Mitzi J Smith - Teaching All Nations: Interrogating the Matthean Great Commission

Karen D. Crozier (PhD, Claremont School of Theology) holds a joint appointment as Assistant Professor of Practical Theology at Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary and Director of Faculty Development (Diversity, Peace and Justice) at Fresno Pacific University. She is currently working on a book entitled Redeeming Racism and Other Isms: A Practical Theology of Healing and Hope.

Lynne St. Clair Darden (PhD, Drew University) is Assistant Professor of New Testament at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

Lord Elorm-Donkor (PhD, University of Manchester) is the District Pastor of the Church of Pentecost in Birmingham, UK, and was recently been appointed the Principal of the new Birmingham Christian College. He received his BA in Theology from the Cornerstone Christian College and the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa; MA in Theology (Missions Studies) from the University of Manchester; MPhil in Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies from the University of Birmingham. His areas of research include the interaction between the gospel and African culture and philosophy, theological ethics in the virtue framework, and Wesleyan studies.

Rohan P. Gideon is a Doctoral Research Student in the University of Manchester. He has taught Christian Theology at the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary, Madurai, India. He is author of Child Labour in India: Challenges for Theological Thinking and Christian Ministry in India and has written articles concerning childrens agency in Indian liberation theology and missions.

Dave Gosse (PhD, Howard University) is a lecturer in the Department of History, University of West Indies Mona. His doctorate is in Caribbean/Latin American History, and he teaches several courses in African, Latin American, Caribbean, and North American History. He specializes in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Jamaican history. He is the author of Abolition and Plantation Management in Nineteenth Century Jamaica.

Jayachitra Lalitha (PhD, Serampore University, India) is Associate Professor of New Testament and Greek, Dean of Womens Studies, and Coordinator of Church Women Centre at the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary, Madurai, Tamilnadu, India. Her research interests include post-Pauline literature, postcolonial biblical hermeneutics, and feminism. She co-chairs the World Christianity Group of the American Academy of Religion.

MarShondra Scott Lawrence, LLPC (MDiv, Ashland Theological Seminary/Detroit) is a chaplain, counselor, adjunct professor, and community developer. Lawrence works with people who are homeless and/or are in substance abuse recovery. She also works with urban organizations committed to the well-being of residents and neighborhoods.

Michelle Sungshin Lim (PhD, Drew University) is Executive Director of the Institute of Education and Transformation. She is an activist, teacher/scholar/feminist theologian, an avid world traveler, and painter of theological themes. Formerly, Dr. Lim was Assistant Professor of Constructive Theology and Culture and Associate Director of the Korean DMin Program at New York Theological Seminary.

Beatrice Okyere-Manu (PhD, University of KwaZulu Natal Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) is a Lecturer in Ethics Studies, School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics (SRPC) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal South Africa. Her research interests are in HIV and AIDS, ethical issues in gender and sexuality, and African Womens Social and Economic Developmental Issues.

Anthony G. Reddie (PhD, University of Birmingham) is the editor of Black Theology: An International Journal. His doctorate is in Education (with Theology). Reddie also earned a BA in History from the University of Birmingham. He has written over fifty essays and articles on Christian education and black theology. He is the author and editor of fourteen books. His latest book is SCM Core Text: Black Theology (2012).

June C. Rivers (PhD, Michigan State University) has been a Youth on a Mission (YOAM) Coordinator since 1989 for the Church of God in Christ. In this capacity, she leads teams of youths and adults to engage in short-term missionary work for two weeks in an international country. June is also a retired educator with a BA and MA from Wayne State University and an MDiv in Counseling from Ashland Theological Seminary/Detroit. Her doctorate is in Elementary Education.

Mitzi J. Smith (PhD, Harvard University) is Associate Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Studies at Ashland Theological Seminary in Detroit. She holds an MA degree in Black Studies from The Ohio State University and an MDiv from Howard University School of Divinity. She is the author of The Literary Construction of the Other in the Acts of the Apostles: Charismatics, the Jews, and Women (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2011) and is editing I Found God in Me: A Womanist Biblical Hermeneutics Reader (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books).

Sheila F. Winborne (PhD, Harvard University) is Visiting Lecturer in Religious Studies, Department of Philosophy and Religion, at Northeastern University with a specialization Religion and Visual Culture.

Gosnell L.Yorke (PhD, McGill University, Canada) is of Caribbean origin and currently is Professor of Biblical Studies and Bible Translation in the School of Religion and Theology at Northern Caribbean University, Jamaica. Formerly, he taught in the School of Religion, Philosophy, and Classics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; served as Professor Extraordinarius in the College of Human Sciences, University of South Africa; and as a Translation Consultant for the United Bible Societies (Africa Area). He has published in the areas of biblical studies, the Bible in Africa and its Diaspora, and Bible translation. He contributed to The Africana Bible: Reading Israels Scriptures from Africa and Its Diaspora (Fortress Press, 2009); Handbook of Theological Education in Africa (World Council of Churches, 2012); and the Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions (Illinois University Press, 2013).

In recent years and in academic circles including biblical studies, there has been a steady increase and crescendo in the volume of postcolonial voices emanating from the Global South; from those who, historically, have been rendered voiceless and considered practically of little or no value. And perhaps this increase in both voices and volume, in terms of both quantity and intensity, is best exemplified in the ever-growing corpus of scholarship that seeks to interrogate the dominant and dominating paradigms that have marked and marred academic, ecclesiastical, and other forms of discourse.