{"id":3351,"date":"2021-07-28T12:02:07","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T17:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/?p=3351"},"modified":"2021-07-30T09:39:41","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T14:39:41","slug":"preparing-for-divinity-school-a-reading-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/2021\/07\/preparing-for-divinity-school-a-reading-list\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing for divinity school: A reading list"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"christin-hume-k2Kcwkandwg-unsplash\"Guest post by the Rev. Laura Mariko Cheifetz, Assistant Dean of Admissions, Vocation, and Stewardship<\/em><\/p>\n

So you\u2019re going to divinity school\/seminary. Congratulations! I absolutely loved my experience, and now I get to be present with people who are figuring out if div school is the next right step, which div school, and then be around when they take the plunge and find out how much they can grow.<\/p>\n

I am sometimes asked by incoming students about what books they should be reading to prepare for div school, especially those who don\u2019t have a degree in religion or religious studies from undergrad. I have my list (you\u2019ll see it below) of books that I think provide the stretch, the vocabulary, the new understandings, the deliciousness of theological education. Books can be an obligation, and often are in graduate school, but they are also a window into new concepts and ways of thinking. Books are a delight. Books are sustenance for the journey.<\/p>\n

I asked a couple of Vanderbilt Divinity folks for their list. And then I asked the internet (my Facebook friends) for theirs.<\/p>\n

Here is a tiered list of books you could take a peek into before (or during, or after, or regardless of) theological education.<\/p>\n

My list<\/h3>\n

Rita Nakashima Brock & Rebecca Ann Parker, Proverbs of Ashes: Violence, Redemptive Suffering, and the Search for What Saves Us<\/em> (narrative and personal exploration of the doctrine of atonement)<\/p>\n

Delores S. Williams, Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk<\/em> (womanist theology, considered a classic\/foundational text in the field)<\/p>\n

Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God<\/em> (narrative personal exploration into identity and faith)<\/p>\n

Is there a \u201cwhat to expect when you\u2019re in seminary\u201d book? Yes.<\/h3>\n

David M. Mellott, Finding Your Way in Seminary: What to Expect, How to Thrive<\/em><\/p>\n

Dr. Steph Budwey<\/a>, the Luce Dean\u2019s Faculty Fellow Assistant Professor of the History and Practice of Christian Worship and the Arts and Director of the Religion in the Arts and Contemporary Culture Program at VDS, recommends two theology books<\/h3>\n

James Cone,\u00a0The Cross and the Lynching Tree<\/em><\/p>\n

Marcella Althaus-Reid\u00a0Indecent Theology<\/em><\/p>\n

The Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School and Distinguished Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society, Dr. emilie townes<\/a>, recommends<\/h3>\n

Laurel C. Schneider and Stephen G. Ray, Jr., editors,\u00a0Awake to the Moment: An Introduction to Theology<\/em><\/p>\n

Raphael G. Warnock,\u00a0The Divided Mind of the Black Church: Theology, Piety, and Public Witness<\/em><\/p>\n

Anthea D. Butler,\u00a0White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America<\/em><\/p>\n

The people on the internet who have been on their own version of the same journey recommended the following.<\/h3>\n

On leadership<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation<\/em><\/p>\n

Willie James Jennings, Beyond Whiteness: An Education in Belonging<\/em><\/p>\n

Jo-Ann Archibald, Indigenous Storywork: <\/em>Educating the Heart, Mind, Body, and Spirit<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Theology & Biblical Studies<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Kate Bowler, Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I\u2019ve Loved<\/em><\/p>\n

Kwok Pui Lan, Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology<\/em><\/p>\n

Clodovis & Leonardo Boff, Introducing Liberation Theology<\/em><\/p>\n

Mayra Rivera, The Touch of Transcendence<\/em><\/p>\n

James Cone, The God of the Oppressed<\/em><\/p>\n

Austen Hartke, Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians<\/em><\/p>\n

Shirley C. Guthrie, Christian Doctrine<\/em><\/p>\n

Nancy Eiesland, The Disabled God: Toward a Liberatory Theology of Disability<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About the church<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Dennis R. Maynard, When Sheep Attack<\/em><\/p>\n

Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Children\u2019s Literature<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Kobi Yamada, illustrated by Mae Besom, What You Do Matters<\/em> series: What Do You Do with an Idea? What Do You Do with a Chance? What Do You Do with a Problem?<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fiction<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

NK Jemisin, Broken Earth Trilogy<\/em><\/p>\n

Octavia A. Butler, Parable of the Sower<\/em><\/p>\n

Shusako Endo, Silence<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest post by the Rev. Laura Mariko Cheifetz, Assistant Dean of Admissions, Vocation, and Stewardship So you\u2019re going to divinity school\/seminary. Congratulations! I absolutely loved my experience, and now I get to be present with people who are figuring out if div school is the next right step, which div school, and then be around…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6668,"featured_media":3353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6668"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3351"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3357,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3351\/revisions\/3357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}