News

  • Vanderbilt University

    Public theology fellow leaves legacy of community building and support

    The Rev. Teresa L. Smallwood, who helped launch Vanderbilt’s Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative as associate director in 2017, is moving to Pennsylvania’s United Lutheran Seminary in January. Over Smallwood’s four years at Vanderbilt Divinity School, the Collaborative has hosted nearly 30 workshops and more than 20… Read More

    Dec. 20, 2021

  • Vanderbilt University

    North Nashville Community Garden brings together two congregations and cultivates space for healing and blessings

    Artist rendering/Tricia Townes An idea borne out of the destruction from the 2020 tornado that hit middle Tennessee, the North Nashville Community Garden blossomed into a place for church congregants and gardening hobbyists alike to commune and heal. It will be featured on Nashville Public Television’s “Volunteer Gardener”… Read More

    Sep. 8, 2021

  • Vanderbilt University

    Preparing for divinity school: A reading list

    Guest post by the Rev. Laura Mariko Cheifetz, Assistant Dean of Admissions, Vocation, and Stewardship So you’re going to divinity school/seminary. Congratulations! I absolutely loved my experience, and now I get to be present with people who are figuring out if div school is the next right step, which div… Read More

    Jul. 28, 2021

  • Vanderbilt University

    This is the first step not the conclusion

    A reflection from our dean, Emilie M. Townes Guilty on all three counts. These three counts can be—and hopefully will—be positive steps to not only police reform but to our very broken criminal justice system where the scales of justice are not blind but often tilted against the poor,… Read More

    Apr. 20, 2021

  • Vanderbilt University

    the power of words to harm and heal

    Emilie M. Townes Spring Faculty Assembly Presentation Delivered 1 April 2021 download a PDF of this presentation with its original formatting.   perhaps you are familiar with this childhood chant: sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me i remember my… Read More

    Apr. 2, 2021

  • A response to Atlanta area killings

    A response to Atlanta area killings

      by Emilie M. Townes, Dean and Distinguished Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society Hearts and souls reach out to the Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander communities in Atlanta and beyond.  The senseless deaths of eight people, six of them Asian women, joins the list of massacres that are… Read More

    Mar. 18, 2021

  • Vanderbilt University

    A statement of solidarity from the Vanderbilt Divinity Student Government Association

    To the Vanderbilt Divinity School community, In the wake of Tuesday’s murders of Asian American persons in Atlanta and amidst a disturbing nationwide trend of violence, discrimination, and xenophobia directed against the Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander community, the Vanderbilt Divinity School Student Government Association declares our solidarity… Read More

    Mar. 18, 2021

  • Vanderbilt University

    Zoom crashed. Now what?

    Helpful tips and contingency planning for Zoom Compiled by Sophia Agtarap, Vanderbilt Divinity School Director of Communications Though Zoom has proved to be a helpful tool for online teaching, learning, and meeting, every system has its limits–some of which we… Read More

    Sep. 18, 2020

  • Vanderbilt University

    Call for Applications: Carpenter/LGBT Policy Lab Fellows

    Call for Applications: Carpenter/LGBT Policy Lab Fellows The Carpenter Program in Religion, Gender, and Sexuality is hiring two paid LGBT Policy Fellows (MTS or MDiv) for the 2020-21 school year. … Read More

    Sep. 14, 2020

  • Vanderbilt University

    A Call and Response to the Capitol Commission’s Historic Vote

    Bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest on display in the Tennessee State Capitol. Shelley Mays/The Tennessean Dear all– We join a number of people today rejoicing to hear that the Capitol Commissioners voted to remove the bust of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, U.S. Admiral David Farragut, and U.S. Admiral Albert Gleaves… Read More

    Jul. 9, 2020