33:
213:
Rena Weller married Sierra
Leonean physician and diplomat John Karefa-Smart in 1948. They lived in Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and North America as his work required. They had three children. Her son died in 1988, her husband died in 2010, and she died in 2019, at the age of 97, in
151:. She earned a Doctor of Theology degree from Harvard Divinity School in 1976, the first Black woman to do so. Her Harvard thesis was titled "An analysis of representative official statements by the World Council of Churches on the problem of race" (1976).
131:
denomination; her mother was a leader in churchwork as well, as national president of the AMEZ denomination's Woman's Home and
Foreign Missionary Society, and as president of the Connecticut State Union of Women.
387:
432:
Karefa-Smart, Rena Joyce. "An analysis of representative official statements by the World
Council of Churches on the problem of race: a thesis." PhD diss., Harvard University, 1976.
139:, where she was the youngest member of the graduating class of 1940, and played softball and volleyball. She earned a master's degree in religious education from
218:. The World Council of Churches stated, in tribute, that Karefa-Smart was "a champion for global ecumenism over the course of a long and distinguished career."
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650:
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Weller was president of the
National Council of AME Zion Young People, and secretary of the United Christian Youth Movement. She was a leader of the
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182:, and was the first female professor to gain tenure there, in 1979. She received the Yale Divinity School's Lux et Veritas alumni award in 2017.
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as an ecumenical officer, and associate in the Center for
Theology and Public Policy. She attended the first and second assemblies of the
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103:(March 2, 1921 – January 9, 2019) was an American religious leader and theologian. In 1945, she was the first Black woman graduate of
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127:, the daughter of Sailsman William Weller and Rosa Lee Lowery Weller. Her Jamaican-born father was an ordained clergyman in the
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178:(WCC) in 1948 and 1954, and worked to create the WCC's Program to Combat Racism. She taught Christian ethics at
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in 1942. She completed a bachelor of divinity degree from Yale
Divinity School in 1945, studying with
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163:. She was an ordained Episcopal priest and a minister in the AME Zion denomination. She taught at
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Karefa-Smart, Rena. "The ecumenical challenge of united and uniting churches."
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609:"Rena Weller Karefa-Smart, international ecumenical leader, dies at age 97"
388:"A Short Half-Century: Fifty Years of Women at Harvard Divinity School"
204:"The ecumenical challenge of united and uniting churches" (1995)
246:"Rena Karefa-Smart, 97, Leader in Ecumenical Movement, Is Dead"
37:
Rena Joyce Weller (later Karefa-Smart), from a 1940 newspaper
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The
Halting Kingdom: Christianity and the African Revolution
497:"Divinity School: Continuing Historic Role Under New Name"
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in 1976, and active in world ecumenical organizations.
583:"American Girl Enrolls in Freetown University College"
472:"A tribute to Rev. Dr Rena Joyce Weller Karefa-Smart"
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443:"Aid for Veterans to be Topic at Church Sessions"
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191:"Africa asks questions of the West" (1957)
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244:Seelye, Katharine Q. (February 1, 2019).
107:in 1945, the first Black woman to earn a
565:"What Kind of Spouses Do Africans Make?"
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363:"Rena Weller Karefa-Smart, '45 B.D."
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180:Howard University School of Divinity
681:American people of Jamaican descent
651:People from Bridgeport, Connecticut
514:"Africa asks questions of the West"
512:Karefa-Smart, Rena (October 1957).
530:10.1111/j.1758-6623.1957.tb01841.x
161:World Student Christian Federation
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167:for two years as a young woman.
135:She trained as a teacher at the
305:"AME Zion Church Leader Passes"
285:. September 5, 1953. p. 12
172:Episcopal Diocese of Washington
137:Teachers College of Connecticut
666:Harvard Divinity School alumni
589:. November 25, 1948. p. 1
571:: 100, 104–105. February 1982.
449:. October 26, 1945. p. 18
123:Rena Joyce Weller was born in
101:Rena Joyce Weller Karefa-Smart
1:
386:Braude, Ann (October 2006).
84:Religious leader, theologian
56:, Connecticut, United States
661:Yale Divinity School alumni
597:– via Newspapers.com.
457:– via Newspapers.com.
348:– via Newspapers.com.
293:– via Newspapers.com.
75:, California, United States
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554:47, no. 4 (1995): 464-472.
495:Scarupa, Harriet Jackson.
392:Harvard Theological Review
340:. June 10, 1940. p. 5
676:World Council of Churches
671:Howard University faculty
476:World Council of Churches
404:10.1017/S0017816006001313
216:Rancho Mirage, California
176:World Council of Churches
165:Hood Theological Seminary
141:Drew Theological Seminary
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16:American religious leader
279:"Noted AMEZ Worker Dies"
170:Karefa-Smart served the
119:Early life and education
125:Bridgeport, Connecticut
113:Harvard Divinity School
338:The Waterbury Democrat
322:– via DigitalNC.
283:The Pittsburgh Courier
613:The Christian Century
552:The Ecumenical Review
518:The Ecumenical Review
656:American theologians
502:8, no. 1 (1980): 13.
366:Yale Divinity School
105:Yale Divinity School
615:. February 12, 2019
334:"Youngest Graduate"
312:The Carolina Times
250:The New York Times
145:H. Richard Niebuhr
109:Doctor of Theology
199:John Karefa-Smart
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93:John Karefa-Smart
47:Rena Joyce Weller
25:Rena Karefa-Smart
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500:New Directions
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50:March 2, 1921
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617:. Retrieved
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197:(1959, with
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186:Publications
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111:degree from
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67:(2019-01-09)
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646:2019 deaths
641:1921 births
447:The Tribune
314:. p. 6
149:Liston Pope
635:Categories
222:References
54:Bridgeport
587:The Voice
538:0013-0796
420:162413506
412:1475-4517
289:March 10,
258:0362-4331
619:March 9,
593:March 9,
481:March 9,
453:March 9,
371:March 9,
344:March 9,
318:March 9,
263:March 9,
129:AME Zion
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155:Career
89:Spouse
569:Ebony
416:S2CID
308:(PDF)
621:2023
595:2023
534:ISSN
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408:ISSN
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147:and
62:Died
43:Born
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