Shelli M. Poe is Visiting Professor at Iliff School of Theology (Denver, CO). She holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies with a concentration in Theology, Ethics, and Culture from the University of Virginia; an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary; and a B.A. from Bethel University (St. Paul, MN). She has taught at Iliff School of Theology, Millsaps College, the University of Virginia, the University of Mary Washington, Mississippi Course of Study School (UMC), and Pathways Theological Education.
Rev. Dr. Poe was ordained in 2007 by the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, and received Privilege of Call in 2010 within the United Church of Christ. She has served Pilgrim Congregational Church (Warren, NJ), Sojourners United Church of Christ (Charlottesville), and Safe Harbor Family Church United Church of Christ (Clinton, MS).
Dr. Poe’s research and teaching are primarily related to modern and contemporary Christian history and systematic theology. More particularly, she is interested in the thought of Friedrich Schleiermacher as well as constructive theologies. Secondarily, her work addresses the evolution of institutions of higher education, and the study of teaching and learning. She is currently co-editing the Oxford Handbook of Schleiermacher.
Dr. Poe’s recent monograph, The Constructive Promise of Schleiermacher’s Theology (Rethinking Theologies Series, T&T Clark/Bloomsbury, 2021), analyzes the intersection of Schleiermacher’s thought and contemporary constructive theologies. Her first monograph, Essential Trinitarianism: Schleiermacher as Trinitarian Theologian (Explorations in Reformed Theology series, T&T Clark/Bloomsbury, 2017), offers an analysis of Schleiermacher’s Christian Faith (1830/31) that highlights the Trinitarian structure of his theology. Her edited volume, Schleiermacher and Sustainability: A Theology for Ecological Living (Columbia Series in Reformed Theology, Westminster John Knox, 2018) addresses how Schleiermacher’s theology and ethics could contribute to eco-theologies in our time of global climate change. Dr. Poe also co-edited, with Dr. Maurice Apprey, The Key to the Door: Experiences of Early African American Students at the University of Virginia (University of Virginia Press, 2017). The book highlights the first-person narratives of some of the earliest African-American students who graduated from the University of Virginia during the era of desegregation.
Dr. Poe has authored seventeen journal articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries in Schleiermacher studies, feminist studies, the study of higher education, and teaching and learning. In 2018, she received the Richard A. Smith Award for Excellence in Scholarship or Creative Work at Millsaps College. She is active in the American Academy of Religion, and served as co-chair of the Schleiermacher Unit from 2014-2019.
Shelli M. Poe, Ph.D. 