Dear Friends of the GDR,
Last year we mentioned the strategic planning taking place at Emory University in preparation for our upcoming capital campaign. After over eighteen months of university-wide conversations, the strategic plan, “Where Courageous Inquiry Leads,” is now finalized and available to the public at https://www.admin.emory.edu/StrategicPlan/. The plan identifies numerous themes that are already areas of strength and that will be highlighted in Emory’s scholarly and fundraising efforts in the near future, including “Race and Difference,” “Neuroscience, Human Nature, and Society,” “Sustainability,” and “Pathways to Global Health.” Another theme that comes through loud and clear in this document, and one that is publicly referenced again and again by President Jim Wagner, is “Religions and the Human Spirit.” At Emory, the study of religion is one critical point where courageous inquiry leads and we are fortunate that two of our own faculty members, Department Chair Laurie Patton and Candler Professor of Hebrew Bible Carol Newsom, will serve as co-chairs on the implementation committee.
Internally, the GDR continues to work together on rethinking and reshaping our future as a premier doctoral program in the twenty-first century. The unique but fortifying qualities of collegiality and collaboration were especially evident this past year, which was a time of deliberation and discernment with regard to modifying certain organizational and administrative structures in the GDR as we witness the changing composition of the faculty with new hires and upcoming retirements, growing numbers of students who are engaged in comparative studies, and increasing interdisciplinary coordination throughout the division. Recent additions to Emory faculty contributing to our changing profile include Robert Franklin (Black Church Studies), Don Seeman (Anthropology of Religion), Ian McFarland (Theology), John Dunne (Buddhist Studies), Emmanual Lartey (Pastoral Care), Teresa Fry Brown (Homiletics), Karen Schieb (Pastoral Care), Joy McDougal (Theology), Sara McClintock (Buddhist Studies).
In order to address these trends and crucial, related structural concerns, the Director of the GDR appointed a Task Force to Raise the Profile of the Comparative Study of Religion, which includes faculty from the ILA, MESAS, Candler School of Theology as well as the Department of Religion. The Task Force worked over the course of the year to address intellectual as well as administrative issues and has put forward a proposal to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences for additional graduate student lines. We have given a report of our findings and held a series of conversations with faculty and graduate students across the GDR, as well as with key Deans in relevant units. There is, remarkably, a growing consensus in the GDR about moving toward a more flexible structure facilitating more interdisciplinary and cross traditional work. In fact, there are strong conversations happening at many different levels within the GDR that indicate a high level of faculty “buy-in.” We expect to continue this work over the next several years, and have already made several internal changes in our administrative structure. Our Task Force will remain in place for several years, in order to ensure that these administrative changes take place with care for currently strong courses of study as well as new initiatives.
In addition, a related committee, also appointed by the Director of the GDR, is working hard on the development of an MA. We have already devised a preliminary structure for a Curriculum, which would allow students to become trained in languages, theories and general knowledge in the study of religion. The best graduate programs (Harvard, Yale, U. Chicago) all have programs in which they groom the best MA students they can for their own programs. As one of the few highest-ranked programs that does not have such an MA degree, we are missing some of these top students, especially in such areas as Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism, who have already been secured by the “in house” masters programs . The presence of an MA will solidify Emory’s place as a destination university for the study of religion.
Here on campus, the GDR continues to be one of the most integrated units across the university. Recent surveys have demonstrated that religion is a central topic of scholarly interest for faculty and students in numerous research fields, including Medicine, Women’s Studies, Nursing, Public Health, Anthropology, Law, Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies, Science and Society, Comparative Literature, and History; the study of religion also embodies many of the central principles in Emory’s mission as a university, not just as destination for exceptional students and faculty, but also in terms of its commitment to inquiry-driven pedagogy and research, engagement with ethical issues that bear on both content and practice in the field, and motivation to create an environment that encourage scholars to work toward positive transformation.
But across these areas of specialization is a shared and deep-rooted commitment to preparing future leaders, in both scholarship and teaching, in the study of religion, a field of study likely to have increasing prominence in the twenty-first century around the world and here at Emory One of our primary objectives is to produce outstanding graduates who enter the job market poised to make lasting contributions in their respective fields—not only measured by publication records but also achievements in teaching or social engagement. This commitment to leading an active professional life as a scholar and teacher is instilled by the faculty in students as soon as they arrive and permeates the intellectual landscape throughout the GDR.
Our students continue to find employment across the country, with recent successes at Shorter College, Mount Union College, Wake Forest University, Denison University, Duquesne University, and Vanderbilt University. Our graduate class, listed below, have written on a wide range of topics in their dissertation, including “Consumer Capitalism and Adolescent Vocational Imagination: An Explanation of the Pedagogical Dynamics of Ongoing Conversion,” “Leaping Across the Ocean: Narrative in a Transnational Hindu Family,” “Trauma, History, and Survival in Ezekiel 1-24,” “Ethnography as Theology: Encountering the Penitentes of Arroyo Seco, New Mexico,” “Redeeming Measures: Eschatological Memories of New Measures Preaching,” and “Toward Wiser Blood: A Conversation Between Thomas Aquinas and the Relational/Intersubjective Psychoanalytic Paradigm.”
Congratulations to our recent grads:
David Garber
Susan Haddox
Sang-Ehil Han
Dirk Lange
Jason Andrew Mahn
David Mellott
Shelly Rambo
Jennifer B. Saunders
Theodore Smith
Melissa Snarr
Katherine MarieTurpin
Jennifer A.Watts
We look forward to seeing all friends of the GDR at our annual reception at the AAR/SBL meeting, which will take place this year on Sunday, November 20 th from 9:00 to11:00 p.m. in Salons I and J of the Philadelphia Marriott.
Best wishes,
Gary Laderman, Director
Elizabeth Bounds, Associate Director
Some Faculty News:
Abdullahi A. An-Na’im authored “The Politics of Religion and the Morality of Globalization,” in Religion in Global Civil Society (Oxford University Press, 2005), edited by Mark Juergensmeyer.
David Blumenthal recently elected to the European Academy of Sciences and has a forthcoming book, Philosophic Mysticism: Essays in Rational Religion.
Elizabeth Bounds co-authored with Bobbi Patterson, “Intercultural Understanding in a Community School” in Religion in Global Civil Society (Oxford University Press, 2005), edited by Mark Juergensmeyer.
Theodore Brelsford published "Lessons for Religious Education from Cognitive Science of Religion," Religious Education, Vol. 100.2 (Spring 2005)
Michael Joseph Brown publishedThe Lord's Prayer through North African Eyes: A Window into Early Christianity (T & T Clark, 2005).
Kristen Brustad received an ACLS Burkhardt Residence Fellowship for Recently Tenured Faculty for the project "Arabic from Empire to Nation-State: A Study in Language Ideology." She is in residence at the National Humanities Center this year.
Nancy Eiesland received three grants in the last year: 1. from the Lilly Endowment for four years to work with other scholars in the sociology of religion to mentor new faculty in their study of faith communities; 2. a summer stipend from the Louisville Institute for research on a new book on tentatively entitled Reverence and the Complex Human Experience, related to disability theology; and 3. a Lilly Theological Research Grant for this fall to work on the same book on disability theology.
Noel Leo Erskine publishedFrom Garvey to Marley: Rastafari Theology (University Press of Florida, 2005).
Wendy Farley published The Wounding and Healing of Desire about suffering and the transformation of suffering which incorporates literature from the medieval beguines and Tibetan Buddhists. A CD of folk music is available to accompany the text.
Jon P. Gunnemann authored “Property and Sacred Ordering in Global Civil Society” in Religion in Global Civil Society (Oxford University Press, 2005), edited by Mark Juergensmeyer.
Carl R. Holladay publishedA Critical Introduction to the New Testament (Abingdon, 2005).
Rod Hunter gave numerous lectures this last year, including "An Introduction to American Pastoral Care," delivered to students and faculty of Fudan University, Huadong (East China) Theological Seminary, Shanghai, China, Nanjing Union Theological Seminary, Nanjing, China, June 4, and Shaanxi Bible School, Xi'an, China; "American Pastoral Theology and Pastoral Care Today," delivered to students and faculty of Tokyo Union Theological Seminary, Tokyo, Japan, published in Japanese translation (by Prof. Heon-Wook Park) in the Tokyo Union Journal of Theology; "Human Relations in the Ministry: Insights from American Pastoral Care and Counseling," delivered to students and faculty of the Japan Lutheran College and Japan Lutheran Theological Seminary, Tokyo, Japan; "Loneliness in Ministry," given to The College of Pastoral Leaders
conference; and "Living with Loneliness, in Search of Creativity," Austin Presbyterian
Theological Seminary.
Timothy P. Jackson edited The Morality Of Adoption: Social-Psychological, Theological, And Legal Perspectives (Eerdmans, 2005). He also has an essay on Martin Luther King, Jr., in The Teachings of Modern Christianity on Law, Politics, and Human Nature (Columbia University Press, 2005), edited by John Witte and Frank Alexander.
Luke Johnson completed the commentary on Hebrews for the New Testament Library (John Knox/Westminster). He also had an article published in Commonweal, (July 15, 2005) entitled, "Caring for the Earth: Why Environmentalism Needs Theology." with another on the way in the same journal, "After the Big Chill: The Place of the Theologian in the Church." [since others did not really mention lectures, this is a little imbalanced Last Spring he lectured at Georgetown on "What Kind of Jew Was Paul," at Princeton on "The DaVinci Code, Culture Wars, and the New Gnosticism," and at the Earlham School of Religion on "Scripture and Discernment: Towards an Ecclesial Exegesis.".]
Mark Jordan published Blessing Same-Sex Unions: The Perils of Queer Romance and the Confusions of Christian Marriage ( University of Chicago Press) and will have another out in the coming months, Rewritten Theology: Thomas Aquinas after His Readers (Blackwell). Last spring he was a Lilly Visiting Faculty Fellow at University of the South, giving a lecture series on vocation.
Gary Laderman published “Bridging the Cultures of Science and Religion,” co-written with Arri Eisen, in Journal of College Science Teaching (September 2005). He also participated in a small colloquium “The Meaning of Death in Modern Society,” at the Institute of Human Sciences, Vienna, Austria.
Emmanuel Lartey presented “Pastoral Care in Postmodern Times,” at the Reuben L. Speaks Annual Lecture Series, Hood Theological Seminary, Salisbury, NC, October 2005, and he presented the Address, “Broadening the Scope, Increasing the Depth,” at the Asia Pacific Conference on Pastoral Care and Counseling, Hong Kong, August 2005. He also presented the Plenary Address, “New Perspectives on Pastoral Care in a Globalizing World,” at Society of Intercultural Pastoral Care and Counseling Conference, Dusseldorf, Germany, October 2005.
Tom Long presented “Trends in Preaching Today,” for the Diocese of Huron, Anglican Church of Canada, October 2005.
Joy A. McDougall published Pilgrimage of Love: Moltmann on the Trinity and Christian Life (Oxford University Press, 2005).
Ian A. McFarland published The Divine Image: Envisioning the Invisible God (Fortress, 2005).
Mary Elizabeth Moore published Teaching as a Sacramental Act (Pilgrim, 2004) and co-edited with Chris Hermans, the chapters: “Introduction” and “Purposes of Practical Theology: A Comparative Analysis between United States Practical Theologians and Johannes Van Der Ven” in Hermeneutics and Empirical Research in Practical Theology: The Contribution of Empirical Theology by Johannes A. Van der Ven. (Brill, 2005).
She also presented “Let’s Talk Straight about Power and Spirituality in the Public Sphere” at the Spiritual Activism Conference, sponsored by Tikkun Think Tank, Berkeley, July 2005.
Carol Newsom was named Charles Howard Candler Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible.
Bobbi Patterson is presenting at the Ethnomusicology Pre-Conference meetings in Atlanta on music and globalization at the International Community School in Avondale and has a book chapter co-authored with Elizabeth Bounds, "Intercultural Understanding in a Community Schoool" in Religion in Global Civil Society (Oxford University Press, 2005), edited by Mark Juergensmeyer.
Laurie Patton published two books in 2005, Bringing the Gods to Mind: Mantra and Ritual in Early Indian Sacrifice ( University of California Press) and The Indi-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History (Routledge).
David L. Petersen co-edited with Bruce Birch, Walter Brueggemann, Terence Fretheim, The Theological Introduction to the Old Testament, second edition (Abingdon Press, 2005).
Alton B. Pollard III recently revised with Selina Smith, Helpers for a Healing Community: A Pastoral Care Manual for HIV/AIDS, 3 rd edition (The Balm in Gilead and MAP International, Inc, 2005).
Russell E. Richey co-edited with Dennis M. Campbell and William B. Lawrence, Marks of Methodism (Abington Press, 2005).
Don E. Saliers published A Song to Sing, A Life to Live: Reflections on Music as Spiritual Practice (Jossey-Bass, 2005) with his daughter, Emily Saliers He was elected to the American Theological Society where he gave his inaugural paper on "Terror and Beauty: What Has Theology to Say?" last April. He is currently at St. John's University as the Henry Luce III visiting professor of theology and aesthetics working in part with images/text in the St. John's Bible.
Brent A. Strawn published What Is Stronger than a Lion? Leonine Image and Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East (Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 212; eds. Susanne Bickel, Othmar Keel, and Christoph Uehlinger; Fribourg: Academic Press and Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2005).
Steve Tipton: co-edited with John Witte, Family Transformed (Georgetown
University Press, 2005) and authored “Globalizing Civil Religion and Public Theology” in Religion in Global Civil Society (Oxford University Press, 2005), edited by Mark Juergensmeyer.