Dr. Larry Golemon

Larry has served the wider church in a variety of capacities:  youth minister, local pastor, college and seminary educator, researcher, and missionary to the Philippines.   He received a  B.A. in History from Stanford University, both Master of Divinity and Sacred Theology degrees from the Yale Divinity School, a THM from Columbia Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in contemporary theology from Emory University’s Graduate Division of Religion. Alongside his ministry, he has taught at Luther Seminary, Union Theological Seminary of the Philippines (Methodist and UCCP), Dominican University of California, the American Baptist Seminary of the West, San Francisco Theological Seminary (Presbyterian), and Virginia Theological Seminary (Episcopalian). Most recently, he taught in the first graduate level Imam training program in the U.S., by Hartford Seminary and the International Institute for Islamic Thought.  His own formation and theological teaching have been deeply ecumenical, in ways that broaden and strengthen his Reformed and Christian identity. 

As a researcher, Larry was part of the research team of the national study of seminary education by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and co-authored their findings in Educating Clergy (2006).  He coordinated the interfaith research project at Dominican and the GTU, entitled "Sacred Visions and the Social Good,"  which explored religion in public life among Buddhists, Sufis, Native Americans, and faith-based Catholic and Protestant parishes.   While at the Alban Institute, he directed the Narrative Leadership project, which explored story-based transformation of theological learning and congregations.  And most recently, he lead the "Ecumenical Project" at Virginia Theological Seminary, which identified capacities and new possibilities for ecumenical teaching and learning.   He continues to write in theological education, with a forthcoming book that tracks how Protestants, Catholics, and Jews have educated clergy for American culture, specifically as culture-builders in religious and public life.