Alphonso F. Saville, IV is a Postdoctoral Research Associate with The Crossroad Project at the Princeton University Center for the Study of Religion.  His current book project, The Gospel of John Marrant: Conjure, Christianity and the Story of America’s First Black Minister, is the first full-length study of North America’s first black ordained minister and explores how black religious thinkers and practitioners utilized religion as a cultural response to the systemic and interpersonal oppression produced by racial slavery and social proscription. A second book project tentatively titled The Problem of God and Slavery at Georgetown, explores the history of slavery at Georgetown University and analyzes how debates on slavery shaped and informed discussions about the nature of God, religious experience, and public life in America. Saville earned his PhD in Religion at Emory University, and has been awarded research fellowships at Dartmouth College, William & Mary University, and Georgetown University.