Feature

A note from dean townes on staff transitions at Vanderbilt Divinity We are in a season of transitions as we begin a new academic year with a “new” building that has increased the Divinity School’s physical footprint that better reflects who we say we want to be based on… Read More

View the building dedication and convocation writeup, here, and photos from the events below, by clicking on the image. Read More

  Preface: We wrote this statement in light of a recent labor dispute, now resolved with support from Worker’s Dignity and the University and Divinity School. The conflict arose when a subcontractor of the primary construction company for the Divinity School renovation did not pay $66,000 owed to Armando Arzate… Read More

We are delighted to share that The Reverend Laura Mariko Cheifetz (pronouns: she/her) is joining the Vanderbilt Divinity Staff as Assistant Dean for Admissions, Vocation, and Stewardship. Laura’s first day will be August 15, 2019. Laura (center) walking the beach after the Progressive Asian American Christians conference with Ophelia… Read More

2018-19 Vanderbilt Divinity School and Graduate Department of Religion Distinguished Alumni Award recipients Divinity School Recipient: Dr. James A. Sanders Claremont, CA Vanderbilt Divinity School, Nashville, TN B.D.’51 Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN .   B.A. ‘48  James A. Sanders was professor of intertestamental and biblical studies at the Claremont School of… Read More

Photo: Reuters A statement from Emilie M. Townes, dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School, regarding the recent events in Gaza. I was shocked into speechlessness and a growing sense of horror, sorrow, and mourning when I opened up my Facebook feed on Monday morning. As the death toll and injury… Read More

A Nashville historical marker for LGBT activist Penny Campbell has been placed in front of her former East Nashville home, 1615 McEwen Ave. (Kristi Iving/Vanderbilt) Remarks delivered by Ellen Armour, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Chair in Feminist Theology and Director of the Carpenter Program in Religion, Gender, and… Read More

The question of the "other" is a recurring one. Many scholarly volumes wrestle with this inquiry: who is the other? Toni Morrison enters the discourse with a decidedly reflective view of her own work alongside a plethora of writers who have produced both fictional and scholarly, literary and scientific contributions. Morrison’s particular reference to “origin” is a play on the folksy notion of creation as she weaves her literary prowess into the fabric of despair for those "othered," while concomitantly leveling seismic critique upon those whose literal and figurative expressions serve to “other” human beings, historically and presently. Read More

JANUARY 16, 2013- Martin Luther King Commemorative Program, Elon University (photo by Dan Anderson) RATTLING BONES Eulogy for Dale P. Andrews Emilie M. Townes 27 September 2017 Vanderbilt Divinity School Ezekiel 37:1-14 pastoral prayer if we die while being faithful, then death is not the end of life this redaction from an interview dale gave in 2011 was repeated many times on facebook and other social media in the days shortly after he died it was taken from a longer interview he did with faith and leadership—a resource from leadership education at duke divinity school in that interview, he talked about balancing the pastoral and the prophetic as an ongoing challenge for the church and the specific question he was responding to was: What about those leaders in the church who may say, “Well, social justice is a goal, but we are trying to keep our organization together, trying to keep it healthy, trying to keep it alive”? How do those two issues intersect? Read More

We invited Christopher Benda, a theological librarian at Vanderbilt Divinity Library, to reflect on seven years of his audio interview series “Authorial Intentions.” Chris first joined the Vanderbilt Library system in 1997 and joined the Divinity Library staff in 2007. He and his colleagues are invaluable resources supporting student and… Read More