Skip to content
Duke Divinity
See information for:  Students  |  Faculty  |  Staff  |  Alumni
Programs & Initiatives
Send this page Send this page
Print this page Print this page

Renk Visiting Teachers Program

The church in Southern Sudan is probably the most rapidly growing church in the Anglican Communion and among the fastest growing churches in the world. As a result, the need for strong indigenous theological education has become acute.

Through the Renk Visiting Teachers Program, jointly sponsored by Duke Divinity School and Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), advanced students, graduates and faculty teach for periods of two to six weeks at the Renk Theological College in Southern Sudan. The program aims to:

  • Provide in-service education for faculty
  • Strengthen the residential training program for seminarians
  • Provide continuing education for clergy and lay leaders.

Take a look at the Renk Diocese in Southern Sudan, along with the country and people of Southern Sudan.

Learn more about supporting students at Renk Theological College through its Congregational Scholars Program.

Read related articles:

“Teaching biblical languages in Sudan: Hebrew without whining” by Ellen F. Davis, January 13, 2009 issue of The Christian Century

Church’s First Woman Dean Installed in Historic Ceremony at Renk Cathedral in Episcopal Life Online, August 25, 2008.

“Through Flood, Mud and Drought, Duke-Sudan Partnership Prevails,” by Dr. Peter Morris D’07 in the Winter 2008 issue of Divinity magazine. He is a pediatrician, epidemiologist and medical director of Wake County Human Services in Raleigh, N.C.

“An Unlikely Story: Teaching Hebrew in Southern Sudan,” by Ellen F. Davis, professor of Bible and Practical Theology at Duke Divinity School, in the Summer 2006 issue of Gatherings newsletter.

Read reflections of Renk visiting teachers:

“Teaching ‘Manna and Mercy’ at Renk,” reflections from January 2008 by Rev. Alan Storey, an ordained minister of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa and senior pastor of Calvary Methodist Church in Gauteng Province, South Africa.

“Studying Leviticus in Sudan” by Ellen F. Davis, professor of Bible and Practical Theology at Duke Divinity School, who taught Worship in Exodus and Leviticus at Renk in July and August of 2007.

“A Bi-Continental Vocation” by Megan McMurtry, who taught Hebrew at Renk in July 2006. A graduate of Duke Divinity School, she is studying Hebrew Bible at Vanderbilt University.

“A Sense of Hope” by Phoebe Roaf, a Virginia Theological Seminary graduate who taught Greek and Hebrew at Renk in July of 2007.

“The Story God is Telling in Sudan” by Rev. Andrew Rowell, a Duke Divinity School graduate who taught Letter to the Hebrews and Greek at Renk in July and August of 2007.

“Writing in the Dust” by Rev. Shirley Smith Graham, Rector of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Williamsburg, Va., and a 2002 Graduate of Virginia Theological Seminary.


For details about the Visiting Teachers Program, contact:

Ellen Davis
Professor of Bible and Practical Theology
Duke University Divinity School
Box 90968
Durham, NC 27708-0968
(919) 660-3561

Jo Bailey Wells
Associate Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry and Bible
Director of Anglican Studies
Duke University Divinity School
Box 90967
Durham, NC 27708-0967
(919) 660-3576

Marsá McNutt
Staff Specialist
Anglican Episcopal House of Studies
Duke University Divinity School
Box 90968
Durham, NC 27708
(919) 660-3481