David Evans

David Evans is Associate Professor of history and intercultural studies and the director of Cross Cultural Programs at Eastern Mennonite Seminary. His teaching and research focus on the braided identity categories of race, religion, and nation. He is the co-editor of Between the World of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Christianity. Dr. Evans is currently working on a book project that explores the work of Dorothy Day, Clarence Jordan, and Ralph Templin in the context of the long Black Freedom Movement entitled, Damned Whiteness: How White Christian Allies Failed the Black Freedom Movement.

In concert with his teaching and scholarship, David practices a local “eco-lutionary” lifestyle that promotes a sustainable future for the diverse people of the Shenandoah Valley Watershed. Dr. Evans has worked in a variety of social service environments: While living in Washington, DC, David was the Junior/Senior High Director of an out-of-school time program on Capitol Hill. Later he served as Community Development Resource coordinator with MCC East Coast. Finally, he was co-pastor of Boonton United Methodist Church in New Jersey.

Dr. Evans endeavors to teach from the perspectives of those who find themselves perpetually living with their "backs against the wall." His historical lenses are unapologetically informed by Black literary scholars--Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, and Ralph Ellison--who enable his work to critically engage the US American context through a Black gaze and envision a future in which the entire world ecology can thrive. As a Methodist, Dr. Evans encourages his students, in the words of John Wesley, to engage society by “doing no harm,” “doing all the good they can,” and while acknowledging that they too are members of the world in which we all live.

Dr. Evans's research focuses on the braided identity categories of religion, race, and nation. This focus helps Dr. Evans understand how US Christian Churches function in local societies and throughout the world. Intercultural studies affords unique opportunities for such research because it is often in intercultural encounters that he finds the most clear construction of boundaries that divide religious insiders from one another and from other humans throughout the world. These boundaries function as mirrors through which we can learn how religious communities define themselves and interact with other identities. In this way, I am attempting to make invisible, unstated, power laden boundaries visible and thus unmask their power. In addition, this knowledge engenders creative ideas for the future of human communities particularly in this time of ecological crises.

“Power to the People: The Power of Black Coalition Building.” Minority Ministries Council Conference. Goshen, IN. March 31, 2017

“Rebirth of a White Nation.” School for Leadership Training. Eastern Mennonite Seminary, January 17-18, 2017.

“Cultural Mapping.” Campus Advisor Training. Eastern Mennonite University, August, 2017.

“Reflections on Searching for Zion” Eastern Mennonite University, January 26, 2016.

“The Future of Christianity in America: Fresh Voices.” January 13-15, 2015. Virginia Conference of the UMC, Convocation. Blackstone, VA.

“Crisis in White Leadership” Honors History, Eastern Mennonite University, November 11, 2015.

“Empathy and the White Mind.” Trauma Healing Course, EMU Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, September 24, 2015.

“Finding Christ in a ‘Colorblind Society.’” Ethics in the way of Jesus Course, Eastern Mennonite University, October 22, 2014.

Session Chair/Commentator, “An Individuals Impact: Ideas, Inventions, Identities” Eastern American Studies Association, Eastern Mennonite University March 23, 2013

“Spiritual Responses to Racial Justice.” ARISE Campus Ministry. January 26, 2021

“Real Talk.” Rise Facebook Live. February 4, 2021

“Farming for Fellowship.” Wingate University: Liceum. October 26, 2020.

“Modeling Minorities.” School for Leadership Training. Eastern Mennonite Seminary. January 16, 2019.

“Whose Agriculture is it, Anyway?” Doing Religion and Ecology in the Bible Belt: How the Cross Pollination of Religion and Ecology in a Socioeconomically Disadvantaged, Rural Town in North Carolina is Bearing Much Fruit, American Academy of Religion. Denver, CO. November 25, 2018.

“Power to the People: The Power of Black Coalition Building.” Minority Ministries Council Conference. Goshen, IN. March 31, 2017.

“Rebirth of a White Nation.” School for Leadership Training. Eastern Mennonite Seminary, January 17-18, 2017.

“Cultural Mapping.” Campus Advisor Training. Eastern Mennonite University, August, 2017.

“Reflections on Searching for Zion” Eastern Mennonite University, January 26, 2016.

“The Future of Christianity in America: Fresh Voices.” January 13-15, 2015. Virginia Conference of the UMC, Convocation. Blackstone, VA.

“University Sunday: A License to Live.” April 27, 2014. John Wesley United Methodist Church, Harrisonburg, VA.

“A Domesticated King.” January 20, 2014. Eastern Mennonite University Chapel.

“Suspicions of a Black Man.” November 22, 2013. Eastern Mennonite University Chapel.

“A Neighborhood Watch for Trayvon.” October 8, 2013. Eastern Mennonite Seminary Chapel.

“An Immigrant Mission.” July 7, 2013. Parkview Mennonite Church. Harrisonburg, VA

“A Certain Sound: Spiritual Songs and the Civil Rights Movement.” February 17, 2012. Virginia Mennonite Retirement Center, Harrisonburg, VA.

“The People in Your Neighborhood” February 10, 2012, Manor Memorial UMC, New Market, VA.

“Generation Fusion” September 30, 2012, Culpeper UMC, Culpeper, VA.

“Dealing with Diversity” October 28, 2012, Immanuel Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, VA.

CM 681 A – United Methodist Doctrine, May 2016
CM 671 A – United Methodist History, Spring 2015-16

Faculty Scholarship Committee, 2020-21

Seminary Admissions Committee, 2019-2021

Seminary Community Concerns, 2017-19

Creation Care Committee, 2017-19

Seminary Admissions Committee, 2016-17

Seminary Cares Committee, 2016-17

Strategic Planning Task Force, 2015-16

President’s Cabinet Faculty Rep, 2015-16

Faculty Senate Vice President, 2015-16

Faculty Senate, 2014-16

Intellectual Life Committee, 2014-16

EMU Strategic Plan Task Force, 2014

Climate Action Plan Committee, 2014

2014 C. Henry Smith Oratorical Contest judge.

Christian Formation Faculty Search Committee, 2013-14

Martin Luther King Planning Committee, 2013-14

Seminary Admissions Committee, 2013-14

Seminary Academic Committee, 2013-14

Master of Arts in Counseling 3-year Faculty Review Committee Fall 2013

Old Testament/Hebrew Faculty Search Committee, Spring 2012-Fall 2013

Seminary Community Council, Faculty Representative, Spring 2013