The 48th Bishop of the Chrisitan Methodist Episcopal Church (CME), Thomas L. Hoyt, Jr. was the first of two bishops elected to the 1994 General Conference held in Memphis, Tennessee. He came to the Episcopal office as a preacher and distinguished scholar in theological education.
He is a former Professor in New Testament at the Interdenominational Theological Center (1972-78), Atlanta, Georgia, Howard University School of Religion (1978-80), Washington, D.C. and Hartford Seminary (1980-94), Hartford, Connecticut. At Hartford Seminary, he initiated the Black Ministries Certificate Program, a program which trained over 500 lay and clergy persons in a period of 13 years. The Institute for Ecumenical and Cultrual Research has named a fellowship in the honor of Bishop Hoyt.
He was born March 14, 1941 to Reverend Thomas L. Hoyt, Sr. and Mrs. Ida Wells Hoyt in Fayette, Alabama. Bishop Hoyt was educated at Lane Cllege in Jackson, Tennessee, (B.A., 1962) and later at The Interdemoninational Theological Center (Phillips School of Theology, M.Div. 1965), Union Theological Seminary (STM, 1967), and Duke University (Ph.D., 1975). He was awarded the Doctor of Divinity degree from Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut in 1994.
Bishop Hoyt has written more than forty articles for professional journals and publications, has authored three books, has co-authored three others, and has shared in group projects that resulted in published books, including the influential Stony the Road We Trod: An African American Biblical Interpretation. Ed. by Cain Hope Felder (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992). He gave the Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale Divinity School in 1993. This is one of the oldest and most prestigious lectureships in the academic community.
Awards and honors bestowed on Bishop Hoyt are numerous, including a visit to Pope John Paul II in Rome, Italy with a delegation from the National Council of Churches, served as a delegate representing the CME Church to World Council of Churches meetings in Porto, Alegre, Brazil; Vancouver, British Columbia; Australia; Santiago De Compostela, Spain and Allepo, Syria.
In addition to being active in the ecumenical community, serving on the Faith and Order Commissions of both The World and National Council of Churches (Formerly Vice-Chair of the latter), he is a preacher, writer, teacher, consultant and pastor. He has been an ordained minister in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church for thirty one years and pastored in New York and North Carolina. His love and competence in the field of biblical literature is reflected in the fact that he is a member of the Society for the Study of Black Religion, Society of Biblical Literature and American Academy of Religion.
Upon his election to the Episcopacy, he was assigned to the Fourth Episcopal District comprising Louisiana and Mississippi. He is the Chair of the Department of Lay Activities of the CME Church and is Chair of the 125th CME Church Anniversary Celebration Committee.
He is married to Ocie Harriett Hoyt, and they have two children, Doria Michelle and Thomas Edward, III. His office and headquarters are in Shreveport, Louisiana. An addition to the family is a grandchild, a girl, named Ayanni Lanier Harvey.