Berkeley Divinity School at Yale appoints Gabrielle Thomas as its next dean and president

The Reverend Dr. Gabrielle Thomas will become the next dean of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale on July 1, 2026.

The Board of Trustees of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale announced that The Reverend Dr.  Gabrielle Thomas will become its next Dean and President on July 1, 2026.

Thomas will also be assuming the post of Associate Dean of the Yale Divinity School.

A noted scholar of historical theology, an experienced parish priest and a gifted teacher, Thomas currently is an Associate Professor of Early Christianity and Anglican Studies (with tenure) at Emory’s Candler School of Theology; she was recruited there to be the inaugural faculty member for its Anglican Studies program.

From 2019-2021, Thomas was on the faculty of Berkeley and the Yale Divinity School where she was instrumental in reimagining the Anglican Studies curriculum.

James Elrod, Chair of the Board of Trustees of Berkeley, stated,

“We wanted a gifted teacher, an experienced pastor, a distinguished scholar and someone poised to be a bold leader for the School, The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. We have gotten that and more with Gabby.”

A native of the United Kingdom with Permanent Residency in the United States, Thomas aspired to be a priest since childhood—even though women were then not ordained in the Church of England. She received her BA with honors in Classics at the University of Bristol and her Ph.D in Historical Theology at the University of Nottingham.

A respected scholar of Early Christianity, Thomas has published twenty articles, two books and co-edited a third book. Her fourth book –the second to be published by Cambridge University Press—will be available this spring.  Thomas has also been an active writer and speaker on the implications of historical theology for today’s church and women’s experiences in ministry and the academy. Yale Divinity School Dean Greg Sterling shared, “Gabby is an internationally respected specialist in the Cappadocians. But she is far more than a serious scholar, she has made significant contributions to the role of women in the Anglican Communion both through her writing and voice within the church. Her years on the faculty here demonstrated that she is an outstanding pedagogue. We are thrilled to welcome her back in this capacity. She continues the standard that Andrew McGowan set as a scholar and committed church leader.”

Thomas was full-time Assistant Curate at St. Mary with St. Alban parish, London from 2015-2017. She was recognized for her innovations in outreach by the Jack Petchy Foundation, specifically for “transformative leadership in the local community.”  In Atlanta, she has served on the staff of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church as Theologian-in-Community, with a ministry of preaching, teaching, designing formation courses, offering pastoral care, and officiating at Holy Communion and Evensong.

For nearly a decade, Thomas served on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Theological Reflection Group, engaging questions of ecclesiology, doctrine, and mission in service to the Archbishop’s ministry.  At the diocesan level, she has led clergy study days and task forces at the invitation of bishops both in the U.S. and the U.K.  With respect to the Anglican Communion, she was the first woman to serve on the Anglican-Oriental Orthodox International Commission.

Linda Lorimer, Chair of the Search Committee, said, “Gabby inspired us in how she views herself not in separate dimensions of priest and scholar and teacher. Rather she sees herself as a priest in everything she does.”  The Rev. Dr. Justin Crisp, who is a Berkeley trustee and taught alongside Thomas in the Anglican Studies program at Berkeley said, “she is the most authentic Christian I have encountered. At her heart is a love of Jesus and for Jesus, and it is profound and inspiring. She is the ‘real deal’: her relationship with God grounds everything she does.  She is a real believer—and it is palpable.”

Thomas stated, “For me, this moment is not simply a professional milestone. As a scholar-priest, it is a vocational homecoming. It is a sacred trust to be called to serve as the next Dean of Berkeley Divinity School. The task of theological education requires not only intellectual excellence but the discernment to live faithfully in complex and contested times. I am committed to our continued growth as a community where worship deepens, wisdom flourishes, and witness to the good news of Jesus Christ is bold. “

Berkeley, established in 1854, is one of the five residential seminaries of The Episcopal Church and is accredited by The Association of Theological Schools. The School’s affiliation with Yale Divinity School is a source of strength, enabling its students to have access to a unique breadth of education offered at an Episcopal seminary. The School provides free tuition for all who qualify for financial aid, and the Berkeley Center has been reimagined with a $6+ million renovation. The School’s Capital Campaign has raised over $24 million, topping the original goal by 33 percent.  Berkeley has developed an ambitious leadership initiative through its Transforming Leaders programs, enabling the School to extend its mission to equip more clergy and laity for greater leadership for the Church.

Thomas will succeed Dean Andrew McGowan, who will be joining the full-time faculty of the Yale Institute of Music and the Yale Divinity School after 12 years of exceptional leadership for the School.

For questions, please contact

Jonathan Taylor at Jonathan.taylor@yale.edu