News

At this year’s Fall Faculty Assembly, Professor David Michelson received the Chancellor’s Award for Research,  recognizing his outstanding contributions to scholarship and creative expression. Dr. Michelson was one of ten faculty recognized for their significant impact in their field of study and for their advancement of human understanding of the… Read More

August 2025 Earlier this month, Dr. Kyung-dong Yoo, the President of Methodist Theological University in South Korea, along with Provost Hae-jeong Park and Dr. Hyung-jin Cho, Dean of External Affairs and Development, visited the Vanderbilt Divinity School campus to meet with Dean Yolanda Pierce, students, and faculty. This visit signals… Read More

What do events that featured the late Rev. James Lawson, entertainers George Clinton and Garth Brooks, poet Nikki Finney, author Jim Wallis and other distinguished individuals all have in common? They are among many community-centered programs at Vanderbilt Divinity School that Sha’Tika Brown has helped craft and elevate. As senior program manager, Brown is committed to building and strengthening the Divinity… Read More

A new book from Stephanie Budwey, an assistant professor of the history and practice of Christian worship and the arts, discusses the erasure of intersex people in the areas of science, law, culture, and theology due to the assumption that all humans are either ‘female’ or ‘male.’ Read More

Dean Emilie M. Townes’ Fall Convocation remarks, as delivered on August 26, 2022 each opening convocation, we have begun by remembering those who have died since we were last together in May and to celebrate the new births during this time as well today, we remember those killed… Read More

In the spirit of former First Lady Michelle Obama’s memoir, Becoming, the program engages 7th and 8th grade Black girls in two weeks of classes that support their socio-emotional development while developing somatic and academic literacies. Read More

A reflection from our dean, Emilie M. Townes, for July 2022: With the early release of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision written by Justice Alito in May, we knew what the opinion would be. The finality of the end to the constitutional… Read More

Pastor Darin Freeman of Tabernacle Baptist Church walks around the old property which recently sold at 2214 12 Avenue South in Nashville , Tenn., Tuesday, July 19, 2022. Two years ago the church moved to 6801 Charlotte Pike. NICOLE HESTER / THE TENNESSEAN Originally published at 9:00 p.m. CT July 19,… Read More

Bone-deep love calls us to live our lives out of the possibilities found in wholeness, self-reflection, justice, peace, a new heaven and a new earth, hope and not our shortcomings—that rest on greed, self-centeredness, avarice, coveting, despair. Amazing love moves us to grow in compassion, understanding, and acceptance of each other. A far better place to be morning by morning and day by day. Read More

Somehow, no matter what the world hands us we give back love, we stand for goodness, we live our faith, we live with integrity. we live God’s grace large, we stand with the least of these, we build bridges of salvation, liberation, justice, joy, and deep spirit that can carry the depth and breadth of humanity over them. Read More