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The school affirms its commitment to do all in its power to combat the idolatry of racism and ethnocentrism thatremains widespread in our society. Positively, this includes a commitment to take full account of the contributions ofAfrican Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans. It requires the appointment offaculty members and the recruitment of students from these groups and adequate provision for their support. Theschool recognizes a special connection with the contributions of the black church to church and society and acommitment to further these contributions.The school is committed to opposing the sexism that has characterized much of the history of the church andWestern culture and is still present in our society. This commitment entails the conviction that women have a largerplace in the ministry and in teaching than they now enjoy. It requires appointment of women to the faculty,enrollment of a larger number of women students in all programs, and concerted effort to eliminate all forms ofdiscrimination in attitudes, practices, and language. The school regards the use of inclusive language as anexpression of its opposition to gender-based prejudice.The school is committed to confronting the homophobia that prevails throughout much of the church and society.We recognize the rights of lesbians and gay men within the religious community and the need for the eradication ofcivil discrimination based on sexual orientation. This commitment involves the exploration in the curriculum oflesbian and gay concerns as well as affirmation and support of gay and lesbian people within our community.The school is committed to a program of theological education that is open to and takes account of the religiouspluralism in our world. It seeks to familiarize students with interreligious dialogue and the diverse manifestations ofChristianity throughout the world, recognizing that to know one’s own tradition one must know and participate inothers as well. This commitment entails the appointment to the faculty of scholars in other religious traditions andfrom diverse branches of Christianity, as well as the provision of resources for students to study in global contexts.The school acknowledges the close and special relationship between Judaism and Christianity, and it wants toensure an appropriate and sympathetic understanding of the Jewish tradition. It abhors the anti-Semitism that haspervaded much of Christian history and seeks to promote productive and healing dialogue among Christians andJews.The school is committed to active participation in the struggles of individuals and groups for a healthier, more just,more humane, and more ecologically wholesome world. It has special concern for the oppressed, for prisoners, forthe poor, for victims of warfare and militarism, for the effects of environmental destruction, and for the securing ofequal opportunity for all individuals, peoples, and creatures to enjoy God’s gifts.In seeking to act upon such commitments, the school seeks to bear in mind that its fundamental task is educational.The commitment to education is primary. Even so, if such education is to be significant, the school may often berequire to identify issues confronting church, society, and individuals that summon various groups within the school,or the school itself, to appropriate action.The school is committed to conducting its work in an atmosphere conducive to free expression of opinion andjudgment and in such a way as actively to enlist the insights and judgments of the church, alumni/ae, students,faculty, staff, the university community, and the larger community.Living the CommitmentsIn 2011, the Divinity School community engaged in a critical examination of the Commitments to consider thedegree to which these principles are “lived” and not merely invoked. From the deliberations by administrators,faculty, staff, students, and alumni/ae, an amendment to the original Commitments was composed and adopted.This collaboratively-written document encourages members of the School community to practice seven virtues andreaffirms the institution’s commitment to address poverty and economic injustice, racism and ethnocentrism,religious diversity, sexism, and sexual and gender identity.

The Commitments of the Divinity School are written to indicate the kind of just and hospitable world the faculty andstudents seek to promote through education, proclamation, and service. These convictions do not emerge from asingle religious community; rather, they emerge from several religious and humanistic traditions. The Commitmentsconstitute an invitation to students and faculty to engage in an ongoing conversation about faith and humanrelations, in the world and in the Divinity School itself.The commitments of an institution that seeks justice, inclusion, and respect for diverse kinds of human beings mustbe lived if they are not to stand in judgment of the people who affirm them. In order to effect these Commitments,therefore, students and faculty alike are asked to practice the following convictions and virtues:Generosity—to give freely, based upon the trust that the value of education and wisdom is not diminished throughsharing.Hospitality—to welcome all at the table of learning, making a special effort to enlarge that table for people unlikeourselves and for those who are excluded from other tables.Humility—to accept that others may know more about a given situation, to realize that one may know morethrough others, and to accept that no one is right about everything.Imagination—to envision a world that is better than the one we have and to engage in learning so as to make thatnew world more manageable to others.Patience—to pursue understanding with hope, even in the face of misunderstanding and disappointment.Reflexivity—to cultivate awareness of one’s individual and institutional history, so as to overcome inheritedpractices.Respect—to dignify the selfhood and tradition represented by each other member of the community, irrespective ofthe historical, theological, and embodied differences that person may represent to oneself.From time to time it is appropriate for various parts of the Divinity School community, and for all parts of the largercommunity, to examine the practices and aims of the School with respect to its stated purposes and commitments.At every such juncture, it is vital to remember that Commitments become real not by their invocation or revision,but by the manner in which they are lived. The policy statements that follow are the result of careful deliberationbetween students and faculty and are provided as guides to ethical action within the Divinity School community asits members seek to live the Commitments. They belong to a long-standing tradition of the school, some portionshaving been initiated in the 1960s and other portions having been added more recently. Like all human institutions,the Divinity School remains imperfect; yet it hopes that these Commitments will motivate students and facultytoward a mutual fulfillment of their premises.Poverty and Economic InjusticeIn 1875, Bishop McTyeire proclaimed Vanderbilt’s Biblical Department, the predecessor of today’s Divinity School, tobe a “School of the Prophets.” Striving to embody the spirit of that proclamation, the Divinity School has historicallyengaged issues of poverty and economic (in)justice. The various faith traditions represented at the School recognizethe multidimensional reality of poverty and uphold commitments to foster human flourishing and care for those whoare in need.To this end, the Divinity School is committed to designing curricular programs—in both academic research and fieldeducation—that critically interrogate the institutionalization of economic injustice, the persistence of poverty, andthe intersection of class oppression with other structures of marginalization such as gender, race, sexuality, andability. It will train future ministers, teachers, activists, and other graduates to engage thoughtfully and pastorally incross-class congregations, classrooms, and anti-poverty organizations. It will develop new programs, institutes, andscholarships that make admission and access to the resources of the Divinity School available to economically poorstudents and members of the Nashville community. It will cultivate the value of the experiential knowledge of thepoor by giving particular attention to student, faculty, and outside community voices of poverty.The Divinity School will also support a work environment, in its premises particularly and at the University generally,

that offers wages and benefits that ensure that no employees— including those who maintain the grounds, servicethe buildings, and serve food in the cafeterias—are kept in poverty by their employment. And it will continue toinclude among the faculty cohort those whose scholarship and teaching brings a focus to issues of poverty, class,and economic injustice, and it will encourage student organizations whose focus is on issues of poverty, class, andeconomic injustice.Racism and EthnocentrismAs generally understood, racism designates forms of prejudice, bias, discrimination, violence, and terror directed atpersons or groups, based on differences in traits, characteristics, manners, customs, or other cultural markers suchas language, dress, or skin color. Ethnocentrism involves evaluating other cultures and ethnic groups in light ofone’s own cultural or ethnic standards, and it promotes putative superiority over these other groups, leading tomanifestations of chauvinism and racism that are directed against distinct populations perceived as inferior, oftenwithin the same geographical region.The history of the United States has been especially marked by racism and ethnocentrism. This condition hasresulted in prejudice, discrimination, and violence—physical, psychological, and institutional—against persons of(among others) African, Asian, Native American, Latino, Muslim, and Jewish descent. Racism and ethnocentrism notonly manifest themselves in individual attitudes or personal prejudice, but they also operate through systemic socialstructures, permeating the life-worlds of groups, communities, nations, and societies. At the same time, racism andethnocentrism often manifest and reinforce themselves through demeaning language or characterization as well asthrough notions of American exceptionalism. These problems call for us to remain vigilant and to resist theirinfluence in the classroom, community, and society.Combating racism and ethnocentrism is an ongoing task. Personal or group intervention alone will not cure theseprejudices. Sensitivity is not enough to remove the injury and injustice that racism and ethnocentrism introduce intoour conversations, classrooms, social spaces, and writings. Nor do a diverse faculty, staff, and student body ensurethat racism and ethnocentrism will not persist. To combat such prejudice, Vanderbilt Divinity School is resolved tocontinue to diversify at all levels of its administration, faculty, staff, and student body, to improve financial aid toracially and ethnically underrepresented groups, to promote a safe environment and respect for all, and to stimulatethe creation of courses and public presentations that enhance racial and ethnic understanding.Religious DiversityVanderbilt Divinity School commits to a program of theological education that is open to and takes account of thereligious pluralism in our world. It seeks to familiarize students with the diverse manifestations of faith throughoutthe world and to acquaint them with the language of interfaith encounter. It recognizes that in the past failure torespect diversity of religions–both doctrine and practices– has been a source of conflict. It affirms that a multiplicityof religious traditions enriches our community. When founded in 1875, the Divinity School primarily preparedcandidates for the Christian ministry. While the majority of its students and faculty still stem from the Christiantradition, the School now seeks to embrace a wide spectrum of religious faiths, both in Christian denominations andin other religious traditions. Its students prepare for a variety of leadership positions, both inside and outside offormal religious institutions.The Divinity School is one of the few university-based interdenominational institutions. It believes that preparationfor religious leadership today happens best in a religiously plural pedagogic environment. It therefore expects toappoint scholars from diverse branches of Christian and other religious traditions. It commits to create core coursesas well as electives that will introduce different traditions, that explain how misrepresentations and misconceptionsabout the other develop, and that expound on how distortions might be prevented. It pledges to seek resources tosustain study in a global context. The Divinity School also strives to avoid insensitivity toward religious concerns.Personal expression of faith and practice must be allowed free articulation, but also encouraged to be considerate ofother forms of worship in a broad community. Prayers, ceremonies, speeches, and liturgies at events involving thewhole community must respect as well as nurture diversity. Given the character of worship and the voluntary natureof Divinity School services, weekly chapel may differ in character; but over the course of a year, such services needto reflect the multiplicity of communal life.

To fulfill its goals of religious diversity, the School must not be parochial, either in its curriculum or in its student andfaculty composition. It must resist and confront caricatures of the faiths, practices, and traits of others. The DivinitySchool will continue to support student investment in their own particular traditions, will seek to stimulaterecruitment of a diverse body of students and faculty, and will sponsor named lectureships (e.g., Cole Lectures,Antoinette Brown Lectures, Harrod Lectures, Bogitsh Lectures) that sustain the spectrum of religious expression.SexismSexism is an interlocking system of advantage based on gender. Sexism is an act, an attitude, an opinion, or afeeling that has prejudicial effect. In a patriarchal society or institution, sexism is manifested through male privilege.Male privilege refers to the many implicit and explicit ways by which one sex receives concrete benefits of access toresources and rewards that are denied the other sex. This privilege has allowed one sex to institutionalize normsand values to the detriment of another. Despite efforts to protect the equal rights of women, institutionalized sexismremains both prevalent and systemic, embedded in every institution in society.Women, as a marginalized group, represent diverse particularities that include (but are not limited to) race, class,sexual orientation, religious background, and physical ability. Women are significant participants in religions; inAmerica, they have constituted the majority of most denominations. However, women’s religious lives have oftenbeen relegated to spheres separate from the “normative” activities. Further, until the development of women’sstudies in the 1970s and 1980s, little critical analysis of religious sexism existed, and most of the history of womenin religion remained largely hidden. Increasingly, scholars and others attentive to the concerns of women haverecovered and are documenting women’s leadership of, participation in, and contributions to religious life.Moreover, educators and researchers are continuing to engage critically how religions speak about women andwhether they provide options to them.The Vanderbilt Divinity School commits continuously and explicitly to include gender as an analyzed category and tomitigate sexism in the Divinity School’s curricula. It will deliberately seek to fill faculty and administrative vacancieswith women of underrepresented racial, ethnic, theological and religious backgrounds and sexual identities. Allfaculty members, especially those who teach courses in the core curriculum, are committed to work toward courseoutlines in which both the experiences of, and the scholarship by, women—especially those of otherunderrepresented identities—are integrated. They will encourage students to create a positive classroom andcultural climate in which women’s self-confidence as scholars and professionals can be nurtured and strengthened.This includes consistent attention to the use of inclusive language, especially in relation to the Divine. Faculty,students, and administration will strive to reinforce these values in extra-curricular events and programs.Sexual and Gender IdentityControversies in religious communities over sexual and gender identity continue worldwide. Religiously basedhomophobia is often mobilized for political purposes. It threatens family and community unity and contributessignificantly to the high suicide rates among gay and lesbian teens. While homosexuality is the primary lightningrod, the controversy is broadening as public awareness of the variety of sexual and/or gender identities expands.The now common acronym LGBTQI includes not only gays, lesbians, and bisexuals, but transgendered, transsexual,and intersexed persons, as well as those who identify as “queer.” These vectors of identity are also inseparable fromothers, including race, ethnicity, class, nationality, and religion. Discrimination and misunderstanding, therefore,take many forms. The sheer variety of these terms indicates an ever-shifting and growing understanding of thecomplexity of the relationship among identity, embodiment, self-expression, and cultural expectations. Thus, wecannot assume that our interpretation of how people look or act is a reliable window into their self-understanding.The Divinity School’s commitment to social justice on these issues is grounded in an affirmation of the goodness of adiverse human community as God’s creative intention. Given the autonomy of religious communities, the School’sprimary contribution to the resolution of conflicts around sexual and gender identity will occur through the educationof our students. The School embodies this commitment in the Carpenter Program in Gender, Sexuality, and Religion,the Carpenter Scholarships, GABLE (the Office of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns), and in ourcourse requirements. Many of our faculty, alumnae/i and current students (both divinity and graduate) are engagedin scholarship and activism in these areas.We recognize, however, that fully realizing this commitment to the eradication of unjust treatment of people on thebasis of (actual or perceived) gender and/or sexual identity is a work in progress. To that end, the Divinity School’sfaculty and administration commit to assess regularly the curriculum’s success in teaching students about LGBTQIissues in ways that are both intellectually sound and practically relevant, to signal concretely our welcoming intent

(for example, providing safe space on campus for those who are transitioning from one gender to another), and toreview constantly official policies and procedures for unintended discriminatory effects, making changes as needed.Relation to the ChurchesThe Divinity School is independent of any church or denomination, but in its work of preparing men and women

Divinity School, in keeping with the national pattern for university-related theological institutions. The Graduate School of Theology of Oberlin College merged with the Divinity School in 1966, an event acknowledged in naming the present building (which opened in 1960) the Ober