Faculty

Veronice Miles - Email

Veronice Miles serves the School of Divinity as the Ruby Pardue and Shelmer D. Blackburn Assistant Professor of Homiletics and Christian Education and teaches courses in Christian Religious Education, Preaching and Womanist thought. A native of Florida, she earned a B.A. in Psychology, M.Ed. and Ed.S. degrees in Counselor Education, all from the University of Florida in Gainesville. Miles received her M.Div. at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University, with certificates in Christian Education and Black Church Studies. Miles is also the recipient of the Bandy Preaching Fellowship at Emory, John Owen Smith Preaching Award at Candler, and the Baptist Women in Ministry's Addie Davis Preaching Award.

Miles earned a doctorate of philosophy degree in Christian Education and Homiletics from Emory University in 2009. Her dissertation, "Towards a Pedagogy of Hope: A Womanist Christian Education and Homiletics Approach to Catalyzing Hope in the Lives of Young Black Women," explores how one might learn to live with hope when the circumstances of their lives despairingly suggest that the world of suffering and oppression is that which is common to their lives. The research is an initial step towards a pedagogy that can reveal the distortions of despair and awaken persons to the possibilities of hope.

An ordained Baptist minister, Miles' experience in the academy is augmented by her ministry with local church communities and religious organizations, including serving as Minister of Christian Education for 5 years, as well as Interim Pastor in 2003 at the Greater Bethany Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia. She has preached and taught extensively, and has presented papers and workshops for numerous academic and church conferences, meetings, and organizations. Miles has been involved in various facets of church and community ministry for more than 30 years, and also served as a member of the Youth Theological Initiative's Leadership Team, Candler School of Theology, for 7 years