Vanderbilt

Beginning graduate theological education is an exciting time for new students, yet we know that Vanderbilt Divinity students don’t undertake this journey alone. Family members, friends, congregations, and many others walk alongside us through the “thick and thin” of professional school. Spouses and partners, in particular, often describe the unique… Read More

In my roles as a professor at Vanderbilt’s Divinity School and as the director of the University’s Cal Turner Program for Moral Leadership, I often find myself in classrooms, talking about the meaning and nature of justice.  We read Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Rawls together.  It can be exhilarating. … Read More

Each month, we ask a member of the Vanderbilt Divinity School faculty to recommend a book they are currently reading. Our September recommendation is offered by Annalisa Azzoni, Senior Lecturer in Hebrew Bible.  Professor Azzoni recommends Kara Cooney’s The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut’s Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt. In… Read More

By Amy E. Steele, MDiv, PhD Assistant Dean for Student Life The First Year experience at Vanderbilt Divinity School is an extension of the New Student Orientation. It is comprised of six sessions that focus on spiritual formation, stewardship, and vocation—or in other words, matters of spiritual grounding,… Read More

Each year, VDS invites returning students to offer words of advice to the incoming class. We hope these stories and lived wisdom will help you navigate your own path at Vanderbilt! You have made the decision to embark upon an exciting and challenging journey through theological discourse and spiritual… Read More

Each year, VDS invites returning students to offer words of advice to the incoming class. We hope these stories and lived wisdom will help you navigate your own path at Vanderbilt! To my siblings, It is with great joy that I welcome you all to this prophetic community that is… Read More

Each year, VDS invites returning students to offer words of advice to the incoming class. We hope these stories and lived wisdom will help you navigate your own path at Vanderbilt! Joy Bronson and Merry-Reid Shaffer, MDIV2 – #SquadMember As I round the corner into my second year at Vanderbilt… Read More

Each month, we ask a member of the Vanderbilt Divinity School faculty to recommend a book they are currently reading. Our August recommendation is offered by Joe Pennel, Professor of the Practice of Leadership. Professor Pennel recommends The Triumph of Faith: Why the World is More Religious than Ever by Rodney Stark. Read More

A Metadiscourse on Remembering Religion and the Troubles in Belfast By: Stephanie Downing, MTS2 “Ireland, the continual past.”[1] This stage direction sets the stage for Northern Irish playwright Stewart Parker’s masterpiece Northern Star. There is perhaps no better setting for a play written in 1984 about the… Read More

by Jonathan Redding, PhD Candidate’17 Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel In the spring 2016, the students studying Hebrew Bible from the Vanderbilt University Graduate Department of Religion visited Princeton, New Jersey to explore the Princeton Theological Seminary library archives. Below are pictures of some beautiful old bibles,… Read More