The Reverend Chris Ray Alexander
Chris Ray Alexander is Minister for Interfaith Engagement at First Congregational Church of Atlanta, UCC. A West Texas native and adopted son of Louisiana, he received BA and MA degrees from Louisiana State University and a PhD in Spanish from Johns Hopkins University. After a decade in higher education as a professor of Spanish-language literature, history, and culture, he completed an MDiv at Emory’s Candler School of Theology and dove into a vocation in ministry, 
service, and interfaith relationship building.
Chris advocates for an understanding of Christian discipleship that is nourished by the deep springs of cultural difference and the multiple, inexhaustible expressions of Divine reality that he continues to encounter both within and beyond the boundaries of his home faith tradition. Focused on the necessity of wedding theory and practice, his research engages with the perils, promise, and potential that inhabit the intersection of emancipatory pluralism, practical theology of religions, and youth spiritual formation. He is passionate about creating a more humane and unified world through interfaith advocacy, interreligious dialogue, and novel modes of spiritual education that renew and reimagine Christ’s call to abundant life and loving solidarity with our siblings both within the Church and outside its walls.
In addition to his role at First Church, Chris is Program Director at Interfaith Children’s Movement, a Board Member of Interfaith Atlanta, Support Chair for its youth organization, Interfaith Atlanta Youth (IAY), a 2024 Interfaith America Interfaith Innovation Fellow, and cohort lead for the Religious Leaders sector of Interfaith America’s Interfaith at Work program. He is privileged to serve as an interfaith consultant in his community, and in his free time he translates philosophy as a member of the French Metaphysics Translation Project.