Dr Selina Stone is a theologian who has written on topics as diverse as
class, race within Pentecostal theology as well as racial inequality in the church and black spirituality.

Stone grew up in a working class family in Birmingham attending a Pentecostal church with her family. Her parents were teachers 'always reading' and from an early age she says she was steeped in church 'through and through.'

She says she was taught from quite a young age to be open to the spiritual gifts of God as a way that he would speak and that this was a way for God to speak even to children.

She studied theology in her home town which, she says, taught her to think crucially about God. As an academic she has written widely about Pentecostalism, as well as racial and social justice.

In her latest book A Heavy Yoke: Theology, Power and Abuse in the Church is out now.

In this edition of The Profile she talks to Premier Christianity Editor Sam Hailes about her upbringing, black spirituality and how Christ's suffering on the cross has been manipulated by people in authority.

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Released on 18 Sep 2025