Draft:Emmett G. Price III

Emmett George Price III (born January 13, 1975) is an American academic, scholar and faith leader with a focus on Afro-Diasporic sacred & secular expressions and Christian Worship. On August 17, 2021 he became the founding Dean of Africana Studies at Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory at Berklee.

Academic background

           Education:      University of California, Berkley (BA)

                                   University of Pittsburgh (MA & PhD)

                                   Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (MA)

Website: EmmettPrice.com

Early life and education

Price was born into the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California and graduated from Harvard-Westlake School in 1992 at 17 as a member of the first graduating class of the merged school. He earned a B.A. in Music from the University of California, Berkeley in 1996 where he was a Ronald E. McNair scholar. He earned M.A. (1999) and Ph.D. (2000) in Music (ethnomusicology) from the University of Pittsburgh. Price was a K. Leroy Irvis scholar. Price accomplished postdoctoral fellowships at Indiana University, Bloomington and Washington University in St. Louis. In 2014, Price earned a M.A. in urban ministry leadership from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Career

Academic

Price began his academic career at Northeastern University as part of the music and African American Studies faculties, he was chair of the African American Studies Department from 2008-2012.  While at Northeastern University he served as a visiting professor at Brandeis University, Berklee College of Music, Andover Newton Theological Seminary and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He also served as a research fellow of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and Africana American Research at Harvard University and Northeastern University’s Center for the Study of Sport in Society. In 2016 Price was hired to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary as Professor of Worship, Church & Culture, Dean of the Chapel and founding executive director of the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience. On August 17, 2021 Price became the founding dean of Africana Studies at Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory at Berklee. He has served as a trustee of Massachusetts Bay Community College and The Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies.

Faith leader

Ordained into Christian ministry in 2009 and recognized by the American Baptist Convention USA, Price is founding pastor of Community of Love Christian Fellowship. From 2006-2018 he served as president and founder of the Black Church Music Ministry Project and from 2011-2023 he served as the Director of the James Abbington Church Music Academy of the Hampton Ministers’ Conference & Choir Directors’ and Organists’ Guild Workshop. Since 2014, Price has been a regular contributor on the “All Rev’d Up” segment of the Boston Public Radio show on Boston’s NPR radio station WGBH 89.7 FM. As a result of the popularity of the segment, WGBH launched the “All Rev’d Up” Podcast, co-executive produced and co-hosted by Price and Rev. Irene Monroe. In 2021 Price founded the Black Christian Experience Resource Center.

Price is a life member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Select published works

• Price III, Emmett G., Peter Goodwin Heltzel and Pablo A. Jimenez “El Espíritu Migratorio:
• Toward a Prophetic Pneumatology in the World Christian Movement” with in Migration Mission Ministry. Robert Chao Romero & Stephen Buris (editors). Skyforest, CA, Urban Loft Publishers, 2022
• Price III, Emmett G. There Is a Balm in Gilead: A Call to Lament Together. Peabody, MA:
• Hendrickson Publishers, 2020
• Price III, Emmett G. “There Is a Balm in Gilead: A Call to Lament Together” in A Tome for
• Sorrow: Recovering the Practice of Lament in the Life of the Church. Scott Harrower & Sean M. McDonough (editors). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2019: 89-99
• Price III, Emmett G. “Stand By Me” IMAGE: Art * Faith * Mystery. Issue #96, Spring 2018:
• 24-27
• Price III, Emmett G. “In the Garden of Bebop” in The Papercuts Anthology, Volume 1: What
• Happened Here. San Francisco, CA: Quill, 2016: 11-13
• Price III, Emmett G. “Singing the Sermon: Where Musicology Meets Homiletics” Yale Journal
• of Music & Religion. Vol. 1, Issue 2 (2015): 49-66
• Price III, Emmett G. “The Christian Faith, Race Relations, and Civic Order: The Ferguson Protests” with Mark Harden and Dennis Hollinger. Africanus Journal. Vol. 7, No. 2, November
• 2015: 4-19
• Price III, Emmett G. “Melba Liston: Renaissance Woman,” Black Music Research Journal.
• Vol. 34, No. 1, Spring 2014: 159-168
• Price III, Emmett G. The Black Church and Hip Hop Culture: Toward Bridging the
• Generational Divide. Lanham, MD.: Scarecrow Press, 2012
• Price III, Emmett G., Tammy Kernodle & Horace J. Maxile, Jr. Encyclopedia of African
• American Music [3 Volumes]. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011
• Price III, Emmett G. “The Spiritual Ethos in Black Music,” in John Coltrane & Black
• America’s Quest for Freedom: Spirituality and the Music.  Leonard Brown (editor).  New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2010: 153-172
• Price III, Emmett G. HIP HOP Culture. Santa Barbara, CA.: ABC-CLIO, 2006
• Price III, Emmett G. Take Black History Month Beyond Empty Gestures to True Learning,”
• (editorial) The Boston Herald. February 22, 2004: n.p.
• Price III, Emmett G. “Roots, Branches, Shapes, and Shades (of Green) by Wendell Logan: A
• Brief Analysis,” International Jazz Archives Journal. Vol. II, No. 3, Fall 2001-2002; 180-186
• Price III, Emmett G. “The Development of John Coltrane’s Concept of Spirituality and Its
• Expression in Music,” The Berkeley McNair Journal. Vol. 3. Summer 1995, 107 – 119