Nathan Jérémie-Brink Awarded Tenure and Promoted to Associate Professor
June 23, 2025
On Friday, May 16, 2025, the Board of Trustees of New Brunswick Theological Seminary (NBTS) voted unanimously to grant tenure and promote Rev. Dr. Nathan Jérémie-Brink to the position of L. Russell Feakes Associate Professor of the History of Global Christianity, effective July 1, 2025. This significant milestone honors Dr. Jérémie-Brink’s exemplary contributions to the Seminary’s academic life, his influential scholarship, and his steadfast commitment to justice-oriented theological education.
Dr. Jérémie-Brink joined the NBTS faculty in 2018 and has consistently advanced the mission of the seminary through his scholarship, in the classroom, and in projects that engage the broader church and community. A teacher and mentor dedicated to making history public, he encourages seminary students and their church communities to “do history.” For Dr. Jérémie-Brink, this means “bringing historical critical thinking into our faith communities and public life.”
His archival scholarship on Black religious history and abolitionist print culture is the focus of his forthcoming monograph, tentatively titled Spreading Fire: Black Print Activism in the Early US. He has published other works on these topics, such as a recent essay on “Religion and Abolitionism” in the Routledge History of Religion and Politics in the US.
During the pandemic, his work secured nearly $200,000 in grant funding from the Henry Luce Foundation around the needs of unhoused neighbors during the COVID-19 pandemic. This work deepened NBTS’s collaborative relationships with Rutgers University, coLAB Arts New Brunswick, and the Affordable Housing Corporation of the Reformed Church of Highland Park. He shared theological and pedagogical insights gleaned from this project in an article published in Teaching Theology & Religion. Click here to view a PDF of the article.
A distinctive thrust in much of Dr. Jérémie-Brink’s public scholarship has featured the history of enslavement in New Jersey and its relationship to Christianity and particular church communities. His ongoing work on this topic in the local context of Morris County, New Jersey, can be reviewed at the project website, Acknowledging the History of Enslavement and Liberation of African Americans in Pequannock. This project featured the reburial of the human remains of formerly enslaved African Americans through a community-engaged process featuring local pastors, other public historians, and ongoing community member dialogue.
Among the other scholarly contributions that have grown out of the NBTS classroom, Jérémies online interactive resource developed with NBTS Master’s Student Sue McGeown, featured in TARA: Teaching and Research Archive for the History of Christianity sponsored by the American Society of Church History.
He also writes for the general public at Tables: Upsetting Systems of Injustice, Setting a Welcome Feast.
Throughout the review process, colleagues, alumni, students, and external evaluators consistently highlighted Dr. Jérémie-Brink’s academic innovation and commitment to diversity and inclusion. Many noted the historical depth, intellectual rigor, and contemporary relevance of his work. Dr. Jérémie-Brink is grateful that his scholarship and NBTS can provide a “spaces and methods for deep engagement–where scholarship, community advocacy, and faithful public leadership converge.”
NBTS President Dr. Micah L. McCreary reflected on Dr. Jérémie-Brink’s recognition, stating:
“Dr. Jérémie-Brink exemplifies the heart and intellect of New Brunswick Theological Seminary. His unwavering commitment to justice, academic excellence, and compassionate leadership continues to inspire our students and uplift the wider faith community. We are proud to celebrate this well-deserved honor.”
The Seminary community celebrates Dr. Jérémie-Brink’s achievements and looks forward to his continued leadership in advancing the mission of NBTS to think critically, act justly, and lead faithfully, locally and globally.