Religion and Divinity form partnership

With the intent of providing students interested in seminary a faster means to enter the ministry, the college signed a formal agreement on Nov. 21 with Emory University’s Candler School of Theology to launch the 3+3 Accelerated Ministry Track program.

Through this partnership, LC students earn both their bachelor’s degree and a Master of Divinity degree in six years.

For freshman Susannah Lynn, a Religion & Philosophy/Sociology double major, this opportunity puts her one step closer toward her goal of becoming a pastor.

“I want to attend seminary because I want to be ordained in the Methodist Church, and I feel like God is calling me to be on this path,” she said. “Religion has always been a constant in my life.”

But seminary is not the only avenue for students in the program, according to Dr. John Cook, Professor of Religion & Philosophy.

“Graduates have gone on to work in all sorts of vocations including business, education, social work and creative arts,” he said.

Senior Daniel Cody, a Political Science/Religion & Philosophy double major, said Professor Cook has helped him become a better scholar and theologian.

“His control of the classroom and understanding of religious knowledge are incomparable to those of any other professor I have had.”

Even though his primary major is Political Science, he said Religion & Philosophy was his first love.

“When I began as a Ministry Leadership major in 2020, I felt called to missions and believed I could pursue this calling after graduating with that specific degree,” he said. “After COVID struck and the program merged all their Religion and Philosophy courses into one degree, I thought this could be useful for me.

“The program has taught me more about world faiths than I could have imagined, prepared me for a career field in either public service or private ministry and provided me with the resources I need to succeed.”

FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Dr. John Cook, Professor of Religion, had his article “Envisioning the Panoply of the Roman Torturer” published in the journal Klio. He also published a book entitled “The Enspirited Body in 1 Corinthians 15” with Mohr Siebeck in Tübingen.

Dr. Lacey Moore, Assistant Professor of Sociology, received the B.O. Williams Award from the University of Georgia’s Sociology Department for her dissertation “Turning Points, Identity Change, and Community Cultural Wealth: The Prosocial Benefits of Higher Education Among Formerly Incarcerated Individuals.”

Dr. Justin Thurman, Professor of English Writing and Publication Studies, received the Jeffrey E. Smith Editor's Prize for Nonfiction from The Missouri Review for his essay “Golden Boy.”

Dr. John Tures, Professor of Political Science, was featured in the New York Times article “Canada as the 51st State?”