Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Social Transformation and Director of Racial Intelligence Systems

Rev. Dr. Gary F. Green II is associate professor of Pastoral Theology and Social Transformation at United Theological Seminary. He is also the designer and founding director of Racial Intelligence Systems (formerly Anti-Racist Initiatives)—a three-tiered reconditioning program that uses comedy and play to rewire the ways institutions reflect on and embody better racial realities.

He earned his PhD from Brite Divinity School, where he focused on issues related to young African American men through the lens of public pastoral theology. He is the author of Playing the Game: Embodied Brilliance Beyond the Moral Limits of Race in Sport, a book that recasts athleticism as intelligence and Black athletes as divine tricksters who flip the racial scripts that seek to dehumanize Black men based on the historical hold “beast” has on our cultural imagination.

His broader research interests involve raising consciousness to issues of race, masculinity, and power, particularly when these issues are uniquely disclosed in spaces or cultural performances that are overlooked by the Church and the Academy. Gary is committed to highlighting neglected sources in his research as a way to prioritize the revolutionary potential of voices that have gone unheard. His scholarly calling is to contribute to theological perspectives that more adequately reflect embodied life and that undergird sociopolitical redress for oppression in marginalized populations in the United States.

In addition to his academic work, Gary hopes to help religious communities become more socially engaged around issues of justice and social ethics. He is an ordained minister who has served the Black Church and has facilitated public conversations about theology, sport, and social justice.

Gary values critical engagement with religious and community leaders, inviting them to become more theologically critical and culturally aware. He believes these critical conversations can help religious leaders, in particular, better recognize the complexities of privilege and oppression both inside and outside of the church.

Beyond his intellectual endeavors, Gary has a passion for comedy, music, and film. He is fascinated by the creative genius of comedians, music producers, and film writers, and integrates these modes into his scholarship and pedagogy. Gary is also a former athlete who loves to watch sports with family. But above all, his favorite thing to do is spend time with his wife, Monica, and their three beautiful children, Ella, Elliott, and Ellison. 

Watch Gary’s Installation Service.

PhD, Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, TX—Pastoral Theology: Transforming Persons, Communities, and Practices
MDiv, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS—Homiletics/Social Ethics
BGS, University of Kansas—Applied Behavior Science: Youth Development and Juvenile Justice

Publications

Playing the Game: Embodied Brilliance Beyond the Moral Limits of Race in Sport. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2025.

“A Call to Mediate… the Need to Understand.” In Waking to the Holy: Sermons from the 2011 National Festival of Young Preachers, edited by Lee Huckleberry, 54–58. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2011.

“A Call to Mediate… the Need to Understand.” In From Generation to Generation: A Commemorative Collection of African American Millennial Sermons from the Festivals of Young Preachers 2010–2015, edited by Winterbourne L. Harrison-Jones, Chapter 34. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2015.

Research Interests

Public Pastoral Theologies
Care of Young African American Men
Critical Race and Gender Theories / Black Masculinities
Performance / Performativity / Theological Anthropology
Racial and Gender Politics in Competitive Sport
Cultural Criticism / Popular Culture