VDS Voices

“The world is before you and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in.” —James Baldwin As a first-year master of divinity student, I entered Vanderbilt University ready to study and participate in the transformation of a world, which I… Read More

Paige Wetzel, re-located New Englander, lover of elephants by Paige Wetzel, 2nd year MTS candidate Blank. I wouldn’t say I came to VDS open-minded, just blank. When I began my studies last year, I had few expectations and even fewer ideas about what my time here… Read More

Rev. Becca Stevens, MDiv’90 and 2014 Divinity School Distinguished Alumni/ae Award recipient, delivered her sermon titled “The Laborers are Few!” this past Wednesday during Community Worship. Pictured: Andrew Suitter, MDiv3, Rev. Stevens, and Dean Amy Steele… Read More

In this assignment, VDS students reflect on their encounter with various Christian traditions. Our goal is not just passive knowledge but for students to add their own voices to the many interpretations of Christianity. Given the diversity of the VDS community, our voices speak from a variety of perspectives. Nevertheless, we… Read More

Rev. Marcia Mount Shoop, PhD spent a few days on campus this week encouraging us to engage theological ideas and practices to address sexual and power-based personal violence. We look forward to her return in November! Lyndsey Godwin, Asst. Dir, Carpenter program and Dr. Marcia Mount Sho… Read More

VDS students Summer 2014 This week, we share words of advice prepared by second year MDiv, James W. Dennis III, for our first year students. Stop. Breathe. Relax. The hardest part of your transition to Vanderbilt Divinity School is over!  You are finally here!!  Congratulations!!   However, don’t celebrate too… Read More

L to R: Dr. Graham Reside and Dr. Victor Anderson During Maymester, Professor Victor Anderson and I traveled with thirteen students to South Africa as part of a course studying collective violence.  We were a mixed group: black, white, Asian; gay, straight; old and young.  We came from different… 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 Bonnie Miller-McLemore, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture.           “Not a Snazzy Title… Read More

The Braided Man by Sarah Jennings, MDiv3 photo by Julia Nusbaum In May I was given a wonderful opportunity to participate in an immersion trip to the US/Mexico Border. Over the previous spring break, I had taken a group of undergraduates to Florida to learn about immigration policy and… Read More

The Patron Saint of Lost Causes by Kate A. Fields, MDiv2 Sunset in the Sonoran The painted desert, the Sonoran, home of lumbering Pipe Cacti, coyote, sidewinders, rattlesnakes, mice, owls, eagles, desert primrose, hawks, roadrunners, sunsets that wrap the day up with a bang and towering mountains of… Read More