Dr. Larry Covin, Jr., born September 1962 in Monmouth County, New Jersey, is an American Public Theologian, Ethicist, Scholar and Author.

Larry Donell Covin Jr is the author of:

A Theology of Justice: Interpreting John Rawls in Corrections Ethics-An Ethnography published by Wipf and Stock 2022. (Book)
https://wipfandstock.com/9781666738810/a-theology-of-justice/#.Y5ALwQOgENU.mailto

Thirteen Turns: A Theology Resurrected From the Gallows of Jim Crow Christianity published by Wipf and Stock 2020. (Book)
https://wipfandstock.com/9781725266834/thirteen-turns/#.Y5AKkjRCFOM.mailto

Homelessness, Poverty, and Incarceration: The Criminalization of Despair published by Taylor and Francis 2012. (Journal)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15228932.2012.713835

Self-archiving Paper, Black Public Theology In America: A General Survey (17 Pages) https://www.drlarrycovin.org/attachments/Chapter--1-.pdf

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Z3nccD0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

Dr. Covin has served as adjunct professor at both Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University since 2024, where he teaches critical thinking, ethics, as well as philosophical ethics.

He is a member of The American Academy of Religion, The Authors Guild, The American Bar Association-Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice, Association for Practical and Professional Ethics.

Prior to academia and becoming a Public Theologian and Scholar, Dr. Covin was an Active Duty United States Army Commissioned Officer and Paratrooper. After exiting Active Duty as an XO for trainees, he transferred to the Army Reserve Chaplaincy. His military career spanned fifteen years including Active Duty, Army Reserve, National Guard and the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR).

Larry Covin’s expertise in, and advocacy for the poor and criminal justice reform in his writings, continues to be utilized by the U.S. Department of Justice at ojp.govlarrycovin.

He studied under, and was a student of, two theologians venerated as icons of the Liberation Theology movement. First, Gayraud Wilmore of the Interdenominational Theological Center of Atlanta University; and Albert J. Raboteau of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary.

George Hunsinger, another Systematic Theologian of whom Larry Covin studied under while at Princeton, has been significant in influencing the thinking and theology of Dr. Covin.

However, there has been perhaps no other theologian more prominent in the formation of Dr. Covin, than the Yale Theologian Lee Barrett, the theologian and philosopher Soren Kierkegaard Scholar par excellence; under whom Larry Covin studied for three years.

Most notably, his authored work titled-Homelessness, Poverty, and Incarceration: The Criminalization of Despair, published by The Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice, can be found in libraries at Princeton University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology or MIT, The University of California, Berkeley, and The Bodleian Library at University of Oxford, England. For a more detailed description, visit the library website of each university, click on search Larry Covin.

Larry Donell Covin, Jr., is a nationally and internationally recognized expert and scholar; in the discipline of social justice, corrections ethics, theology and law, liberation theology, as well as homelessness research. His research is often used in the publication of peer reviewed journal articles by scholars around the world.

The following are publications citing and utilizing Dr. Covin's work, and can be accessed for further research in the various disciplines. These are as follows:

~The Positive Impact of Project-Based Learning on Attendance of an Economically Disadvantaged Student Population. By Kathy Creghan in Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~Adverse Childhood Experiences, Homeless Chronicity, and Age at Onset of Homelessness. By Joseph T. Tucciarone Jr., East Tennessee State University. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~Os desafios da vida pos prisao: o estigma prisional ea readaptacao a vida extramuros: um estudo de dois casos. By Damas, Margaida Madruga das Neves Silva, University Institute of Lisbon. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~Parental Availability as a Predictor of Academic Success among Students of a Private Residential School. By Lesley Kubisiak Logan, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~Social Disorganization in Rural Communities. By Monica M. Taylor, Application of the Political Economy to Rural Health Disparities. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~Exploring Community Reentry After Incarceration With Recently Released American Indian/Alaska Native Persons. By Holly Wohlers, The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee ProQuest. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~Factors That Contribute To Homelessness From The Perspective Of The Homeless. By Johnetta Hardin, Indiana University ProQuest Dissertations. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~Reclaiming a restorative understanding of the victim-offender dichotomy. By Annalise Acorn, Journal of Restorative Justice. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~Teaching beyond the Textbook: Integrating Formerly Incarcerated Individuals into Criminal Justice Learning Environments. By Alena L. Harm & Charles Bell, Journal of Criminal Justice Education. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~Crimes of the poor - Criminalization of Poverty? By Frank Neubacher and Nicole Bogelein, Journal Monatsschrift fur Kriminologie und Strafrechtsreform. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~The effects of Project-Based Learning on economically disadvantaged students: A multi-year study. By Casey Creghan, Lamar University. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~Reading Achievement of Third-Grade English Learners and Low-Socioeconomic Students in Title I and Non-Title I Schools. By Claudia V. Saenz, Texas A&M University. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~Psychological Distress and Need for Mental Healthcare: Examining and Modeling Prevalence & Need Using Multiple Datasets. By Ebony Allen Toussaint, University of Maryland. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~Handing Over the Keys: Intergenerational Legacies of Carceral Policy in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. By Linda Mussell, Queens University (Canada). (Dr. Covin Cited)

~Client Outcomes From A Multilevel Intervention To Support Persons Living With HIV And Returning To The Community After Incarceration In Puerto Rico. By Janet J. Wiersema, Jacqueline Cruzado-Quinones, Carmen G. Cosme Pitre, and Alison O. Jordan, The Guilford Press. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~Efforts to Reduce Justice Reinvolvement: Jail Diversion, Justice Outreach, and Justice Reentry. By Nubia G. Lluberes Rincon, in Clinical Management of the Homeless Patient. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~Study of Adults Who Were Homeless when They Desired, Tried, or Succeeded in Pursuing a Post-Secondary Education. By Adamma Anyaehie Griffith, Widener University. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~Creating safe spaces: Designing day shelters for people experiencing homelessness. By James C. Petrovich, Journal of Social Distress and Homelessness. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~Court-imposed fines as a feature of the homelessness-incarceration nexus: a cross-sectional study of the relationship between legal debt and duration of homelessness in Seattle, Washington, USA. By Jessica Mogk, Valerie Shmigol, Marvin Futrell, Bert Stover, Amy Hagopian, in Oxford Academic Journal of Public Health. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~Exploring Healthcare Experiences for Incarcerated Individuals Who Identify as Transgender in a Southern Jail. By Erin McCauley, Kristen Eckstrand, Bethlehem Desta, Ben Bouvier, Brad Brockmann, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein, in Transgender Health Volume: 3 Issue 1: February 1, 2018. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~Experiences with the Philadelphia police assisted diversion program: A qualitative study. By Evan Anderson, Ruth Shefner, Rebecca Koppel, Carine Megerian, Rosemary Frasso, in International Journal of Drug Policy. (Dr Covin Cited)

~The Well-Being Development Model: A Theoretical Model to Improve Outcomes among Criminal Justice System-Involved Individuals. By Carrie Pettus, Christopher A. Veeh, Tanya R. Renn, and Stephanie C. Kennedy, in The University of Chicago Press Journals. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~The homeless individual's viewpoint: Causes of homelessness and resources needed to leave the sheltered environment. By Johnetta Hardin, Diane E. Wille, in Social Work & Social Sciences Review. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~The Criminalization of Homelessness. By Amanda Aykanian & Sondra J. Fogel, in Homelessness Prevention and Intervention in Social Work. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~Hope Springs Eternal: An Exploration of Hope at a Local Jail. By A. Elizabeth Stearns, Yang Yang & Linsey Boudreaux, in Women & Criminal Justice, Taylor & Francis Online. (Dr. Covin Cited)

~The Relationship of Legal History to Mental Health Symptoms and Suicidality Among Homeless Men in a Residential Recovery Program. By Arielle Payes, Pepperdine University. (Dr. Covin Cited)

His collective publications are found in college and university libraries around the world. Institutions of higher education housing Dr.Covin’s publications include Stanford University, Harvard University, Princeton University, Yale University Law School Library, Brown University, Columbia University, University of Notre Dame in South Bend-Indiana, Rice University, Johns Hopkins University, Purdue University, Vanderbilt University, UCLA, University of California-Irvine, Pepperdine University, Fordham University, NYU, Bucknell University, Howard University, Ohio State University, Dallas Theological Seminary, University of Groningen Netherlands, University of Marburg Germany, Atlanta University Center Robert Woodruff Library, University of Toronto, Tyndale University, Saint Michael’s College, and hundreds of university libraries.

For a comprehensive catalog of Dr. Covin’s library holdings, please visit www.drlarrycovin.org and click on Universities and Colleges in the United States and Abroad. Or, consult with your university or seminary library.

In short, a search of the majority of college and university libraries in the United States, as well as abroad, will produce housed in their catalog of collections, the intellectual contributions-scholarly writings and pedagogical contributions of the work of Larry Covin. Larry Covin’s scholarship in the discipline of ethics, theology, and criminal justice ethics reform has been well documented in institutions of higher education.

Dr. Covin’s book published in 2020 is Thirteen Turns: A Theology Resurrected From the Gallows of Jim Crow Christianity, which builds upon his previous scholarly work, and is considered as foundational and essential work in Liberation Theology studies.

The following is an excerpt taken from the cover of Thirteen Turns. "It is remarkable that African Americans, the descendants of slaves, embrace Christianity at all. The imagination that is necessary to parse biblical text and find within it a theology that speaks to their context is a testimony to their will to survive in a hostile land. Black religion embraces the cross and the narrative of Jesus as savior, both theologically and culturally. But this does not suggest that African Americans have not historically, and do not now, struggle with the reconciliation of the cross, black life, suffering. African Americans are well aware of the shared relationship of Christianity with the white oppressors of history. The religion that helped African Americans to survive is the religion that was instrumental in their near genocide."

In 2012 Dr. Covin authored—The Constructing of A Contemporary Corrections Ethic In The Tradition of Social Contract Theory: An Extrapolation From The Work of Political Philosopher John Rawls, published by ProQuest as his Doctoral Dissertation.

He earned the Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice and Army ROTC Commission from Albany State University, Master of Divinity in Christian Education from the Interdenominational Theological Center ~ ITC, Doctor of Ministry in Criminal Justice Ethics from the Lancaster Theological Seminary at Moravian University, Postdoctoral Research ThM degree in Theology and Ethics from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Dr. Covin's latest book is A Theology of Justice: Interpreting John Rawls in Corrections Ethics ~ An Ethnography and was published by Wipf & Stock in June 2022.

The following is an excerpt taken from the cover of A Theology of Justice. "There are thirty-eight ethical statements-principles throughout the seven chapters of A Theology of Justice. These ethical statements form a comprehensive corrections ethic informed by the human rights abuses occurring in jails and prisons in the United States, offering evidence-based correctives. This corrections ethic is informed by twenty years of qualitative research inside four jail and prison institutions, as an administrator of both Treatment and Religious Services departments; including the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Leavenworth, United States Penitentiary in Atlanta, Maryland Division of Pretrial Detention and Services, and the Adams County Adult Correctional Complex in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. A Theology of Justice is foundational toward a corrections ethic, and reflective of disciplines possessing extensive research in the development of its ethics, such as business ethics and medical ethics."

Over twenty years he taught at Morgan State University, University of Baltimore, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Lancaster Theological Seminary, and the Schaefer Center for Public Policy teaching Public Policy Ethics.

From 2014 through 2024, Dr. Covin served as Systematic Theologian-Religion Scholar, at the Historic Trinity UCC Church (1742) in York, Pennsylvania.
https://www.ydr.com/story/news/2017/10/10/275-year-old-roots-shared-by-two-york-churches/745552001/

Dr. Covin served as a faculty member at the Schaefer Center for Public Policy-Maryland Certified Public Manager Program, at the University of Baltimore, where he taught Public Policy Ethics for almost a decade.

Dr. Covin served as the Director of Religious Services and Chaplaincy for the State of Maryland, Division of Pretrial Detention & Services for fifteen years between 1992 and 2007. He also served as the Director of Treatment Services, at the Adams County Adult Correctional Complex in Pennsylvania between 2008 and 2010.

www.drlarrycovin.org

American Academy of Religion featuring A Theology of Justice
https://aarweb.org/AARMBR/AARMBR/Publications-and-News-/Newsroom-/Member-Notes-/2022/07/Larry-Donell-Covin-Jr.aspx

American Academy of Religion featuring Thirteen Turns
https://www.aarweb.org/AARMBR/Publications-and-News-/Newsroom-/Member-Notes-/June-2020/Larry-Covin.aspx

Dr. Covin's Princeton Theological Seminary Interview
https://www.ptsem.edu/news/finding-hope-in-christianitys-hard-truths

A Theology of Justice at Authors Guild Interview
https://authorsguild.org/member-spotlights/member-spotlight-larry-donell-covin-jr/

Thirteen Turns at Authors Guild Interview
https://authorsguild.org/member-spotlights/member-spotlight-larry-donell-covin/

U.S. Department of Justice-Office of Justice Programs featuring Dr. Covin's published paper titled, Homelessness, Poverty, and Incarceration: The Criminalization of Despair https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/homelessness-poverty-and-incarceration-criminalization-despair

Dr. Larry Covin resides in Atlanta.

Dr. Larry Donell Covin, Jr., is available as a lecturer, as well as writing consultant for aspiring authors.
https://go.authorsguild.org/marketplace/proofreaders_copy_editors/marketplaces/81