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Womanist theologian Yolanda Pierce will be the next dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School. Pierce, a Century columnist, is currently the dean at Howard Divinity School—the first woman to lead the 153-year old  institution.

Her research focuses on literature and religion, womanist theology, and African American religions. In 2016, Pierce served as the founding director of the Center for African American Religious Life at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

When Megan Rohrer was elected bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 2021, he was celebrated as the first openly transgender bishop in the country’s largest Lutheran denomination.

Frank Tracy Griswold III, who led the Episcopal Church through debates over the ordination LGBTQ clergy, died on March 5 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was 85.

Known for his ecumenical and interreligious work, Griswold helped to shepherd the Episcopal Church’s full-communion relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The relationship grew out of an agreement passed at the 1997 general convention during which Griswold was elected.

Scott Jones isn’t the first United Methodist bishop to join the Global Methodist Church since the theologically conservative denomination launched in May, but his exit from the UMC has arguably caused the greatest stir.

That’s partly because of the unique position his family holds in Methodism and the “extreme center” position he had staked out within the United Methodist Church.