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Josef Sorett

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Josef Sorett is an American scholar of religion and race in the Americas. He has served as the Dean of Columbia College of Columbia University since July 2022.[1]

Education and career[edit]

Josef Sorett received his BS in Health and Exercise Science from Oral Roberts University, his MDiv in Religion and Literature from Boston University, and his PhD in African American Studies from Harvard University. He first taught at Columbia University in 2009, and he became Professor of Religion and African American and African Diaspora Studies, Chair of the Department of Religion, and Director of the Center on African-American Religion, Sexual Politics and Social Justice. Effective July 2022, Sorett served as the Dean of Columbia College and Vice President of Undergraduate Education.[2] Sorett's research focuses on how religion has shaped cultures of Black communities and movements in the United States, from a perspective that straddles history, literature, religion, art, and music.[2]

Sorett is the editor of The Sexual Politics of Black Churches published by Columbia University Press in 2022.[3] The book investigates the politics of sexuality within Black churches and their communities.[2]

Dean of Columbia College[edit]

2024 Columbia University campus protests[edit]

During Columbia University students' 2024 Pro-Palestine campus protests, Sorett sent an email to students on April 18 urging them to "avoid the false surety of familiar assumptions" of their peers' thoughts, intentions, and motivations.[4] On May 1, after pro-Palestine students occupied Hamilton Hall and NYPD arrested 109 individuals,[5] Sorett sent a statement to Columbia College students that quoted Martin Luther King Jr., "Where do we go from here: chaos or community?"[6] Sorett's statement said, "My own emotions continue to weigh heavily on me and it will be a long time before I fully absorb their impact. We all need to process this in our own way, but I hope that we will be a resource to one another in that effort...I urge you to reject the notion that there are unbridgeable gaps between us and instead hold onto the whole: recognizing the complexity of each of our lived experiences, and refusing the impulse to value one person's pain or joy above another's."[6]

During Columbia's alumni reunion on May 31, Sorett was a part of a series of texts disparaging a panel about antisemitism on campus, which led to "3 Columbia Deans" being "placed on leave." Sorrett himself was not placed on leave but "texted 'LMAO,' for 'laughing my ass off,' in response to a sarcastic message."[7]

Books[edit]

  • Spirit in the Dark: A Religious History of Racial Aesthetics (Oxford University Press, 2016)[8]
  • The Sexual Politics of Black Churches (Columbia University Press, 2022) editor[9]
  • Black is a Church: Christianity and the Contours of African American Life (Oxford University Press, 2023)

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Josef Sorett | Department of Religion". religion.columbia.edu. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Bollinger, Lee C (May 24, 2022). "Dr. Josef Sorett (STH '00) Appointed Dean of Columbia College". Boston University School of Theology. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  3. ^ "Three African American Scholars Who Have Been Appointed Deans". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. June 6, 2022. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  4. ^ Bernstein, Noah; Huddleston, Sarah (April 18, 2024). "Sorett issues statement on arrests, encourages students to avoid 'familiar assumptions'". Columbia Daily Spectator. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  5. ^ Banerjee, Isha; Cleary, Claire (May 1, 2024). "NYPD confirms arrest of 109 individuals following sweep of occupied Hamilton Hall and 'Gaza Solidarity Encampment'". Columbia Daily Spectator. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Sorett, Josef (May 1, 2024). "Where do we go from here?". Columbia College. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  7. ^ Meko, Hurubie (June 22, 2024). "3 Columbia Deans Placed on Leave Over Conduct at Antisemitism Panel". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  8. ^ Winters, Joseph (December 9, 2018). "Spirit in the Dark: A Religious History of Racial Aesthetics by Josef Sorett (review)". African American Review. 51 (2): 155–158. doi:10.1353/afa.2018.0027. Retrieved December 9, 2023 – via Project MUSE.
  9. ^ Thyssen, Ashwin Afrikanus (August 1, 2023). "The sexual politics of black churches: edited by Josef Sorrett, New York, Columbia University Press, 2022, 280 pp., $ 35 (paperback), ISBN: 9780231188333". Politics, Religion & Ideology. 24 (4): 614–616. doi:10.1080/21567689.2023.2242682. Retrieved December 9, 2023 – via CrossRef.

External links[edit]

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