History of the Department of Religious Studies
The Department of Religious Studies was founded in 1965 by a recommendation of the Faculty Senate, and Ralph Norman was appointed as its first head in 1966. The first courses were taught in 1967. The Faculty Senate and university administration founded the new department for two reasons: (1) to insure that all courses in religion at UT were taught by scholars who had advanced academic degrees in the historical and comparative study of religions, and (2) because they believed that the academic study of religion was an integral aspect of a university curriculum. Read the Summary Report of the University of Tennessee Special Senate Committee on the Tennessee School of Religion, which recommended that a new university department replace the instructional program in religion administered by a private corporation established by the churches in Knoxville in the 1930s. The local religious leaders involved in this enterprise welcomed and supported the move. For an interesting historical vignette, prepared by the Office of the University Historian, see “To Promote No Creed: Religion at UT.”
F. Stanley Lusby, renowned as an inspiring teacher and passionate advocate of the history of religions, replaced Norman and served as department head from 1972-1979. Charles Reynolds was appointed in January of 1980. In 1984, he produced a report for the university administration: “Philosophy and Policies on Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee from 1966 to Present,” and published a strategic article in the Knoxville Journal (October 12) “Bible Study within Religious Studies,” in order to clarify and specify who could teach courses on religion at UT, and which institutions could transfer credits. Reynolds held the office until August 2001, and for the last several years was the senior department head in the College of Arts and Sciences. James Fitzgerald served as Interim Head from September 2001 through August 2002. Then Gilya Schmidt was appointed in September 2002 and continues in this role to date.
The department underwent a number of transitions from 2001-2003. David Linge and Lee Humphreys both retired in 2001, followed by Dave Dungan in 2002, and Ralph Norman in 2003. Rachelle Jacobs Scott was appointed in 2002, followed by Johanna Stiebert in January 2003 and Christine Shepardson in August 2003. All three bring new strengths and energies to the department. For the first time in its history, the department has a majority of women faculty, and is currently the only department in the College of Arts and Sciences to hold this status!
There are now 11 full-time, an adjunct faculty, and several part-time lecturers, who teach a full range of courses on the comparative, historical, and social scientific approaches to the study of religion. The department annually has approximately forty majors/double majors at the beginning of fall semester and sixty in spring semester. There are typically twelve to fifteen graduates with a major each year. About half of these graduates are double majors. There is approximately the same number of students who graduate with a minor in Religious Studies.
In August 1998 the department admitted its first students into a Master’s Program in Philosophy, with a concentration in Religious Studies. The faculty in Religious Studies has responsibility for the curriculum and student selection, while the admissions process is managed through the Department of Philosophy. There are currently eight graduate teaching assistantships for students and each of these carries a full tuition waiver.
The Department of Religious Studies has had a long history of supporting multi-disciplinary and comparative cultural programs at UTK. These have included Asian Studies, African and African-American Studies, American Studies, Latin American Studies, Women's Studies, Medical Ethics, Ancient Mediterranean Studies, Islamic Studies, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, University Studies, College Scholars, and Comparative Literature. Since 1991, the department has worked with other university faculty and administrators to add Judaic Studies, which now has its own interdisciplinary major and minor, to this impressive list of multi-disciplinary programs. The Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies Program is chaired by our current department head, Gilya G. Schmidt.
The department has developed a reputation both for organizing and cooperating with other departments and units to sponsor successful public symposia on topics including, for example, The Fragility of Goodness, Habits of the Heart, The Harlem Renaissance, Islamic Awareness Month, China Week, India Week and India Semester, Africa Week, and Africa Semester, periodic Holocaust conferences, as well as several human rights symposia involving Latin American, African, and Muslim scholars and activists. These are in addition to the dozen or so academic lectures Religious Studies co-sponsors with other academic departments or programs each year. The department also sponsors the Religious Studies Association which is composed primarily of students who major or minor in Religious Studies, but is open for participation by any interested students in the university.
Since 1973, Religious Studies has sponsored the publication of The Journal of Religious Ethics. This journal is now cooperatively sponsored by Florida State University (where it is currently edited), Indiana University, Emory University and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. F. Stanley Lusby was head of the UT Department of Religious Studies when this journal was initially planned, and Charles Reynolds was the founding editor. More information on the JRE, which is now the leading international journal in this field of study, is online here.
In cooperation with The Society for Values in Higher Education, our university also co-sponsors the publication of Soundings, an inter-disciplinary journal for the humanities. The department worked with the Office of Academic Affairs to bring Soundings to this campus. Ralph Norman edited Soundings from 1985-2001. It is currently edited by Allen Dunn of the English Department. Numerous members of the UT faculty, including four from the Department of Religious Studies, serve on the Editorial Board of Soundings.
From January 1997 through August of 1998, as a way of contributing to a broader public understanding of religion, members of the faculty hosted a live talk-radio program, “Religion and the Human Prospect,” each Sunday morning from 9:30-11:00 a.m. on East Tennessee’s largest commercial talk-radio station, 990 AM and 99.1 FM. Religious Studies faculty members continue to speak extensively in the wider community to schools, religious and community groups. For example, Christine Shepardson and Johanna Stiebert delivered several lectures at the Ink and Blood: Sacred Treasures of the Bible exhibit when it came to Knoxville in 2005. In addition, several members of the faculty serve on the College of Arts and Sciences Speakers’ Bureau and on ReligionSource, a media service of the American Academy of Religion.
In order to communicate the work of the Department to the community, and to help raise funds for the research activities of faculty and students, a Board of Visitors, composed of interested local citizens, was created in 2004.
A bibliography of rare books and manuscript collections related to the history of religion in Tennessee can be found here. They are available in UT Special Collections at Hoskins Library on Cumberland Ave.