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Candler to welcome two new faculty for spring 2020 semester

Walter Earl Fluker and Kwok Pui Lan will join Candler School of Theology’s faculty in January 2020. Both have served Candler in other capacities during recent years.

Candler School of Theology’s faculty will expand in the spring 2020 semester with the addition of Walter Earl Fluker and Kwok Pui Lan. Both will be familiar faces on campus, having served in other roles at Candler in recent years.

Fluker joins the Candler faculty as Dean’s Professor of Spirituality, Ethics and Leadership. He served as the Alonzo L. McDonald Family Chair on the Life and Teachings of Jesus and Their Impact on Culture at Candler in spring 2019.

Previous positions for Fluker have included Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Ethical Leadership, editor of the Howard Thurman Papers Project and director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Initiative for the Development of Ethical Leadership at Boston University School of Theology. Fluker earned his MDiv from Garrett-Evangelical Seminary and his PhD in social ethics from Boston University. He was founding executive director of the Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership Center and the Coca-Cola Professor of Leadership Studies at Morehouse College. 

Fluker is an internationally-known consultant, speaker, lecturer and workshop leader who is regarded as an expert in the theory and practice of ethical leadership. He authored “The Ground Has Shifted: The Future of the Black Church in Post-Racial America” and “Ethical Leadership: The Quest for Character, Civility and Community” and served as editor for the multi-volume series “The Papers of Howard Washington Thurman” and “Educating Ethical Leaders for the Twenty-First Century.”

Kwok rejoins the Candler faculty as Dean’s Professor of Systematic Theology. She previously served as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Theology for the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 academic years, and was named Faculty Person of the Year by the student body both years.

Kwok earned her ThM from Southeast Asia Graduate School of Theology and her ThD from Harvard University. She is the former William F. Cole Professor of Christian Theology and Spirituality at Episcopal Divinity School and has taught at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Auburn Theological Seminary, Union Theological Seminary and Yale Divinity School. Kwok’s research focuses on Asian feminist theology and postcolonial theology.

She has written or edited 20 books in English and Chinese, including “Occupy Religion: Theology of the Multitude” with Joerg Rieger, “Introducing Asian Feminist Theology,” “Discovering the Bible in the Non-Biblical World” and others. 

An internationally known scholar, Kwok served as president of the American Academy of Religion in 2011 and co-founded the network Pacific, Asian, North American Asian Women in Theology and Ministry. She also has held leadership roles in the Association of Theological Schools and the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning.


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