Chief Academic Officer and Dean of the Faculty, Aurelia Henry Reinhardt Professor of Theological Ethics, Director of Studies in Public Ministry, Ex-officio Board of Trustees Member, Dean of Faculty, Full-time Core Faculty
M.Div. Waldensian Theological Seminary, Rome, Italy,
Ph.D. Union Theological Seminary, New York, NY
Rev. Gabriella Lettini, Ph.D. (she-her), serves as Dean of Faculty, Chief Academic Officer, and Aurelia Henry Reinhardt Professor of Theological Ethics at Starr King School for the Ministry. Arriving at Starr King in August of 2005, she was charged with directing the new Master of Arts in Social Change (MASC).
A native of Torino, Italy, Lettini earned her M.Div. at the Waldensian Theological Seminary in Rome, Italy. She is an ordained minister of the Waldensian Church, a movement that originated in France and Italy in the 12th century and was based on evangelical poverty, a critique of church hierarchies, a condemnation of the church as an imperial political power and a strong emphasis on lay leadership, including women. Persecuted as “heretical,” the Waldensians joined the Reformation in 1532. Dr. Lettini has served Waldensian and Methodist churches in Italy. She served as an officer of the American Waldensian Society from 1996 to 2006 and was its President from 2006 to 2009.
Dr. Lettini earned her Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary in New York City under the supervision of Dr. Delores G. Williams and Dr. James H. Cone, foundational scholars in Womanist and Black Liberation Theologies. She also served as an ecumenical associate at the Jan Hus Presbyterian Church in New York. Her dissertation, “The ‘Allergy’ to the Other,” focused on contemporary theological perspectives on “otherness” and hegemonic patterns of identity construction. During her doctoral studies, Lettini served as Ecumenical Associate at the Jan Hus Presbyterian Church in New York City.
Before accepting her position at Starr King, Dr. Lettini taught at Union Theological Seminary as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Theology and Culture. She collaborated with the Poverty Initiative at Union Theological Seminary and served on several Poverty Truth Commissions in New York. She has also organized similar programs at the Graduate Theological Union and Starr King School.
Dr. Lettini used the same grassroots model for truth commissions to address issues of war. Teaming up with Rev. Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock, she co-organized the Truth Commission on Conscience in War, which held a public hearing at the Riverside Church in New York in March 2010. This work led Drs. Brock and Lettini to co-author Soul Repair: Recovering from Moral Injury After War, published by Beacon Press in 2012.
Dr. Lettini is the author of Omosessualità, published in 1999. This small book aimed at the general public was the first text written by an Italian religious leader to challenge homophobia publicly. Lettini has published book chapters and articles on syncretism, theology and culture(s), U.S. and global liberation theologies, feminist and womanist theologies and liturgies, women and religion, movies and religion, religion and politics, ethics, religious traditions and the “other.” In addition, she was the curator of the translation into Italian of the Dictionary of Feminist Theologies. Lettini’s most recent publications include “Resistance as Healing: Disrupting the Spiritual Foundations of Capitalism” in Liberating People, Planet and Religion: Intersections of Ecology, Economics, and Christianity. Joerg Rieger ed. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2024; “Mourning, Raging, Loving, Learning” in Doing Theology in Pandemics: Facing Viruses, Violence, and Vitriol, edited by Zachary Moon. Eugene, OR: Pickwick-Wipf and Stock, 2022 and “Current Understandings of Moral Injury’s Identification, Causes, Symptoms, and Responses,” in Moral Injury: A Guidebook for Understanding and Engagement edited by Brad Kelle, Landman, MD, Lexington Books, 2020.
Lettini served as co-chair of the Moral Injury and Recovery Unit of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) from 2017 to 2022, and was on its steering committee since 2013. She served as co-chair of the Transformative Pedagogy and Scholarship Group of the AAR from 2017 to 2022. She was a founding member of both units.
Lettini is a member of INTERFILM (International Interchurch Film Organization, by invitation). She has served on the Ecumenical Jury of the Montreal, Locarno, Berlin and Cannes international film festivals.
Lettini is currently a TIDEL fellow at Union Theological Seminary in the city of New York, (Technology, Innovation and Digital Engagement Lab). In May 2024 Lettini received a certificate in Design Thinking by AIGA Professional Association for Design.
At Starr King, Dr. Lettini teaches courses in theological ethics, moral injury, and justice issues. She also leads independent studies and supervises all MA in Social Change final projects. She chairs the Curriculum Committee and all Faculty meetings and convenes the staff Education Team.
