Dear alumni/ae and friends,
Our university has been hosting a series of conversations about faith and public life as part of Dialogue Vanderbilt. We’ve been discussing the difficulty, and also the necessity, of honest communication around difficult topics. Part of the work of courageous conversations is to discern when to speak and when to be silent. As dialogue partners, we acknowledge that speaking is a risk. You risk, as the poet Audre Lorde reminds us, being misunderstood or bruised every time you share and make verbal what is important to you. And yet, active listening must be a critical component to these difficult dialogues, and not just speaking. Listening requires not simply waiting for your turn to speak, but paying attention, being fully present, and actively engaging someone else’s words.
These dialogues have been a reminder that prayer is more than an exercise in speaking. Prayer is more than a laundry list of wishes and needs. Prayer requires silence. Prayer requires listening. Prayer requires risk. Prayer is a courageous conversation. Prayer requires being fully present. Perhaps faith communities can be standard-bearers in these difficult dialogues if we lean into what our own traditions teach us about sacred conversations between the human and the Divine.
Best,
Yolanda Pierce
Dean
Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair
Professor of Religion & Literature
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The Divinity School's doctor of ministry in integrative chaplaincy focuses on equipping VA, military, and institutional chaplains with evidence-based care practices.
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Cameron Robinson (MDiv'24) began his Double 'Dore journey by earning his bachelor's in medicine, health and society at A&S, playing on the field as a Vanderbilt Commodore, and connecting with peers through music, mentoring, and ministry.
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Professor Joerg Rieger's new book Theology in the Capitalocene:
Ecology, Identity, Class, and Solidarity was reviewed in The Christian Century.
Read More>>
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Watch Professor Ellen Armour on News Channel 5 Nashville as she discusses feminist theology and her book Seeing and Believing: Religion, Digital Visual Culture, and Social Justice.
Watch Here >>
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Watch the recording of the Divinity School's “Gospel” event. The event included live performances and a conversation with Dean Yolanda Pierce and Professor Michael Eric Dyson, discussing the docuseries, Gospel, which explores the rich history of Black spirituality through sermon and song.
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Claire McKeever-Burgett's (MDiv'11) latest book, Blessed Are the Women, celebrates the influential women of Christianity through a blend of storytelling, poetry, and prayer. McKeever-Burgett will be celebrating her book release at Parnassus Books in Nashville on Feb. 28.
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Join us for the opening of our Black History Month Exhibit, Uncivil Good Trouble with artist Ashley Seay on Feb. 23, 4 p.m., with a gallery talk at 5 p.m. The exhibit, honoring and dedicated to everyone who fought for the freedom of Black People, will be on display Feb. 23–March 15.
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Join us for the annual Bogitsh Lecture on Feb. 26, 7 p.m., delivered by Lynn Ramey. In this lecture “Legacies of Racial Bias in Medieval Literatures,” Ramey will delve into medieval perceptions of race, religion, and otherness.
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Join us for the 50th anniversary of the Antoinette Brown Lecture “Can Surrogacy Be Feminist? How About Christian?” delivered by Grace Y. Kao, Ph.D., March 4, 7 p.m.
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