Saturday Spotlight: Rev. Dr. Gabriella Lettini

About Rev. Dr. Gabriella Lettini

A native of Torino, Italy, Lettini earned her M.Div. at the Waldensian Theological Seminary in Rome, Italy. She is an ordained minister of the Waldensian Church, a movement that originated in France and Italy in the 12th century and was based on evangelical poverty, a critique of church hierarchies, refusal of the church as a political power and a strong emphasis on lay leadership, including women.

Dr. Lettini earned her Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary in New York City under the supervision of Dr. Delores G. Williams and Dr. James H. Cone, foundational scholars in Womanist and Black Liberation Theologies. She also served as an ecumenical associate at the Jan Hus Presbyterian Church in New York. Her dissertation, “The ‘Allergy’ to the Other,” focused on contemporary theological perspectives on “otherness” and hegemonic patterns of identity construction. 

Learn more about Dr. Lettini here.

What do you like about teaching at Starr King?​

“I love teaching at Starr King because at the center of our work we have a shared commitment to Educating to Counter Oppression and Create Just and Sustainable Communities and to cultivating multi-religious life and learning. I feel privileged to work with students from a great variety of life experiences and a deep dedication to be transformed by their education so that they can better serve others and transform the world with compassion and wisdom. I love working with other faculty who share my passion for transformative education and collaborating to challenge the traditional boundaries of the academy, putting at the center the voices and knowledges of people previously disregarded or silenced by Western philosophical and theological traditions. I love the connections our classes create to all the communities our students come from and will serve in, as SKSM faculty and students study and learn together to better serve the world outside the school.”