Collections : [Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary]

Emilie M. Townes is a womanist ethicist and an author and speaker on African American women and the church, specializing in themes such as the oppressive forces of race, sex, and sexuality in the church and society. She has held appointments at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School, the Yale Divinity School, and Union Theological Seminary. The collection contains addresses and sermons, publications, correspondence, coursework and teaching material, memorabilia, and other related materials that reflect her life, work, and thought as a womanist theologian.

The Theological Discussion Group, meeting twice yearly in weekend retreat initially at Yale University, included Reinhold Niebuhr, Richard Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, Henry Van Dusen, James Luther Adams, Georgia Harkness and many other leading Christian thinkers. Papers were presented and critiqued, and issues concerning the evolution of Christianity and the modern world discussed. The collection contains typescript addresses presented to the Theological Discussion Group, as well as a small amount of administrative correspondence, including lists of members.