about me!
Jamal-Dominique Hopkins is a native of Southern California. He grew up as an actor, appearing on stage and in film with such notables as Malcolm Jamal Warner of the Cosby Show, Lahmard and Larron Tate of Rocky Balboa, Barbershop and 21 Jump Street, respectively, and Martin Mull of Two and a Half Men and Arrested Development. Prior to attending college, Hopkins was a barber, a badminton coach at his former high school and a co-host personality at a gospel radio station.
Aspirations to pursue entertainment took a turn while in college at Howard University, when one of Jamal's film instructors challenged him to pursue his passion for reading the Bible. He accepted this challenge and entered seminary, where he fell in love with biblical and theological scholarship. It was during this time that he also became involved in ministry.
Hopkins is currently Dean of Dickerson-Green Theological Seminary and Department of Religion at Allen University, and Associate Professor of Biblical Languages and Literature. He also is a Senior Fellow at the Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies and a Pedagogy Fellow at Yale University's Center for Faith and Culture, where he is part of the Christ and Being Human project focused on revitalizing Christian higher education.
Having ministered in both the Church of God in Christ and the African Methodist Episcopal Church as an ordained Minister, Jamal earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Howard University (Washington, D. C.), his Masters’ degree from Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, CA) and Ph.D. from the University of Manchester (Manchester, England). The only known expert of African Descent on the Dead Sea Scrolls, he is a former Cooley Research Fellow of the Robert C. Cooley Center for Early Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion Summer Fellow. He has been a guest speaker and panelist at events such as the National Leadership Conference of the Church of God in Christ, numerous African Methodist Episcopal Church Annual Conferences, the Western Baptist Convention Education Conference, and Bishop T. D. Jakes’ International Pastors and Leadership Conference. Jamal has also lectured and presented research on various topics at institutions such as Princeton Theological Seminary; Boston University, The Catholic University of America, Emory University’s Graduate School of Religion, Oberlin College, the W.E.B. Du Bois Society at Harvard University, the University of Edinburgh (Scotland), Durham University (England), Trinity College Dublin (Ireland) and at the Interdenominational Theological Center, where he served as former Department Chair and Associate Professor of Biblical Studies and Languages.
Jamal is a published author with Fortress Press, Routledge Press, T & T Clark, Gorgias Press, Sheffield Phoenix Press, Mellen Press, and Brill. His latest research has focused on the life and political theology of Martin Luther King, Jr., wherein he has lectured at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN, the African American Museum in Dallas, TX, Allen University in Columbia, SC and was a Moderator at several Martin Luther King, Jr. city-wide programs. His most recent article entitled “The Shaping and Influence of King’s Political Theology and Worldview,” appears in the 2018 Telos journal special edition, Martin Luther King, Jr. Fifty Years On.
Aspirations to pursue entertainment took a turn while in college at Howard University, when one of Jamal's film instructors challenged him to pursue his passion for reading the Bible. He accepted this challenge and entered seminary, where he fell in love with biblical and theological scholarship. It was during this time that he also became involved in ministry.
Hopkins is currently Dean of Dickerson-Green Theological Seminary and Department of Religion at Allen University, and Associate Professor of Biblical Languages and Literature. He also is a Senior Fellow at the Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies and a Pedagogy Fellow at Yale University's Center for Faith and Culture, where he is part of the Christ and Being Human project focused on revitalizing Christian higher education.
Having ministered in both the Church of God in Christ and the African Methodist Episcopal Church as an ordained Minister, Jamal earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Howard University (Washington, D. C.), his Masters’ degree from Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, CA) and Ph.D. from the University of Manchester (Manchester, England). The only known expert of African Descent on the Dead Sea Scrolls, he is a former Cooley Research Fellow of the Robert C. Cooley Center for Early Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion Summer Fellow. He has been a guest speaker and panelist at events such as the National Leadership Conference of the Church of God in Christ, numerous African Methodist Episcopal Church Annual Conferences, the Western Baptist Convention Education Conference, and Bishop T. D. Jakes’ International Pastors and Leadership Conference. Jamal has also lectured and presented research on various topics at institutions such as Princeton Theological Seminary; Boston University, The Catholic University of America, Emory University’s Graduate School of Religion, Oberlin College, the W.E.B. Du Bois Society at Harvard University, the University of Edinburgh (Scotland), Durham University (England), Trinity College Dublin (Ireland) and at the Interdenominational Theological Center, where he served as former Department Chair and Associate Professor of Biblical Studies and Languages.
Jamal is a published author with Fortress Press, Routledge Press, T & T Clark, Gorgias Press, Sheffield Phoenix Press, Mellen Press, and Brill. His latest research has focused on the life and political theology of Martin Luther King, Jr., wherein he has lectured at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN, the African American Museum in Dallas, TX, Allen University in Columbia, SC and was a Moderator at several Martin Luther King, Jr. city-wide programs. His most recent article entitled “The Shaping and Influence of King’s Political Theology and Worldview,” appears in the 2018 Telos journal special edition, Martin Luther King, Jr. Fifty Years On.
