Rev. Gabriella Lettini, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) is Dean of Faculty and Aurelia Henry Reinhardt Professor of Theological Ethics and Director of Studies in Public Ministry at the Starr King School for the Ministry, in Oakland, CA. Arriving at Starr King in August of 2005, she was charged with directing the new Master of Arts in Social Change (MASC). She currently serves on the GTU Core Doctoral Faculty.

A native of Torino, Italy, Lettini earned her M.Div. at the Waldensian Theological Seminary in Rome, Italy. She is an ordained minister of the Waldensian Church, a movement that originated in France and Italy in the 12th century and was based on evangelical poverty, a critique of church hierarchies, refusal of the church as a political power and a strong emphasis on lay leadership, including women.

Dr. Lettini earned her Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary in New York City under the supervision of Dr. Delores Williams and Dr. James Cone. . Before accepting her position at Starr King, Dr. Lettini taught at Union Theological Seminary and  collaborated with the Poverty Initiative at Union, serving  in several Poverty Truth Commissions in New York. She organized similar programs at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. .  Teaming up with Rev. Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock, she co-organized the Truth Commission on Conscience in War, which held a public hearing at the Riverside Church in New York in March 2010. This work led Brock and Lettini to co-author Soul Repair: Recovering from Moral Injury After War, published by Beacon Press in 2012.

Dr. Lettini is the author of “Omosessualità,” published in 1999: this small book aimed at the general public was the first text by an Italian religious leader to publicly challenge homophobia and bless same sex unions.  Lettini has published book chapters and articles on syncretism, theology and culture(s), U.S. and global liberation theologies, feminist and womanist theologies and liturgies, women and religion, movies and religion, religion and politics, ethics, religious traditions and the “other.” In addition, she was the curator of the translation into Italian of the Dictionary of Feminist Theologies.  Lettini has co-chaired the Transformative Pedagogy and Scholarship Group of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and currently serves on the Steering Committee of the Moral Injury Group of the AAR. Lettini is a member of INTERFILM (International Interchurch Film Organization, by invitation). She has served on the Ecumenical Jury of the Montreal, Locarno, Berlin and Cannes international film festivals.