Larry Donell Covin, Jr.
Dr. Larry Donell Covin Jr, Jr., is an American Public Theologian, Ethicist, Scholar and Author. He is a nationally and internationally recognized expert and scholar; in the discipline of social justice, corrections ethics, theology and law, liberation theology, as well as homelessness research. His research is often used in the publication of peer reviewed journal articles around the world.
Dr. Larry Covin is the author of Thirteen Turns: A Theology Resurrected from the Gallows of Jim Crow Christianity published by Wipf and Stock 2020, A Theology of Justice: Interpreting John Rawls in Corrections Ethics-An Ethnography published by Wipf and Stock 2022, and Homelessness, Poverty and Incarceration: The Criminalization of Despair published by Taylor and Francis 2012.
He is a member of The American Academy of Religion, The Authors Guild, The American Bar Association, and The Association of Practical Theology.
Dr. Covin earned the Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Albany State University at The University System of Georgia, Master of Divinity in Parochial Education from the Interdenominational Theological Center, Doctoral degree in Criminal Justice Ethics from the Lancaster Theological Seminary at Moravian University, and a Postdoctoral Research ThM degree in Theology and Ethics from Princeton Theological Seminary.
Over the span of twenty years Dr. Covin has taught as an adjunct professor at Morgan State University, University of Baltimore, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Lancaster Theological Seminary, and The Schaefer Center for Public Policy teaching Public Policy Ethics.
Since 2014 Dr. Covin has served as Systematic Theologian-Religion Scholar, at the Historic Trinity UCC Church (1742) in York, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Covin’s book published in 2020 is Thirteen Turns: A Theology Resurrected from the Gallows of Jim Crow Christianity, which builds upon his previous scholarly work, and is considered as foundational and essential work in Liberation Theology studies. The following is an excerpt taken from the cover of Thirteen Turns:
It is remarkable that African Americans, the descendants of slaves, embrace Christianity at all. The imagination that is necessary to parse biblical text and find within it a theology that speaks to their context is a testimony to their will to survive in a hostile land. Black religion embraces the cross and the narrative of Jesus as savior, both theologically and culturally. But this does not suggest that African Americans have not historically, and do not now, struggle with the reconciliation of the cross, black life, suffering. African Americans are well aware of the shared relationship of Christianity with the white oppressors of history. The religion that helped African Americans to survive is the religion that was instrumental in their near genocide.
Dr. Covin’s latest book published June 2022 is titled, A Theology of Justice: Interpreting John Rawls in Corrections Ethics-An Ethnography. An excerpt taken from the cover reads as follows:
There are thirty-eight ethical statements-principles throughout the seven chapters of A Theology of Justice. These ethical statements form a comprehensive corrections ethic informed by the human rights abuses occurring in jails and prisons in the United States, offering evidence-based correctives. This corrections ethic is informed by twenty years of qualitative research inside four jail and prison institutions, as an administrator of both Treatment and Religious Services departments; including the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Leavenworth, United States Penitentiary in Atlanta, Maryland Division of Pretrial Detention and Services, and the Adams County Adult Correctional Complex in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. A Theology of Justice is foundational toward a corrections ethic, and reflective of disciplines possessing extensive research in the development of its ethics, such as business ethics and medical ethics.
A search of the majority of college and university libraries in the United States, as well as abroad, will produce housed in their catalog of collections, the intellectual contributions-scholarly writings and pedagogical contributions of the work of Larry Covin. Dr. Covin’s scholarship in the discipline of ethics, theology, and criminal justice ethics reform has been well documented in institutions of higher education.
Dr. Covin’s expertise in, and advocacy for the poor and criminal justice reform in his writings, is utilized by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Dr. Larry Donell Covin, Jr., is available as a lecturer, as well as writing consultant for aspiring authors. He resides in Atlanta, Georgia.
Learn more at Larry Donell Covin, Jr.’s official website
