page_title: Vanderbilt University Divinity School
section_title: Notable alumni
hierarchical_section_title: Vanderbilt University Divinity School / Notable alumni
caption_attribution_description: English: Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States.
context_page_description: The Vanderbilt Divinity School and Graduate Department of Religion is an interdenominational divinity school at Vanderbilt University, a major research university located in Nashville, Tennessee. It is one of only five university-based schools of religion in the United States without a denominational affiliation that service primarily mainline Protestantism.
context_section_description: Arto Antturi – Finnish Lutheran priest, vicar for the parish of Pitäjänmäki
  Will W. Alexander (B.Th 1912) – Methodist pastor and founder of the Commission on Interracial Cooperation
  Kenneth Lee Carder (D.M. 1980) – United Methodist bishop
  T. C. Chao (M.A., B.D.) – one of the leading Christian theological thinkers in China in the early twentieth century
  Yun Chi-ho (1888-1891) – political activist and thinker during the late 1800s and early 1900s in Joseon Korea
  James L. Crenshaw (Ph.D 1964) – Robert L. Flowers Professor of the Old Testament at Duke University, leading scholar in Old Testament Wisdom literature, Guggenheim Fellow
  Musa Dube (Ph.D 1997) – Botswana feminist theologian, 2011 Humboldt Prize winner
  The Rt. Rev. Robert W. Estill (D.Min 1980) – 9th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina
  Robert W. Funk (Ph.D 1953) – American biblical scholar, founder of the Jesus Seminar and the nonprofit Westar Institute, Guggenheim Fellow, Fulbright Scholar
  Al Gore (1971–72) – yearlong Rockefeller Foundation scholarship for people planning secular careers
  William M. Greathouse – minister and emeritus general superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene
  William J. Hadden (M.Div 1946) – Episcopal university chaplain, U.S. Army chaplain, U.S. Navy chaplain; desegregationist, World War II's V-12 Navy College Training Program at Vanderbilt
  John Wesley Hardt – Bishop of the United Methodist Church, author, and biographer
  The Rt. Rev. Susan Bunton Haynes (M.Div 1993) – 11th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia
  Roy Herron (M.Div 1980) – former Chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party
  William G. Johnsson (Ph.D) – Seventh-day Adventist author, former editor of the Adventist Review
  Howard Kester (B.D. 1931) – clergyman and social reformer, organized the Southern Tenant Farmers Union designed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt
  Yung Suk Kim (Ph.D 2006) – Korean-American biblical scholar and author, editor of peer-reviewed journal, Journal of Bible and Human Transformation and the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion
  James Lawson (M.Div 1960) – civil rights pioneer
  Mark Noll (Ph.D 1975) – historian, Research Professor of History at Regent College, previously Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame
  Tat-Siong Benny Liew (Ph.D 1997) – 1956 Chair of New Testament Studies at the College of the Holy Cross
  Carroll D. Osburn (D.Div 1970) – American scholar recognized as one of North America’s leading New Testament textual critics and a prominent Christian egalitarian
  Mitch Pacwa SJ (Ph.D) – bi-ritual American Jesuit priest celebrating liturgy in both the Roman and Maronite rites, president and founder of Ignatius Productions, accomplished linguist
  William Powlas Peery (M.A. 1959) – Pastor of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church in Andhra Pradesh, India, significant figure in South Indian Christianity in the 20th century
  David Penchansky (Ph.D 1988) – scholar of the Hebrew Bible, literary critic to the Old Testament, particularly its Wisdom Literature
  Clare Purcell (B.D. 1916) – Methodist bishop
  Laurel C. Schneider (Ph.D 1997) – Professor of Religious Studies, Religion and Culture at the Vanderbilt Divinity School
  Timothy F. Sedgwick (M.A., Ph.D) – American Episcopal ethicist
  Robert Hitchcock Spain (M.Div.) – United Methodist bishop
  Brock Speer (M.Div) – bass singer for the Speer Family Southern Gospel group
  Ken Stone (M.A. 1992, Ph.D 1995) – author, Chairman of the Reading, Theory and the Bible Section of the Society of Biblical Literature, Lambda Literary Award winner
  Amy Welborn (M.A. in Church History) – Roman Catholic author, columnist, activist, academic and public speaker
  B. Michael Watson (D.M) – bishop of The United Methodist Church
  Sharon D. Welch (Ph.D 1982) – social ethicist and author; Affiliate Faculty, Meadville Lombard Theological School; former Associate Professor, Harvard Divinity School
  Don West (D.Div 1932) – civil rights activist, labor organizer, poet, educator
  Shelli Yoder (M.Div.) – Miss Indiana 1992, former Democratic Party nominee for U.S. Congress (IN-9)
caption: Vice President of the United States Al Gore (Rockefeller Scholar 1971-1972)
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