{{Short description|American biblical scholar (1943–2019)}}

{{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = The Reverend | name = Cain Hope Felder | image = JKnight 2289 140210.jpg | landscape = <!-- yes, if wide image, otherwise leave blank --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = Felder in 2014 | birth_date = {{birth date|1943|06|09}} | birth_place = Aiken, South Carolina, U.S.<ref name="Myers 2015, p. 104"/> | death_date = {{Death date and age|2019|10|01|1943|06|09}} | death_place = Mobile, Alabama, U.S. | spouse = | children = | parents = | module = {{Infobox clergy |child=yes | religion = Christianity (Methodist) | church = {{ubl | United Methodist Church | African Methodist Episcopal Church}} | ordained = | congregations = | offices_held = }} | module2 = {{Infobox academic |child=yes | alma_mater = {{ubl | Howard University | Union Theological Seminary | Columbia University}} | thesis_title = Wisdom, Law and Social Concern in the Epistle of James<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Felder |first=Cain Hope |year=1982 |title=Wisdom, Law and Social Concern in the Epistle of James |degree=PhD |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University |oclc=861103570}}</ref> | thesis_year = 1982 | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | influences = James H. Cone<ref>{{cite web |date=July 2011 |title=Dr. Cain Hope Felder |url=https://www.destiny-pride.org/spotlight/july-2011 |location=Washington |publisher=Destiny&nbsp;– Pride |access-date=March 11, 2019 |archive-date=December 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213201833/https://www.destiny-pride.org/spotlight/july-2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> | discipline = Biblical studies | sub_discipline = New Testament studies | workplaces = {{ubl | Princeton Theological Seminary | Howard University}} | doctoral_students = <!--only those with WP articles--> | notable_students = Brian Blount<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Mitzi J. |year=2015 |chapter=Introduction |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=Mitzi J. |title=I Found God in Me: A Womanist Biblical Hermeneutics Reader |location=Eugene, Oregon |publisher=Cascade Books |page=6 |isbn=978-1-62564-745-0}}</ref> | main_interests = | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influenced = <!--must be referenced from a third party source--> }} | signature = | signature_alt = }} '''Cain Hope Felder''' (June 9, 1943 – October 1, 2019)<ref name="Myers 2015, p. 104">{{cite book |last=Myers |first=William H. |year=2015 |orig-year=1991 |title=The Irresistible Urge to Preach: A Collection of African American "Call" Stories |location=Eugene, Oregon |publisher=Wipf and Stock |page=104 |isbn=978-1-4982-7835-5}}</ref> was an American biblical scholar, serving as professor of New Testament language and literature and editor of ''The Journal of Religious Thought'' at the Howard University School of Divinity.<ref>{{cite news|title=Interview with Dr. Cain Hope Felder of Howard University|url=https://www.christianpost.com/article/20051107/interview-with-dr-cain-hope-felder-of-howard-university/|access-date=December 28, 2010|newspaper=Christian Post|date=November 7, 2005}}</ref> He also served as chair of the Doctor of Philosophy program and immediate past chair of the Doctor of Ministry program. He had been on Howard's faculty from 1981 until his retirement in 2016.

==Biography== Prior to coming to Howard, he taught within the Department of Biblical Studies (1978–1981) at Princeton Theological Seminary. From 1969 to 1972, Felder worked as the first executive director of Black Methodists for Church Renewal, the black caucus of the United Methodist Church, which was headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Originally ordained as an elder in the United Methodist Church, he served as pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in New York City (1975–1977). Until his death, Felder served as an elder in the Second Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, where he was appointed by Bishop Adam Jefferson Richardson as the resident biblical scholar for the district.

From 1998 to 2001, Felder served as chair of the implementation panel for the National Center for African American Heritage & Culture at Howard University. He was on Howard's faculty from 1981 to 2016, having come to Washington from Princeton Theological Seminary, where he taught as a member of the Department of Biblical Studies (1978–1981).

His publications include ''True to Our Native Land'' (Augsburg Fortress, May, 2007); ''Troubling Biblical Waters: Race, Class, and Family''<ref>{{cite news|title=Changing Attitudes in the Church|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73888037.html?dids=73888037:73888037&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+17%2C+1989&author=DOROTHY+GILLIAM&pub=The+Washington+Post+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=Changing+Attitudes+in+the+Church&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104201724/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73888037.html?dids=73888037:73888037&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+17,+1989&author=DOROTHY+GILLIAM&pub=The+Washington+Post+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Changing+Attitudes+in+the+Church&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 4, 2012|access-date=December 28, 2010|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=July 17, 1989}}</ref> (Orbis Books, 1989) – 16th printing; and ''The Original African Heritage Study Bible'' (Winston Publishing Company, 1993). Felder held Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Philosophy degrees in biblical languages and literature from Columbia University in New York; a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York; a Diploma of Theology from Mansfield College at the University of Oxford in England; a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy, Greek, and Latin from Howard University in Washington, D.C. He received his secondary education at the Boston Latin School.

Felder died on October 1, 2019, at his Mobile, Alabama, at the age of 76.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/dr-cain-felder-obituary?pid=194046843|title=Obituary: Dr. Cain Hope Felder|publisher=Legacy|date=October 1, 2019}}</ref>

==Selected works== ===Thesis=== * {{cite thesis|author1-last=Felder |author1-first=Cain Hope |title=Wisdom, law and social concern in the Epistle of James |type=Ph.D. |publisher=Columbia University |date=1982 |oclc=9592965 }}

===Books=== * {{cite book |author1-last=Felder |author1-first=Cain Hope |author1-mask=3 |title=Troubling Biblical Waters: Race, Class, and Family |series=Bishop Henry McNeal Turner studies in North American Black religion |volume=3 |location=Maryknoll, NY |publisher=Orbis Books |date=1989 |isbn=9780883445358 |oclc=18983550 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/troublingbiblica00feld }} * {{cite book|author1-last=Felder |author1-first=Cain Hope |author1-mask=3 |title=Stony the Road We Trod: African American biblical interpretation |location=Minneapolis |publisher=Fortress Press |date=1991 |isbn=9780800625016 |oclc=23766878 }} * {{cite book|author1-last=Felder |author1-first=Cain Hope |author1-mask=3 |title=The Original African Heritage Study Bible: King James Version: with special annotations relative to the African/Edenic perspective |location=Nashville, TN |publisher=Winston Publishing Company |date=1993 |isbn=9781555236748 |oclc=312468327 }} * {{cite book|author1-last=Felder |author1-first=Cain Hope |author1-mask=3 |title=Race, racism, and the biblical narratives |series=Facets |location=Minneapolis |publisher=Fortress Press |date=2002 |isbn=9780800635787 |oclc=50912494 }}

===Edited by=== * {{cite book|editor1-last=Felder |editor1-first=Cain Hope |editor1-mask=3 |editor2-last=Blount |editor2-first=Brian K. |editor2-link=Brian K. Blount |editor3-last=Martin |editor3-first=Clarice J. |editor3-link=Clarice J. Martin |editor4-last=Powery |editor4-first=Emerson B. |editor4-link=Emerson B. Powery |title=True to Our Native Land: an African American New Testament commentary |location=Minneapolis |publisher=Augsburg Fortress |date=2007 |isbn=9780800634216 |oclc=84152841 }}

==References== {{reflist}}

{{Princeton Theological Seminary}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Felder, Cain Hope}} Category:1943 births Category:2019 deaths Category:20th-century American Methodist ministers Category:20th-century American biblical scholars Category:21st-century American Methodist ministers Category:Academics from South Carolina Category:African Americans in South Carolina Category:African Methodist Episcopal Church clergy Category:American United Methodist clergy Category:Christians from South Carolina Category:Columbia University alumni Category:Howard University alumni Category:Howard University faculty Category:New Testament scholars Category:People from Aiken, South Carolina Category:Princeton Theological Seminary faculty Category:Religious leaders from South Carolina Category:Union Theological Seminary alumni Category:Writers from South Carolina Category:African-American biblical scholars Category:21st-century Christian biblical scholars Category:21st-century American biblical scholars