A Brief Biography of Reverend Cottrel R. Carson, PhD (Culturalengagement@yahoo) Reverend Cottrel R. Carson is an Arkansas native. Born to an Air Force family, he has lived in a variety of places, including: Blytheville Air Force Base, Blytheville, Arkansas; Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico; Clinton Sherman Air Force Base , Oklahoma; Griffis Air Force Base, Rome, New York; Fort Belvoir, Virginia; Fort Polk, Louisiana; Fort Benning, Georgia; Bulgaria; St. Thomas and St. John, United States Virgin Islands; New York City; Atlanta; Memphis, Tennessee. A 1978 graduate of Gosnell High School, Gosnell, Arkansas, Doctor Carson took the Bachelors of Science in Social Work from Henderson State University (1982), Arkadelphia, Arkansas; where he ran varsity track, participated in Reserve Officers Corp Training (ROTC), and was initiated into Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (1979). He entered active-duty in the United States Army Corps of Engineers as a second lieutenant, in 1982. As a captain, 1986-1988, he served as battalion adjutant, as brigade engineer and company commander, Bravo Company, 2nd Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, 8th Army, 1987-1988, the Republic of Korea, located on the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), between North and South Korea -- at that time, the most forward deployed combat engineer company in the free world. Doctor Carson entered the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (TSBTS) in Louisville , Kentucky in 1988, taking the Masters of Divinity (MDiv) in 1991. While a masters candidate at TSBTS, he was named Martin Luther King Jr. Fellow. He entered Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York in 1992, after spending a year in Louisville as a Social Work Case Manager for chronically mentally ill populations. At Union, Doctor Carson took the Masters of Philosophy (MPhil) in 1997 and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in 1999. His Dissertation is entitled “Do You Understand What You Are Reading?: A Reading of the Ethiopian Eunuch Story (Acts 8.26-40) from a Site of Cultural Marronage.” Also, while a doctoral candidate at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, Doctor Carson graduated Magna Cum Laude from the City University of New York (CUNY) Greek/Latin Institute (1994). Doctor Carson was Assistant Professor of New Testament and Greek at Mercer Universitys James and Carolyn McAfee Graduate School of Theology from 1999 until 2002. There he taught core curriculum New Testament Studies, including Introduction to the New Testament and Biblical Greek. He was ordained as teacher/scholar in October of 1999 at Christian Fellowship Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia. Currently, Doctor Carson is a member of The New Olivet Baptist Church (TNOBC), Memphis, Tennessee. In 2000, Doctor Carson was inducted into the Morehouse College International Chapel Collegium of Scholars. He has taught in a variety of settings, including Union Theological Seminary; Drew University School of Divinity; The New School of Social Science and Research, Manhattan; Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC); Simmons College (Louisville); The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (TSBTS); Memphis Theological Seminary; Memphis Center for Urban Theological Studies (MCUTS); School for Pastors, Sophia, Bulgaria. He is founder and primary strategist for Center for Cultural Engagement (CCE), which 1) trains civic and religious leaders to read scripture 2) establishes communication between those outside institutional religious life and those inside -- affirming positive aspects of both worldviews, and 3) raises funds to assist in educating children to thrive in multi-ethnic, multicultural agonistic American society. Dr Carsons latest project: participant in KolorStruck: The Movie, The Message, The Movement, a documentary film financed through KickStarter (kickstarter/ ). His latest scholarship: Reading Romans: Critical Translation with Ethno-Critical Notes (Working Paper, Memphis, Tennessee, April 2014), is being edited.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 23:31:53 +0000