Carolyn Custis James
Author
Biography
Carolyn Custis James (BA in Sociology, MA in Biblical Studies) is an award winning author who thinks deeply about what it means to be a female follower of Jesus in a postmodern world. As a cancer survivor, she is grateful to be alive and determined to address the issues that matter most.
She blogs here at www.carolyncustisjames.com and as a Leading Voice for Missio Alliance. She has also blogged at Huffington Post/Religion. Her speaking and writing ministry is dedicated to addressing the deeper needs which confront both women and men as they endeavor to extend God’s kingdom together in a messy and complicated world.
Carolyn’s books have been described as “provocative,” “honest,” and “ground-breaking.”
- Finding God in the Margins: The Book of Ruth (2018)
- Malestrom: Manhood Swept into the Currents of a Changing World (2015)
~ Christianity Today 2016 Book of the Year—Her.meneutics Category ~
~ Missio Alliance—Best 10 Books of 2015 ~
~ 2012 Outreach Magazine Resource of the Year ~
- The Gospel of Ruth: Loving God Enough to Break the Rules (2008)
- Understanding Purpose (2006)
- Lost Women of the Bible: The Women We Thought We Knew (2005)
- When Life and Beliefs Collide: How Knowing God Makes a Difference (2001)
Carolyn is an adjunct faculty member at BTS (Biblical Theological Seminary, soon to be Missio Seminary) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and a consulting editor for Zondervan’s Exegetical Commentary Series on the New Testament. In 2013, Christianity Today named her one of the 50 evangelical women to watch. She speaks regularly at church conferences, colleges and other Christian organizations both in the US and abroad and is a guest lecturer at various theological seminaries. She has been interviewed by the Associated Press and National Public Radio.
In 2017, Carolyn joined the advisory board of Logia, an initiative of the LOGOS Institute at the University of St. Andrews, UK committed to seeing Christian women become more visible and valued in the academy and the church. She was also appointed to the advisory board of 4word Women—an international Christian organization for professional women in the workplace. In 2016, Carolyn was appointed to the advisory board of the Institute for Bible Reading. This institute is committed to facilitate and energize a reading movement for the twenty-first century.
She is founder and president emerita of the Synergy Women’s Network, Inc.—a national network of women emerging or engaged in ministry leadership. In 2015 Synergy became part of Missio Alliance.
A pastor’s daughter, Carolyn grew up in Portland, Oregon. During the years between seminary and her present ministries, she had her own business as a computer software developer in Oxford, England. Her husband Frank is President and Professor of Historical Theology at BTS.
Carolyn and Frank live in Sellersville, Pennsylvania. They have one adult daughter. She and her husband and two adorable little grand-ezers live in Florida.