{"id":932,"date":"2023-08-01T14:55:57","date_gmt":"2023-08-01T14:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.luthersem.edu\/faculty\/?page_id=932"},"modified":"2026-07-27T18:23:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T18:23:49","slug":"cody-sanders","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.luthersem.edu\/faculty\/cody-sanders\/","title":{"rendered":"Cody Sanders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Biography<\/h2>\n

Cody J. Sanders (he\/him) is an ordained Baptist minister (Alliance of Baptists and American Baptist Churches U.S.A.). He teaches in the areas of pastoral theology and spiritual care within congregational and community contexts, having taught on the adjunct faculties in this area in several other institutions, including Andover Newton Theological School and Chicago Theological Seminary, and on the faculty of the Chaplaincy Studies Center.<\/p>\n

Prior to joining the faculty of Luther Seminary, Sanders was pastor to Old Cambridge Baptist Church in Cambridge, MA, where he also served as American Baptist Chaplain to Harvard University, and Advisor for LGBTQ+ Affairs in the Office of Religious, Spiritual, and Ethical Life at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While\u00a0at Luther, Sanders has served stints as interim pastor at The Table MPLS and University Baptist Church in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

Sanders is a leader in the area of LGBTQIA+ spiritual care, writing and speaking frequently on the subject in churches and academic institutions. He is a practitioner of narrative theories of pastoral care and counseling, training clergy, students, and lay leaders in these skills of caregiving. His current research aims to build ministerial and congregational capacity to lead in cultivating caring communities amid climate collapse, political turmoil, technological acceleration, and the uncertainty of complex near-future scenarios for our life in the world (i.e., polycrisis).<\/p>\n

His books include\u00a0Beyond Affirming: Ministry in LGBTQIA-Inclusive Churches<\/i>\u00a0(with Art Wright (Westminster John Knox, 2026).\u00a0Spiritual Care First Aid: An All-Hands Approach for Church and Community\u00a0<\/i>(Fortress, 2025),\u00a0Corpse Care: Ethics for Tending the Dead\u00a0<\/em>with Mikeal Parsons (Fortress, 2023),\u00a0Christianity, LGBTQ Suicide, and the Souls of Queer Folk\u00a0<\/em>(Lexington, 2020),\u00a0A Brief Guide to Ministry with LGBTQIA Youth<\/em>\u00a0(Westminster John Knox, 2017; revised edition, 2026),\u00a0Microaggressions in Ministry: Confronting the Hidden Violence of Everyday Church\u00a0<\/em>with Angela Yarber\u00a0(Westminster John Knox, 2015), and\u00a0Queer Lessons for Churches on the Straight and Narrow: What All Christians Can Learn from LGBTQ Lives<\/em>\u00a0(FaithLab, 2013; translated into Japanese and Swahili). He has also edited resources for congregations on racial justice and LGBTQ inclusivity, including,\u00a0Trouble the Water: A Christian Resource for the Work of Racial Justice<\/em>\u00a0edited with Michael-Ray Mathews and Marie Onwubuariri (Nurturing Faith, 2017), and\u00a0Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth: A Resource for Congregations on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity<\/em>, 2nd ed. (Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, 2013).<\/p>\n

Playing church at six years old in a backyard chapel built by his father and grandfather at his childhood home in South Carolina, wearing a tiny robe and stole made by his grandmother, Sanders began nurturing a deep and abiding love for the church. That love for the church grew into a passion for educating clergy through contributing to the praxis of theological education and ministerial formation. He takes delight in every opportunity to share with congregations in preaching, worship leadership, and teaching.<\/p>\n

Partial List of Speaking Topics:<\/h2>\n
    \n
  • LGBTQIA+ inclusivity, justice, and care<\/li>\n
  • Ministry amid polycrisis (the multiple, systemic, interconnected, and ongoing crises we face on local, global, and planetary scales)<\/li>\n
  • Developing “hope” as a communal practice in contexts of despair<\/li>\n
  • History and emerging trends in deathcare in the U.S., including green burial<\/li>\n
  • Death, grief, and care of the dead within communal contexts<\/li>\n
  • Trauma-informed practices of ministry<\/li>\n
  • Developing lay leadership in congregational care and practical training in care skills<\/li>\n
  • Microaggressions (bringing our intentional and unintentional communication into alignment with our expressed commitments of inclusivity, belonging, and justice)<\/li>\n
  • Developing capacity for near-future thinking and praxis in ministerial contexts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Education<\/h2>\n
      \n
    • Ph.D., Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University<\/li>\n
    • M.Div., McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University<\/li>\n
    • M.S. (Community Counseling), Mercer University<\/li>\n
    • B.A., Gardner-Webb University<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Featured Work<\/h2>\n

      \"\"<\/p>\n

      Beyond Affirming: Ministry in LGBTQIA-Inclusive Churches<\/i>\u00a0(with Art Wright)<\/div>\n
      Westminster John Knox Press, 2026<\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n
      \n

      Providing practical wisdom for churches embracing LGBTQIA inclusion,\u00a0Beyond Affirming<\/i>\u00a0assists congregations and their leaders with truly living into their commitments to become places of healing, belonging, and celebration.<\/p>\n

      More churches than ever before consider themselves \u201caffirming.\u201d They openly support gay, lesbian, and other queer people being married, ordained, and participating in all the church\u2019s ministries, and they proudly share this affirmation with visible pride. But that declaration\u2014often following a years-long process of debate and discernment\u2014is only the beginning of what it means to be an LGBTQIA-inclusive church.<\/p>\n

      Beyond that momentous decision are everyday practices and choices that make your congregation a truly welcoming, joyful, familial place for queer people and their families to be.\u00a0Beyond Affirming<\/i> offers comprehensive guidance to transform your church into that joyful space. Pastors Cody Sanders and Art Wright not only address strategies for preaching and teaching the Bible but also provide insights on worship, rites and rituals, spiritual care of individuals and families, community outreach, advocacy, and much more. Addressing everything from large-scale ministry concerns to the language used in songs and on forms, this book is an invitation to build together an expansive community of love and justice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Biography Cody J. Sanders (he\/him) is an ordained Baptist minister (Alliance of Baptists and American Baptist Churches U.S.A.). He teaches in the areas of pastoral theology and spiritual care within congregational and community contexts, having taught on the adjunct faculties in this area in several other institutions, including Andover Newton Theological School and Chicago Theological […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1011,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/template.faculty-member.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-932","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCody Sanders - Luther Seminary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.luthersem.edu\/faculty\/cody-sanders\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cody Sanders - Luther Seminary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Biography Cody J. 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