The General Theological Seminary Appoints Five New Faculty Members and Grants Tenure to Two
NEW YORK, June 23, 2026 - The General Theological Seminary (GTS) is pleased to announce the appointment of five additional faculty members through joint appointments with Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS). The new faculty members, who bring expertise in areas including church music, ethics, and preaching, reflect the growing collaboration between the two seminaries under their Affiliation Agreement.
Marty Wheeler Burnett, D.Min., Professor of Church Music; the Rev. Ruthanna Hooke, Ph.D., Professor of Homiletics; and Kyle Lambelet, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Ethics, have all been appointed to the GTS faculty for three-year terms.
In addition, the Rev. Joseph Thompson, Ph.D., Seminary Librarian, and John Allan Knight, J.D., Ph.D., Director of Faculty Research, have been appointed to the GTS faculty ex officio.
These appointments increase the size of the GTS faculty to 12, augmenting the work of the four faculty members who teach exclusively at GTS and the three who already hold joint appointments. The expanded faculty reflects the continued development of the Affiliation Agreement, providing GTS students with access to a broader range of expertise while maintaining General’s distinctive approach to theological education and formation.
GTS and VTS entered into an Affiliation Agreement in November 2022, under which the two seminaries operate as separate institutions with their own distinct identities, traditions, and ethos. They maintain independent governance, finances, and accreditation, but share a senior management team. In addition, VTS provides services for GTS, including library and research support, as well as admissions and academic administration.
GTS is also pleased to announce that the Rev. Michael DeLashmutt, Ph.D., Dean of the Chapel of the Good Shepherd; and the Rev. April Stace, Ph.D., Director of Contextual Ministry, have both been granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor. Tenure track appointments were re-introduced at the seminary following the Affiliation Agreement with VTS.
The Rev. Melody Knowles, Ph.D., Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of Old Testament, said: “With these joint appointments, the exemplary programming at GTS continues to expand and deepen with more courses in required and elective areas. In addition to providing more options for students, the appointments strengthen the faculty body as a whole.
“It is always a wonderful moment when colleagues achieve tenure to mark their serious and committed work of teaching and scholarship over decades of service. The unanimous votes of the Board to promote Dr. Stace and Dr. DeLashmutt as Associate Professors came in response to the recommendation of review committees made up of faculty from both VTS and GTS, external peer reviewers, as well as student representatives, and was fittingly marked by rousing applause at commencement.”
Notes to editors:
For media inquiries, please contact Nicky Burridge, Senior Vice President for Communications and Institutional Advancement at Virginia Theological Seminary and The General Theological Seminary. Tel: (703) 461-1782 Mobile: (703) 300-2876 Email: nburridge@vts.edu
About the new faculty appointments:
Marty Wheeler Burnett, D.Min. is Associate Professor of Church Music and Director of the Chapel at Virginia Theological Seminary. Her publications, presentations, and research focus on liturgical music, particularly hymns and service music by women. Dr. Burnett is a past President of the Association of Anglican Musicians and a current member of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music of The Episcopal Church.
The Rev. Ruthanna Hooke, Ph.D. is Professor of Homiletics at Virginia Theological Seminary and Program Director of Preaching Congregations, a Lilly Endowment-funded congregationally-based program of renewal and formation for preachers and listeners. Dr. Hooke is the author of a number of books and articles on homiletics, including Sacramental Presence: An Embodied Theology of Preaching (Lexington Books, 2023), and *Transforming Preaching *(Church Publishing, 2010).
Kyle Lambelet, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Ethics and Director of the Saint Nicholas Center for Faith and Justice at Virginia Theological Seminary. He is author of *¡Presente! Nonviolent Politics and the Resurrection of the Dead *(George Town University Press, 2020). His current research thinks theologically about the climate crisis, drawing especially on the apocalyptic traditions of political theology to suggest practices for living through the ending of worlds.
The Rev. Joseph Thompson, Ph.D. serves as Seminary Librarian at Virginia Theological Seminary. An Episcopal priest and scholar, Dr. Thompson area of expertise is African American Studies. Dr. Thompson was formerly archivist for the African American Episcopal Historical Collection at VTS.
John Allan Knight, J.D., Ph.D. is Director of Faculty Research and Sprigg Visiting Professor of Philosophical Theology and Ethics at Virginia Theological Seminary. He is the co-editor of The Craft of Innovative Theology: Argument and Process (Wiley-Blackwell, 2022) and the author of Liberalism vs. Postliberalism: The Great Divide in Twentieth-Century Theology (Oxford, 2012), as well as a number of articles in both scholarly and popular publications.
About The General Theological Seminary:
The General Theological Seminary of The Episcopal Church was founded in 1817. It is the oldest seminary of The Episcopal Church and has educated and formed leaders for the church in a changing world for more than 200 years. The Seminary was chartered by an act of The Episcopal Church’s General Convention and its name was chosen to reflect its founders’ vision that it be a seminary to serve the whole church.