Rodney S. Sadler, Jr. is Associate Professor of Bible and Director of the Center for Social Justice and Reconciliation at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte, NC.

He is a graduate of Howard University (1989, B.S. Psychology/Philosophy), Howard University School of Divinity (1992, M.Div.), and Duke University (2001, Ph.D. Hebrew Bible and Biblical Archaeology), and has also studied at Hebrew University (1990).  He is an ordained Baptist minister who has served in pastoral supply roles at several Presbyterian congregations and as interim pastor at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church (American Baptist) and Sardis Baptist Church (Cooperative Baptist Fellowship) in Charlotte, NC.

He is a widely published author and editor.  In addition to authoring numerous articles and essays, he is the author of Can A Cushite Change His Skin: An Examination of Race, Ethnicity, and Othering in the Hebrew Bible, co-author of The Genesis of Liberation: Biblical Interpretation in the Antebellum Narratives of the Enslaved, and has served as a managing and associate editor of The African American Devotional Bible and the Africana Bible respectively.  Among his research interests are the intersection of race and Scripture, the impact of our images of Jesus for the perpetuation of racial thought in America, the development of African American biblical interpretation in slave narratives, the enactment of justice in society based on biblical imperatives, and the intersection of religion and politics.

Dr. Sadler’s work in the community includes terms as a board member of, Siegle Avenue Partners, and Loaves and Fishes, the Hispanic Summer Program, the Transformative Justice Coalition, the National Election Defense Coalition, the Voting Rights Alliance, Progress NC, and has been on the Executive Committee of the North Carolina NAACP, and served as Board President of Meck MIN.  His activism includes work with the Community for Creative Non-Violence in D.C., Durham C.A.N., H.E.L.P. Charlotte, the Middle East Peace Working Group, and the U.S. Africa Ebola Working Group.  He is the Co-Chair of People Demanding Action (Center for Common Ground), the Co-Chair of the Justice Action Mobilization Network,  the Vice Chair of the Charlotte Clergy Coalition for Justice, the Co-Chair of the Truth Reconciliation and Anti-poverty Commission, the Co-Chair of the Faith in Solar Project, and he has worked organizing clergy with and developing theological resources for the Forward Together/Moral Monday Movement in North Carolina.  He also currently serves in Charlotte as the Co-Chair of the School Superintendent’s Clergy Advisory Council, and has served on the county manager’s Clergy Healthcare Advisory Team and Charlotte’s Review Team for the Police Foundation Report.  In addition, Dr. Sadler has also hosted a weekly national radio program for the People Demanding Action Network called, the “Politics of Faith,” co-hosts the “Just Talk/Talk Just” Series and hosts the “Dangerous Dialogues” Series.  He currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Reimagining America Project and as a Tri-Chair of the North Carolina Poor Peoples’ Campaign.

Dr. Sadler resides in Charlotte where he has lived since 2002.

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