The Rev. Dr. Loida I. Martell is the 18th Vice President of Academic Affairs/ Dean of Lexington Theological Seminary, where she also serves as Professor of Constructive Theology. Dr. Martell joined the faculty of Lexington Theology Seminary in August of 2017. Prior to that, she was the Professor of Constructive Theology at Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University in Pennsylvania. During her tenure at Palmer, she founded the Orlando E. Costas Lectureship and the Diversity Committee—as the school sought to become an actively anti-racist and inclusive institution.
Dr. Martell is a licensed doctor in veterinary medicine as well as an ordained minister in the American Baptist Churches/ USA. She is a bi-coastal Puerto Rican who has taught in various institutions of higher learning including Gordon Conwell’s Center for Urban Ministerial Education in Boston and the University of Puerto Rico’s College of Allied Health Professionals, where she initiated the Animal Health Technology Program. She pastored in New York City for 15 years, creating bilingual programs for the churches she served. She was President of the Board of American Baptist Churches/ New York City from 1994–1996.
Dr. Martell pioneered the study of evángelica theology. She has published articles on evangélica soteriology, Christology, doctrine of God, Scriptural hermeneutics, embodiment, eschatology, globalization, and vocation. The findings of her research on Taíno religious beliefs were published in “My GPS Doesn’t Work in Puerto Rico,” an article on evangélica spirituality. She co-edited Teología en Conjunto: A Collaborative Hispanic Protestant Theology (1997), and co-authored the well-received Latina Evangélicas: A Theological Survey from the Margins (2013).
As a member of the American Academy of Religion, Dr. Martell currently serves as President of La Comunidad of Hispanic Scholars of Religion. She was appointed to represent the American Baptist Churches/ USA on the National Council of Churches Convening Table for Theological Studies and Matters of Faith and Reason. The American Baptist Home Missions Societies awarded her the 2015 Richard Hoiland Christian Education Award, its highest recognition for “faithful and effective leadership in Christian education,” for her long-standing work in nurturing culturally and racially diverse classrooms and for exceptional leadership. She is also a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association.
She is an avid amateur photographer.
