ADJUNCT PROFESSOR

Rev. Dr. Rebecca Voelkel is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and currently serves as Pastor for Justice Ministries and Director of the Center for Sustainable Justice at Lyndale UCC as well as Adjunct Faculty at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.

She is the co-author of Sacred Reckonings: White Settler-Colonizer Churches Doing the Work of Reparations an organizing and educational guide for congregational teams (www.SacredReckonings.com). She is also the author of Carnal Knowledge of God: Embodied Love and the Movement for Justice (Fortress Press, 2017) and co-author with Marie M. Fortune of Preventing Sexual Abuse: A Course of Study for Teenagers (Pilgrim Press: 1996). She is the co-editor of The New Queer Desire: An Anthology of Intersectional Writing by LGBTQ+ Faith Leaders (Center for Sustainable Justice: 2022) and has also contributed to several recent books including: Unsettling the Word: Biblical Experiments in Decolonization (Orbis: 2019), Unlocking Orthodoxies for Inclusive Theologies: Queer Alternatives (Routledge: 2020) and Claiming God: Essays in honor Marilyn McCord Adams (Pickwick Publications: 2022).

Rev. Dr. Voelkel is a theologian, pastor, trainer, and movement-builder who specializes in coalition and collaborative partnerships across movements for justice. She is a graduate of Earlham College, Yale Divinity School and United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.

She names herself as a Christian Universalist, by which she means that she was raised and has been shaped by the Christian tradition and it is her home. However, she believes there are many truths about God and the Divine in All Things. She holds a deep reverence for Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and pagan and Wiccan traditions. Particularly as she has worked for sexual and gender justice, she has learned much from her multi-faith colleagues—about love, about life, and about the Sacred in our midst.

As a way to balance her spiritual life, she is also a runner, hiker, biker and avid community-builder, spending time with friends and family as often as she can. With her partner, Maggie, she is the parent of Shannon MacKenzie, their teenage child.

Education

DMin, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, 2013
MDiv, Yale University Divinity School, 1996
BA, Peace and Global Studies, Earlham College, 1991

Research Interests

• LGBTQ+ Justice
• Racial Justice
• Sexual and Domestic Violence
• Reparations
• Climate Justice