel Organizer, Figures, Debates, and Themes of Evasion: Engaging Cornel West's Neglected Contribution to the Pragmatist Canon for the Pragmatism and Empiricism in American Religious Thought Group, November 2016.!4
Member, 2009 present. Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, Charlottesville, VA Invited talk for the Reading the Black Intellectual series, January 2017. Reformed Theological Seminary Orlando African American Imagination and Theology Project, Founder and Director, 2008 2013. Envision Scholars Network Fellow, 2009. African / African American Student Fellowship at Westminster Theological Seminary President, 2007 2008. Member, 2004 2008. American Association of Blacks in Energy, 2000 2002. Taking Our Unbroken Commitment Home (T.O.U.C.H.) Committee Member, 2000 2001. Citizens of Georgia Power Member, 2001 2002. INROADS Atlanta, Volunteer, 1999 2003.!5