Perzavia Praylow

Director of Black Church Studies;
Assistant Professor of Historical Theology and Black Church Studies

Drew University, BA; The University of Illinois, MA in Education Policy Studies, MA in History, PhD in History; Columbia Theological Seminary, MDIV; Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, STM.

The Reverend Dr. Perzavia Praylow, PhD is an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament ordained in The Presbyterian Church (USA). She is currently the Director of Black Church Studies and Assistant Professor of Practical Theology at Louisville Seminary where she teaches courses in Black Church Studies and Practical Theology. Dr. Praylow is a historian, practical theologian and teacher-scholar called to serve at the intersection of teaching, scholarship, and pastoral leadership.

Dr. Praylow joined the faculty of Louisville Seminary in July 2024. She previously served as an administrator at Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, DC as the Director of Contextual Theology and adjunct professor of Field Education and as an Assistant Professor of American History at Augusta University in Augusta, GA. Dr. Praylow previously served as the pastor of Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church and interim Pastor of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ - both located in DC.

Dr. Praylow earned a PhD in American History, a MA in Education Policy and a MA in History all from the University of Illinois (Urbana, IL), a MDiv at Columbia Theological Seminary (GA), a Master of Sacred Theology at Lutheran Theology Southern Seminary (SC), and a BA in History at Drew University (NJ). Dr. Praylow’s research focuses on 20th Century race relations, American religious history, African American social equality, and the history of education. Her current book project is titled “Fisk University, Black Colleges and the Socialization of Students for Race Leadership Since Reconstruction.”

She is a member of the American Academy of Religion, the Association of Black Women Historians, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the American Society of Church History, the Association of Practical Theology, the Academy of Religious Leadership and participates in the network for Ecclesiology and Ethnography.

Dr. Praylow is passionate about teaching, scholarship, preaching, mentoring, coaching and equipping leaders and congregations for religious leadership.