Vanderbilt University Divinity School
Approved by the University Senate for United Methodist ordination.
Vanderbilt Divinity began as the Methodist Episcopal Church, South's flagship school and has not been United Methodist since 1914. It still runs more Wesleyan infrastructure than most schools that are: a United Methodist Studies programme going back to 1985, two Cal Turner Chancellor's Chairs in Wesleyan Studies held by ordained United Methodists, and three named United Methodist courses. What it does not do, anywhere on its own pages, is require any of it, or claim denominational approval for it. Its catalogue writes binding ordination language for Presbyterian and United Church of Christ students, and never for United Methodists. That contrast is the whole story.
The Discipline's requirements, at this school.
¶324.4 asks for nine areas of basic graduate theological study, three semester hours each, with a minimum of six hours in United Methodist studies. Not pass/fail. ¶335.3(d) asks for them again at full connection, so they cannot be put off.
University Senate standing
Approved — non–United Methodist
On the University Senate's list of approved non–United Methodist schools of theology. Vanderbilt was the Methodist Episcopal Church, South's flagship seminary until the two formally separated in 1914; that history explains why it sits on this list at all, but it is not evidence of anything below — everything here is read from Vanderbilt's current pages, not its past.
As of July 2026 · source ↗
Do online classes count?
No — no online or distance class here counts toward ¶324.4
GBHEM: no online or distance class at a Senate-approved non-UMC school counts toward ¶324.4, regardless of what the school offers. Vanderbilt's M.Div. is itself residential — the catalog requires the final year of study in residence at the Divinity School — so this mostly matters if you cross-register into online coursework elsewhere at Vanderbilt; it would not count for ordination purposes even if it counted toward the degree.
As of July 2026 · source ↗
Old Testament
DIV 6500 Hebrew Bible is one of the M.Div.'s 36-hour Required Common Curriculum courses, taken by every student regardless of denomination — the catalog requires it within the first 24 hours of coursework.
New Testament
DIV 6600 New Testament is a Required Common Curriculum course for every M.Div. student, also required within the first 24 hours.
Theology
DIV 6801 Introduction to Christian Theology plus one further 'approved course in theological studies' are both Required Common Curriculum courses for every student — 6 hours, no denominational distinction.
Church history
DIV 6700 and 6708, History of Global Christianities I and II, are two Required Common Curriculum courses (6 hours) every M.Div. student takes. Vanderbilt frames the sequence globally rather than calling it 'church history,' but it is the school's own required history-of-Christianity core and the closest thing it has to this area — no United Methodist distinction is made.
Mission of the church in the world
DIV5218 Mission of the Church in the World is an elective, and its own catalog description states that it 'meets the core competencies for mission education for persons seeking ordination in the United Methodist Church according to Par.325 in The United Methodist Book of Discipline' — but nowhere does Vanderbilt's catalog say a United Methodist student must take it, or any other course, to satisfy this area. Compare DIV5354 (UCC Polity), which the same catalog calls 'intended to meet an ordination requirement for United Church of Christ students': Vanderbilt uses binding language for other denominations but not for this UM-relevant course. Scored elective, not required-umc-track, on that basis.
Evangelism
DIV5351 Evangelism in the Wesleyan Tradition is an open elective on the biblical, historical, and theological foundations of evangelism. It also sits inside the Required Common Curriculum's generic 'choose 2 of 5 Ministerial Arts' slot (Pastoral Theology and Care / Christian Worship / Fundamentals of Preaching / an approved leadership course / an approved religious-education course) alongside worship and preaching — a student could clear that requirement without touching evangelism, worship, or preaching at all by choosing, say, Pastoral Theology and a leadership course. No sentence in the catalog binds a United Methodist student to DIV5351 or to this area specifically.
Worship / liturgy
DIV 6701 Introduction to Christian Worship is one of the five options in the same choose-2-of-5 Ministerial Arts slot described under evangelism above — available, not required of every student, and not named as a United Methodist obligation anywhere in the catalog.
Preaching
DIV 6901 Fundamentals of Preaching sits in the same choose-2-of-5 Ministerial Arts slot. A student can satisfy the Required Common Curriculum's two-course requirement here by picking the other four options and never take a preaching course; no United Methodist-specific obligation is stated.
United Methodist studies (doctrine, polity, history)
Vanderbilt offers real United Methodist Studies coursework — DIV5350 United Methodist Church Polity and Practice, DIV6791 The History of the United Methodist Tradition, and DIV6843 Theology in the United Methodist Tradition, the last taught by Joerg Rieger, one of the two Cal Turner Chancellor's Chairs in Wesleyan Studies — but all three are open electives. Unlike Duke ('United Methodist (UMC) students must fulfill educational requirements... by completing the year-long course on Methodist doctrine, history, and polity') or Phillips ('United Methodist students are required to take DS 550... DS 575... DS 625'), nothing in Vanderbilt's 2025-26 catalog obligates a UMC ordination-track student to take any of its three named UM courses. The school's own 'Methodist and Wesleyan Studies' page describes a programme of fellowship, visiting speakers, and course offerings that goes back to 1985 — it never uses the word 'required,' and never claims denominational approval of the courses the way Brite's equivalent page does.
As of August 2025 · source ↗
Vanderbilt's relationship to ¶324.4 is genuinely different from every other non-UMC school this project has looked at, and the difference matters more than the raw 4-of-9 number suggests. Brite (also non-UMC) says outright that its United Methodist history/doctrine/mission/polity courses have been officially approved by denominational offices, and names a chair whose title says 'Methodist Studies.' Duke and Phillips (a UMC school and a monitored non-UMC school) both write, in their own bulletins, that a United Methodist ordination-track student MUST complete specific named courses. Vanderbilt does none of the three.
It has real Wesleyan/Methodist infrastructure — two Cal Turner Chancellor's Chairs in Wesleyan Studies (Joerg Rieger and James P. Byrd, both UMC-ordained), three named United Methodist courses, a United Methodist Studies programme dating to 1985, a new Turner-Barnett Program for Pastoral Formation mentored by a retired UMC bishop, and a full-tuition scholarship reserved for a UMC ordination candidate (below). What it does not have, on its own published pages, is any statement that a United Methodist student is bound to take that coursework, or that the coursework carries denominational approval for ¶324.4 purposes.
Five of the nine areas — evangelism, mission of the church, worship, preaching, and United Methodist studies itself — are yours to plan for deliberately, the way a UMC candidate at any purely ecumenical school would have to, not something the degree structure hands you.
If you are on the M.Div. track, plan your two Ministerial Arts electives and your general electives around DIV5350 (UM Polity and Practice), DIV5351 (Evangelism in the Wesleyan Tradition), DIV6791 or DIV6843 (UM History/Theology), and DIV5218 (Mission of the Church in the World) deliberately — none of them will be assigned to you by the degree structure, and DIV5218's own description ties it to ¶325's mission-education competency.
Talk to James P. Byrd or Joerg Rieger, the two Cal Turner Chancellor's Chairs in Wesleyan Studies — both are UMC-ordained and can advise on which of Vanderbilt's UM-specific electives, in what order, will read clearly on a candidacy file.
Confirm every course choice with your conference's Board of Ordained Ministry registrar before you register. Because Vanderbilt makes no institutional claim that its UM coursework satisfies ¶324.4 the way Duke's or Phillips' catalogs do for their students, the burden of documenting that a given Vanderbilt course covers a given area falls more heavily on you and your board than it would at a school that states the mapping itself.
Confirm all of this with your conference’s Board of Ordained Ministry registrar before you enroll. They decide which courses satisfy which requirement — not the catalogue, and not us.
The faculty, by what they work on.
19 faculty, grouped by field rather than alphabetically — because the useful question is not who is here, it is who is here who works on the thing you care about.
Church history
James P. Byrd
Cal Turner Chancellor's Chair of Wesleyan Studies
M.A., Ph.D., Vanderbilt (1997, 1999)
Holds one of Vanderbilt's two Cal Turner Chancellor's Chairs in Wesleyan Studies and is UMC-ordained himself. He teaches History of the United Methodist Tradition and co-leads the new Turner-Barnett Program for Pastoral Formation alongside Bishop William McAlilly (retired, Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference). His own scholarship is on the Bible in American religious and political history, not Methodism specifically — the UM teaching is a role he holds, not the center of his research.
Recent work (5)
- “A Holy Baptism of Fire and Blood”: The Bible and the American Civil War (Oxford University Press, 2021)
- The Story of Religion in America: An Introduction (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2021)
- Sacred Scripture, Sacred War: The Bible and the American Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2013)
- Jonathan Edwards for Armchair Theologians (WJK)
- The Challenges of Roger Williams: Religious Liberty, Violent Persecution, and the Bible (Mercer University Press)
Juan Floyd-Thomas
Associate Professor of African American Religious History
Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania (2000)
Recent work (5)
- The Origins of Black Humanism: Reverend Ethelred Brown and the Unitarian Church (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008)
- Liberating Black Church History: Making It Plain (Abingdon Press, 2014)
- Black Church Studies: An Introduction (Abingdon Press, 2007)
- Between Pandemonium and Pandemethics: Responses to Covid-19 from Theology and Religions (Leipzig, Germany: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt GmbH, 2022)
- Introduction to Contemporary Theories of Religion (London: Bloomsbury Press, 2018)
David Michelson
Associate Professor of the History of Christianity and Associate Professor of Classical and Mediterranean Studies
M.A. & Ph.D. Princeton University (2003, 2007)
Yolanda Pierce
Dean of the Divinity School
Princeton University (specific degree not stated on her Vanderbilt bio)
Fernando Segovia
Oberlin Graduate Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity
M.A., Ph.D., Notre Dame (1976, 1978)
Black church studies
Juan Floyd-Thomas
Associate Professor of African American Religious History
Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania (2000)
Recent work (5)
- The Origins of Black Humanism: Reverend Ethelred Brown and the Unitarian Church (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008)
- Liberating Black Church History: Making It Plain (Abingdon Press, 2014)
- Black Church Studies: An Introduction (Abingdon Press, 2007)
- Between Pandemonium and Pandemethics: Responses to Covid-19 from Theology and Religions (Leipzig, Germany: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt GmbH, 2022)
- Introduction to Contemporary Theories of Religion (London: Bloomsbury Press, 2018)
Stacey Floyd-Thomas
E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Ethics and Society
M.B.A., Tennessee State University (2019)
Recent work (5)
- Mining the Motherlode: Methods in Womanist Ethics (Pilgrim Press, 2006)
- Deeper Shades of Purple: Womanism in Religion and Society (New York University Press, 2006)
- Black Church Studies: An Introduction (Abingdon Press, 2007)
- U. S. Liberation Theologies: An Introduction (New York University Press, 2010)
- Beyond the Pale: Reading Ethics from the Margins (Westminister John Knox Press, 2011)
Forrest Harris
Professor of the Practice of Ministry
M.Div., D.Min., Vanderbilt (1983, 1991)
Recent work (3)
- What Does It Mean To Be Black and Christian: The Pulpit, Pew and the Academy in Dialogue (Townsend Press)
- Ministry for Social Crisis: Theology and Praxis in the Black Church Tradition (Mercer University Press)
- What Does It Mean To Be Black and Christian: The Meaning of the African American Church
Herbert R. Marbury
Associate Professor of the Hebrew Bible and Black Religious Studies
M.A., Ph.D., Vanderbilt University (1999, 2003)
UMC-ordained and teaches Hebrew Bible and Black Religious Studies. Not a Methodist-studies appointment, but worth knowing if you are a UMC candidate looking for ordained UM faculty outside the two Wesleyan chairs.
Recent work (2)
- Imperial Dominion and Priestly Genius (Sopher Press, September, 2012)
- Pillars of Cloud and Fire: The Politics of Exodus in African American Biblical Interpretation (New York University Press, 2015)
Yolanda Pierce
Dean of the Divinity School
Princeton University (specific degree not stated on her Vanderbilt bio)
Womanist & feminist theology
Ellen Armour
E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Feminist Theology
M.A., Ph.D., Vanderbilt University (1989, 1993)
Recent work (3)
- Signs and Wonders: Theology After Modernity (Columbia University Press, 2016)
- Deconstruction, Feminist Theology, and the Problem Of Difference: Subverting the Race/Gender Divide (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999)
- Bodily Citations: Judith Butler and Religion (Columbia University Press, 2006)
Stacey Floyd-Thomas
E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Ethics and Society
M.B.A., Tennessee State University (2019)
Recent work (5)
- Mining the Motherlode: Methods in Womanist Ethics (Pilgrim Press, 2006)
- Deeper Shades of Purple: Womanism in Religion and Society (New York University Press, 2006)
- Black Church Studies: An Introduction (Abingdon Press, 2007)
- U. S. Liberation Theologies: An Introduction (New York University Press, 2010)
- Beyond the Pale: Reading Ethics from the Margins (Westminister John Knox Press, 2011)
Yolanda Pierce
Dean of the Divinity School
Princeton University (specific degree not stated on her Vanderbilt bio)
Phillis Isabella Sheppard
E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Chair
B. A., 1981 Political Science, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania
Recent work (5)
- Tilling Sacred Ground: Interiority, Black Women, and Religious Experience (Rowman and Littlefield / Lexington Books, 2022)
- Reclaiming Incarnation in Black Life: Black Bodies and Healing Practices in Womanist Pastoral Care (Journal of Pastoral Theology, 2022)
- Navigating Deep Waters: Spirituality and Religion in the Psychodynamic Space, in Spiritual Diversity and Psychotherapy (American Psychological Association, 2021)
- Womanist Pastoral Theology and Black Women's Experience of Religion and Sexuality, in Pastoral Theology and Care (John Wiley Press, 2018)
- Hegemonic Imagination, Historical Ethos, and Colonized Minds in the Pedagogical Space (Journal of Pastoral Theology, 2018)
Ethics & public theology
Victor Anderson
Professor of Ethics and Society
M.A., Ph.D., Princeton University (1991, 1992)
Recent work (3)
- Creative Exchange: A Constructive Theology of African American Religious Experience (2008)
- Pragmatic Theology: Negotiating the Intersection of an American Philosophy of Religion and Public Theology (1999)
- Beyond Ontological Blackness: An Essay in African American Religious and Cultural Criticism (1995)
Stacey Floyd-Thomas
E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Ethics and Society
M.B.A., Tennessee State University (2019)
Recent work (5)
- Mining the Motherlode: Methods in Womanist Ethics (Pilgrim Press, 2006)
- Deeper Shades of Purple: Womanism in Religion and Society (New York University Press, 2006)
- Black Church Studies: An Introduction (Abingdon Press, 2007)
- U. S. Liberation Theologies: An Introduction (New York University Press, 2010)
- Beyond the Pale: Reading Ethics from the Margins (Westminister John Knox Press, 2011)
Graham Reside
Assistant Professor of the Practice of Ethics
Systematic theology
Paul DeHart
Professor of Theology
Ph.D., Chicago (1997)
Recent work (4)
- Improvising the Paradigms: Aquinas, Creation and the Eternal Ideas as Anti-Platonic Ontology (Modern Theology, 2016)
- Aquinas and Radical Orthodoxy: A Critical Inquiry (2011)
- The Trial of the Witnesses: The Rise and Decline of Postliberal Theology (2006)
- Beyond the Necessary God: Trinitarian Faith and Philosophy in the Thought of Eberhard Jungel (1999)
Bruce Morrill
Edward A. Malloy Chair in Roman Catholic Studies Distinguished Professor of Theology
Ph.D., Emory University (1996)
Recent work (5)
- Practical Sacramental Theology: At the Intersection of Liturgy and Ethics (Cascade Books, 2021)
- Divine Worship and Human Healing: Liturgical Theology at the Margins of Life and Death (Pueblo/Liturgical Press, 2009)
- Anamnesis as Dangerous Memory: Political and Liturgical Theology in Dialogue (Pueblo/Liturgical Press, 2000)
- Encountering Christ in the Eucharist: The Paschal Mystery in People, Word, and Sacrament (Paulist Press, 2012)
- The Essential Writings of Bernard Cooke: A Narrative Theology of Church, Sacrament, and Ministry (Paulist Press, 2016)
Joerg Rieger
Distinguished Professor of Theology
Ph.D., Duke University (religion and ethics)
Holds the other Cal Turner Chancellor's Chair in Wesleyan Studies and is UMC-ordained. He also directs the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice, and his own research center is theology and economic/political justice movements, with Wesleyan studies as one lens among several rather than his primary output.
Recent work (5)
- Theology in the Capitalocene: Ecology, Identity, Class, and Solidarity (2022)
- Jesus vs. Caesar: For People Tired of Serving the Wrong God (2018)
- No Religion but Social Religion: Liberating Wesleyan Theology (2018)
- Unified We are a Force: How Faith and Labor Can Overcome America's Inequalities, with Rosemarie Henkel-Rieger (2016)
- Faith on the Road: A Short Theology of Travel and Justice (2015)
Practical theology
Yara González-Justiniano
Assistant Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture with emphasis on Latinx Studies
PhD Boston University (2019)
Recent work (1)
- Centering Hope as a Sustainable Decolonial Practice: Esperanza en Práctica (2022)
Jaco Hamman
Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture
PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary, 2000.
Recent work (5)
- The Essence of Leadership: Maintaining Emotional Independence in Situations Requiring Change (Routledge, 2024)
- Pastoral Virtues for Artificial Intelligence: Care and the Algorithms that Guide our Lives (Lexington Books, 2022)
- Just Traveling: God, Leaving Home, and a Spirituality for the Road (Fortress Press, 2021)
- The Millennial Narrative: Sharing the Good Life with the Next Generation (Abingdon Press, 2019)
- Growing Down: Theology and Human Nature in the Virtual Age (Baylor University Press, 2017)
Forrest Harris
Professor of the Practice of Ministry
M.Div., D.Min., Vanderbilt (1983, 1991)
Recent work (3)
- What Does It Mean To Be Black and Christian: The Pulpit, Pew and the Academy in Dialogue (Townsend Press)
- Ministry for Social Crisis: Theology and Praxis in the Black Church Tradition (Mercer University Press)
- What Does It Mean To Be Black and Christian: The Meaning of the African American Church
Hebrew Bible / Old Testament
Annalisa Azzoni
Senior Lecturer in Hebrew Bible
Ph.D., Johns Hopkins (2001)
Herbert R. Marbury
Associate Professor of the Hebrew Bible and Black Religious Studies
M.A., Ph.D., Vanderbilt University (1999, 2003)
UMC-ordained and teaches Hebrew Bible and Black Religious Studies. Not a Methodist-studies appointment, but worth knowing if you are a UMC candidate looking for ordained UM faculty outside the two Wesleyan chairs.
Recent work (2)
- Imperial Dominion and Priestly Genius (Sopher Press, September, 2012)
- Pillars of Cloud and Fire: The Politics of Exodus in African American Biblical Interpretation (New York University Press, 2015)
Wesleyan & Methodist studies
James P. Byrd
Cal Turner Chancellor's Chair of Wesleyan Studies
M.A., Ph.D., Vanderbilt (1997, 1999)
Holds one of Vanderbilt's two Cal Turner Chancellor's Chairs in Wesleyan Studies and is UMC-ordained himself. He teaches History of the United Methodist Tradition and co-leads the new Turner-Barnett Program for Pastoral Formation alongside Bishop William McAlilly (retired, Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference). His own scholarship is on the Bible in American religious and political history, not Methodism specifically — the UM teaching is a role he holds, not the center of his research.
Recent work (5)
- “A Holy Baptism of Fire and Blood”: The Bible and the American Civil War (Oxford University Press, 2021)
- The Story of Religion in America: An Introduction (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2021)
- Sacred Scripture, Sacred War: The Bible and the American Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2013)
- Jonathan Edwards for Armchair Theologians (WJK)
- The Challenges of Roger Williams: Religious Liberty, Violent Persecution, and the Bible (Mercer University Press)
Joerg Rieger
Distinguished Professor of Theology
Ph.D., Duke University (religion and ethics)
Holds the other Cal Turner Chancellor's Chair in Wesleyan Studies and is UMC-ordained. He also directs the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice, and his own research center is theology and economic/political justice movements, with Wesleyan studies as one lens among several rather than his primary output.
Recent work (5)
- Theology in the Capitalocene: Ecology, Identity, Class, and Solidarity (2022)
- Jesus vs. Caesar: For People Tired of Serving the Wrong God (2018)
- No Religion but Social Religion: Liberating Wesleyan Theology (2018)
- Unified We are a Force: How Faith and Labor Can Overcome America's Inequalities, with Rosemarie Henkel-Rieger (2016)
- Faith on the Road: A Short Theology of Travel and Justice (2015)
Pastoral care & counseling
Jaco Hamman
Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture
PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary, 2000.
Recent work (5)
- The Essence of Leadership: Maintaining Emotional Independence in Situations Requiring Change (Routledge, 2024)
- Pastoral Virtues for Artificial Intelligence: Care and the Algorithms that Guide our Lives (Lexington Books, 2022)
- Just Traveling: God, Leaving Home, and a Spirituality for the Road (Fortress Press, 2021)
- The Millennial Narrative: Sharing the Good Life with the Next Generation (Abingdon Press, 2019)
- Growing Down: Theology and Human Nature in the Virtual Age (Baylor University Press, 2017)
Phillis Isabella Sheppard
E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Chair
B. A., 1981 Political Science, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania
Recent work (5)
- Tilling Sacred Ground: Interiority, Black Women, and Religious Experience (Rowman and Littlefield / Lexington Books, 2022)
- Reclaiming Incarnation in Black Life: Black Bodies and Healing Practices in Womanist Pastoral Care (Journal of Pastoral Theology, 2022)
- Navigating Deep Waters: Spirituality and Religion in the Psychodynamic Space, in Spiritual Diversity and Psychotherapy (American Psychological Association, 2021)
- Womanist Pastoral Theology and Black Women's Experience of Religion and Sexuality, in Pastoral Theology and Care (John Wiley Press, 2018)
- Hegemonic Imagination, Historical Ethos, and Colonized Minds in the Pedagogical Space (Journal of Pastoral Theology, 2018)
Liturgy & worship
Eunjoo Kim (Eun J. Lee)
The Charles G. Finney Chair, Professor of Homiletics and Liturgics
Recent work (5)
- Preaching Jesus: Postcolonial Approaches (Rowman and Littlefield, 2024)
- Christian Preaching and Worship in Multicultural Contexts (Liturgical Press, 2017)
- Women, Church, and Leadership: New Paradigms (Wipf and Stock, 2012)
- Preaching in an Age of Globalization (Westminster John Knox Press, 2010)
- Women Preaching: Theology and Practice through the Ages (Pilgrim Press, 2004)
Bruce Morrill
Edward A. Malloy Chair in Roman Catholic Studies Distinguished Professor of Theology
Ph.D., Emory University (1996)
Recent work (5)
- Practical Sacramental Theology: At the Intersection of Liturgy and Ethics (Cascade Books, 2021)
- Divine Worship and Human Healing: Liturgical Theology at the Margins of Life and Death (Pueblo/Liturgical Press, 2009)
- Anamnesis as Dangerous Memory: Political and Liturgical Theology in Dialogue (Pueblo/Liturgical Press, 2000)
- Encountering Christ in the Eucharist: The Paschal Mystery in People, Word, and Sacrament (Paulist Press, 2012)
- The Essential Writings of Bernard Cooke: A Narrative Theology of Church, Sacrament, and Ministry (Paulist Press, 2016)
Latino/Hispanic ministry
Yara González-Justiniano
Assistant Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture with emphasis on Latinx Studies
PhD Boston University (2019)
Recent work (1)
- Centering Hope as a Sustainable Decolonial Practice: Esperanza en Práctica (2022)
Preaching
Eunjoo Kim (Eun J. Lee)
The Charles G. Finney Chair, Professor of Homiletics and Liturgics
Recent work (5)
- Preaching Jesus: Postcolonial Approaches (Rowman and Littlefield, 2024)
- Christian Preaching and Worship in Multicultural Contexts (Liturgical Press, 2017)
- Women, Church, and Leadership: New Paradigms (Wipf and Stock, 2012)
- Preaching in an Age of Globalization (Westminster John Knox Press, 2010)
- Women Preaching: Theology and Practice through the Ages (Pilgrim Press, 2004)
Mission & social justice
Joerg Rieger
Distinguished Professor of Theology
Ph.D., Duke University (religion and ethics)
Holds the other Cal Turner Chancellor's Chair in Wesleyan Studies and is UMC-ordained. He also directs the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice, and his own research center is theology and economic/political justice movements, with Wesleyan studies as one lens among several rather than his primary output.
Recent work (5)
- Theology in the Capitalocene: Ecology, Identity, Class, and Solidarity (2022)
- Jesus vs. Caesar: For People Tired of Serving the Wrong God (2018)
- No Religion but Social Religion: Liberating Wesleyan Theology (2018)
- Unified We are a Force: How Faith and Labor Can Overcome America's Inequalities, with Rosemarie Henkel-Rieger (2016)
- Faith on the Road: A Short Theology of Travel and Justice (2015)
New Testament
Fernando Segovia
Oberlin Graduate Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity
M.A., Ph.D., Notre Dame (1976, 1978)
Scoped to Vanderbilt's own 'Faculty' directory tab (19 people) — the school's people-manager system separately lists Dual Appointments, Adjoint Faculty, and Lecturers, all excluded here the way Duke's harvest scoped to 'Regular Rank' only. ATS's Fall 2025 report counts 24 full-time faculty for the Divinity School as a whole, 5 more than this roster; the gap is most likely joint appointments with the Graduate Department of Religion that don't surface on the Divinity School's own public Faculty tab. Every person below has an individual bio page. Two hold the Cal Turner Chancellor's Chair in Wesleyan Studies (James P. Byrd, Joerg Rieger); a third core faculty member, Herbert R. Marbury, is separately UMC-ordained per his own bio. Degrees and denomination-of-ordination usually come from each person's own 'education' field, but two (Joerg Rieger's degrees, Yolanda Pierce's two institutions with no degree/date stated) were read out of bio prose instead — Vanderbilt's people-manager splits that data inconsistently person to person. Publications: a second full-page read (2026-08-07), prompted by a second-look flag on the first pass's heading-only search, found real dated work named in plain narrative prose (not a 'Selected Publications' heading) for 8 of the 13 people the first pass came up empty on — 14 of 19 now carry a publications list. The remaining 5 (Azzoni, Michelson, Segovia, Reside, Pierce) were read in full and confirmed to name no citable title anywhere on their Vanderbilt bio: Azzoni's two books are explicitly in progress, Michelson's bio links off-site instead of naming titles, and Segovia/Reside/Pierce's bios describe an output without ever naming one. That is what Vanderbilt itself publishes for those five, not an artifact of how this harvest looked.
Titles and fields are the school’s own; the grouping is ours. Where Vanderbilt University Divinity Schoolpublishes a page for someone, it’s linked above as “Profile.” Professors answer email from prospective students more often than you would guess. Publication lists come from the school’s own annual listing ↗, are a selection rather than a full CV, and are only shown for people currently on the directory.
The degrees.
Master of Divinity
72 hrsThe ordination degree: 36 hours of Required Common Courses, a 12-hour Concentration (one of ten), and 24 hours of electives, plus Field Education and a capstone Seminar and Project. As an ecumenical school, Vanderbilt provides ordination-track coursework for Protestant denominations and the Unitarian Universalist Church generally — advisers include denominational liaisons for a dozen named traditions, United Methodist among them, but the catalog does not bind United Methodist candidates to a specific path the way it does explicitly for PCUSA and UCC candidates.
3 years full-time
Master of Theological Studies
48 hrsNot an ordination degree — built for teaching, doctoral preparation, diaconal ministry in some traditions, or nonprofit/social-justice work.
Doctor of Ministry in Integrative Chaplaincy
36 hrsRequires an existing M.Div., M.T.S., or equivalent plus current work as a chaplain. Hybrid by design: synchronous online seminars, asynchronous content, and three 3.5-day on-campus intensives in the first three semesters.
3 years
Money, plainly.
Tuition
$1,236 per credit hour (M.Div./M.T.S. and D.Min.)
2025-26 rate. A full-time M.Div. year (24 hours) runs $29,664 in tuition alone before the mandatory Student Services Fee, Student Health Fee, and student health insurance (domestic: $4,244/year; international: $4,484/year) layered on top.
As of August 2025 · source ↗
Typical award
Named merit scholarships (Brandon Honor, Carpenter, Dean's, Kelly Miller Smith, Divinity Merit) range from partial to full tuition for M.Div./M.T.S. students who apply by January 15
Vanderbilt states that 'our average tuition award is also higher' than peer schools but does not publish a single headline percentage or dollar figure the way Phillips or Duke do. No separate GBHEM/Ministerial Education Fund note is stated on this page.
As of August 2025 · source ↗
- Blakemore/West End UMC Scholarship — A full-tuition scholarship for an entering M.Div. candidate, awarded 'on the basis of academic achievement and promise for ministry in the United Methodist Church' — renewable for up to 72 credit hours while enrolled full-time. This is the direct, named link between UMC candidacy and full funding at a school that otherwise makes no institutional commitment tied to ¶324.4 coverage.
- Turner-Barnett Program for Pastoral Formation — A new (2026-27 first cohort) mentor-driven program for two cohorts of three students with 'a clear vocational focus on pastoral ministry': full tuition, a stipend, a placement in a local congregation, and mentoring led by Bishop William T. McAlilly (retired, Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference of the UMC) alongside Associate Dean James P. Byrd. Eligibility is stated as pastoral-ministry focus generally, not United Methodist affiliation specifically — but the mentoring structure is built around a retired UMC bishop and a Wesleyan Studies chair, so a UMC candidate should ask Admissions whether that shapes the applicant pool.
Vanderbilt's catalog also lists several smaller, older UMC-linked scholarship funds by name (the Missouri Annual Conference Scholarship Fund, the Marquand [Missouri] United Methodist Church Scholarship, the Practice of Leadership in Ministry Fund honoring a UMC bishop, the West End United Methodist Scholarship Fund) that this page does not itemize individually — ask the Office of Financial Aid for the full current list, since fund availability and amounts change year to year in ways a harvested snapshot cannot track reliably.
Place, and what else is within reach.
Vanderbilt University
The Divinity School sits inside Vanderbilt University with dual-degree routes into Law (M.Div.-J.D.), Medicine (M.Div.-M.D.), Nursing (M.S.N./M.Div.), Education (M.Div./M.Ed.), and the Owen Graduate School of Management (M.B.A.-M.Div.).
School of Theology at Sewanee: The University of the South
Students discerning ordination in the Episcopal Church may begin fulfilling Anglican Studies requirements through this cross-registration consortium.
Disciples Divinity House at Vanderbilt
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) maintains a house two blocks from the Divinity School offering scholarship support, low-cost housing, and community specifically for Disciples students — the closest analogue on Vanderbilt's campus to what Brite calls a denominational programme, though for a different tradition than United Methodism.
Who this fits, and what to weigh.
- People rooted in Nashville who would otherwise have to move.
- People who want to study with Rieger or Byrd specifically, and will build a plan around them.
- People who are comfortable assembling their ordination coursework deliberately and documenting it themselves.
- Only four of the nine areas are locked in. Preaching is not one of them — it sits in a pick-two-of-five slot, so a Vanderbilt M.Div. can be finished without a preaching course.
- Vanderbilt makes no claim that its United Methodist coursework satisfies ¶324.4. That is not the same as saying it does not — but it does mean the documenting falls to you and your board rather than to the school.
- No online or distance course taken here counts toward ordination, because Vanderbilt is Senate-approved but not United Methodist.
- Two chairs in Wesleyan Studies — Joerg Rieger and James P. Byrd, both ordained United Methodists — plus Herbert Marbury in Hebrew Bible.
- Three named United Methodist courses: polity, history, and theology in the United Methodist tradition.
- The Blakemore/West End UMC Scholarship is full tuition, explicitly for ministry in the United Methodist Church.
- The M.Div. is residential, with the final year required in residence.
Send one email this week.
Not an application — an email. Pick the professor above whose field is closest to what you cannot stop thinking about, and ask them what they are working on. Then ask admissions to sit in on one class. Both are free, and both tell you more than a brochure will.
Everything on this page was checked against the school’s own published material on August 7, 2026. Costs and curricula change every year — the source link beside each fact is the one that stays current.