"Just A Sister Away"

Dr. Renita J. Weems

Dr. Renita J. Weems is a bible scholar and an ordained elder in the African Methodist Church whose scholarly insights into modern faith, biblical texts, and the role of spirituality in everyday lives have made her a much sought after author and speaker.  Dr. Weems, formerly a member of the faculty of Vanderbilt University and former Visiting Professor at Spelman College, has been celebrated by Ebony Magazine as one of America's top 15 preachers.

A former contributing writer to Essence Magazine, Dr. Weems is the author of several widely acclaimed books on women's spirituality and wholeness: Just A Sister Away (1987) and I Asked for Intimacy (1993), Showing Mary: How Women Can Share Prayers, Wisdom, and the Blessings of God (2003), and, more recently, What Matters Most: Ten Passionate Lessons from the Song of Solomon (2004).  Dr. Weems is a popular radio and television personality, regularly providing expert commentary on religion, gender, race, and sexuality.  A guest speaker for numerous national gatherings of religious, civic, and sorority organizations, local churches, community wide events, and radio and television programs, Dr. Weems is in much demand as a speaker, preacher, and workshop leader on topics as wide ranging as miracles in the Bible, women, violence, and spirituality, and male-female relationships.

Ordained an elder in the AME Church since 1984, Dr. Weems has written about the waxing and waning of faith all believers endure on the spiritual journey.  Her 1999 book Listening for God: A Minister's Journey through Silence and Doubt (Simon & Schuster) won the Religious Communicators' Council's prestigious 1999 Wilbur Award for excellence in communicating spiritual values to the secular media.  She earned her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and her Master and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey.

When she is not travelling and speaking, Dr. Weems is at home writing for Beliefnet.com where she contributes a regular column on politics and faith, and keeping up with her readers on her blog somethingwithin.com which allows her to wax passionately, and sometimes even eloquently, about a wide range of issues having to do with faith, popular culture, values, and women's spirituality and other topics of interest to what she likes to call "thinking women of faith."

Finally, Dr. Renita Weems lives in Nashville, TN with her husband and daughter.