MEET MELANIE
The Reverend Melanie Jones Quarles, Ph.D. is a womanist ethicist, millennial preacher, and intellectual activist. As a third-generation Baptist preacher, Rev. Melanie is the youngest ordained clergywoman, in its 54-year-old history, at South Suburban Missionary Baptist Church of Harvey, Illinois. From 2018-2019, she served as the first Theologian in Residence at Sweet Home Baptist Church ~ Pinnacle of Praise in Round Rock, TX.
Rev. Melanie is a thinking woman of faith advocating for social transformation in the academy, Church, and global community. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree at Chicago Theological Seminary in ethics, theology, and culture with a concentration in Black Faith & Life. Her first academic monograp published by Orbis Books, Up Against a Crooked Gospel: Black Women's Bodies and the Politics of Redemption in Religion and Society, interrogates Black women's body politics and moral formation engaging approaches in womanist theological ethics, political historiography, Christology, and Black aesthetics.
For her distinguished research, Melanie has received notable fellowships and scholarships including Forum for the Theological Exploration Doctoral Fellowship, Chicago Theological Seminary Center for the Study of Black Faith & Life Inaugural Charles Shelby Rooks Scholarship, Association for the Improvement of Minorities,The Louisville Institute Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, Villanova University Center for Church Management Junior Scholar Fellowship, Wabash Center, Lily Endowment, Inc., and The Henry Luce Foundation.
Rev. Melanie is Assistant Professor of Ethics, Theology, and Culture and the Inaugural Director of the Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, VA. She served as the first Crump Visiting Professor and Black Religious Scholar-in-Residence at Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, TX. She has lectured at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, TX, American Baptist College in Nashville, TN, Chicago Theological Seminary, and The Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, IL, teaching introductory and upper-level face-to-face and online courses in humanities, theology, ethics, gender/sexuality studies, and writing. She earned a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Howard University and a Master of Divinity with a certificate in Black Church Studies from Vanderbilt University Divinity School. Her Master’s thesis, “Ago? Ame! Towards A Womanist Praxis: Womanist Theological Ethics as a Methodological Resource for Black Churchwomen Resisting Silence in the Black Baptist Church,” received distinguished honors. While attending Vanderbilt, Melanie was awarded the Kelly Miller Smith/Brandon Full Tuition Scholarship (2009-2012), the Organization of Black Graduate and Professional Students (VU-OBGAPS) Mkosi Award for leadership and scholarship, and St. James Academy Award for best-composed sermon at VDS in 2012.
Rev. Melanie is committed to enlivening a world where Black women and girls are whole and free. Melanie is a co-host of The Womanist Salon Podcast - an intergenerational, woke, womanist podcast that integrates the hair salon as site, source, and sanctuary for authentic black sisterhood. Melanie is a global leader serving professional and international boards, including Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated (former International Second Vice President 2008 – 2010), Alpha Kappa Alpha Educational Advancement Foundation (former International Second Vice President 2008 – 2010), Society of Christian Ethics (Graduate Student Representative 2015 – 2017), and the Daughters of the African Atlantic Fund (Board Chair 2019 – 2021). Additionally, Melanie is a member of several professional societies and service organizations: American Academy of Religion, Association of Black Vanderbilt Alumni, Black Religious Scholars Group, Howard University Alumni Association, Girl Trek, Golden Key National Honor Society, Society of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion, Society for the Study of Black Religion, and Vanderbilt Oak Leaf Society.
Rev. Melanie is the only child of the late Rev. Dr. Michael Jones and Rev. Dr. Annette Jones. Rev. Melanie is married to Rev. DeQuon A. Quarles, M.Div. She is a leading millennial Black religious scholar and prophetic voice with a public platform featured on television (Up Front with Rev. Jesse Jackson), radio outlets (iHeart radio, 1390 and 1570 AM stations in metropolitan Chicago), podcast streams, and news (Episcopal News Service, Presbyterian Mission Agency, The Christian Century). Rev. Melanie speaks at civic events, social justice summits, academic seminars, denominational conferences, sorority meetings and preaches in pulpits across the globe, traveling to cities in North America, Australia, Bahamas, Bermuda, Brazil, Cuba, Europe, Ghana, New Zealand, and United Arab Emirates.
