Cain Hope Felder is professor of New Testament Language and Literature and editor of The Journal of Religious Thought at the Howard University School of Divinity.[1] He also serves as chair of the Ph.D. program and immediate past chair of the Doctor of Ministry program. He has been on Howard’s faculty since 1981.
Prior to coming to Howard, he taught within the Department of Biblical Studies (1978-1981) at Princeton Theological Seminary. Dr. Felder is an ordained Methodist minister within the United Methodist Church. From 1969-1972, Dr. Felder worked as the first national director of the United Methodist Black Caucus, then headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1990, he founded the Biblical Institute of Social Change (BISC), headquartered in Washington, DC.
A prolific writer, his publications include True to Our Native Land (Augsburg Fortress, May, 2007), the first African American commentary on the New Testament; Troubling Biblical Waters: Race, Class, and Family[2] (Orbis Books, 1989) – 16th printing; and The Original African Heritage Study Bible (Winston Publishing Company, 1993). A world-renowned scholar, he is a sought-after lecturer, consultant and media interviewee. He has appeared in USA Today, The Washington Post, The New York Times and Ebony, and on BET, PBS and NBC.
Dr. Felder holds a Ph.D. and a Master of Philosophy degree in biblical languages and literature from Columbia University in New York; a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York; a Diploma of Theology from Oxford University, Mansfield College in England; a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy, Greek & Latin from Howard University in Washington, DC; and a diploma from the Boston Latin School.
He maintains dual residences in Washington, D.C. and in Mobile, Alabama, that he shares with his bride, Dr. Jewell. He is the father of one daughter, Miss Akidah Felder, a graduate of Spelman College and dual Master’s student at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.