“We all thirst for meaning, for ideas and answers that help us make sense of our world,” says Professor Darby Ray, pointing out that the root word for religion means to fasten together, to connect. “We’ve got to deal with religion if we want to deal with any human problem.” Ray came to Millsaps in 1996 after earning her Ph.D. degree in Religion at Vanderbilt University and has been a vital part of the Religious Studies department ever since. While at Millsaps, she has published one book, Deceiving the Devil: Atonement, Abuse, and Ransom; a second, tentatively titled “Christic Imagination: An Ethic of Incarnation and Ingenuity,” is in the works. Though her major area of focus is nineteenth-and twentieth-century Christian thought, she also teaches courses in the interdisciplinary core curriculum and in the Woman’s Studies program.

As the first recipient of the Millsaps Outstanding Young Faculty Award, Ray has been recognized by her colleagues and students alike for her passion for the field and for teaching. “Dr. Ray has shown herself to be an outstanding teacher who cares deeply for her students but also demands much from them,” confirmed Dr. Richard A. Smith, Vice President and Dean of the College, upon presenting the award.

Ray takes her responsibility to her students very seriously and there is no doubt that she has found her calling. She also understands the delicate and risky nature of exposing students, often freshmen, to alternate schools of religious thought. “I’m not trying to dismantle their world, but I do want them to consider it carefully. I think that students are willing to take risks with me in the classroom because they believe that I do want what’s best for them.”

“It’s been great to see how open-minded they can be upon encountering real diversity in the realm of religion,” Ray says of her students. “When they encounter lives well lived, real devotion and spiritual commitment, and ethical living, they applaud that.”

Michael Barham knows about spiritual commitments. As a second-year seminary student at Duke University’s School of Divinity and a 1999 Religious Studies graduate, he has made the study of religion his life for the last five years. Since high school, he had known that he wanted to do some form of ministerial work. Millsaps was the obvious choice, especially since four family members had come to the College before him. Contrary to what some might assume, the open study of different religions has fortified his own long-held views. “Being a Religious Studies major gave me the opportunity to study my own views critically and challenged me to consider why I believe what I do in the face of all these choices,” Barham explains.

“I gained an appreciation of other religions, and am able to have a constructive dialogue with those I might not agree with religiously.”

Echoing Barham’s comments is Cynthia Dee Weems, who graduated from the department in 1994 before receiving her Master of Divinity degree from Yale University. She, too, knew before college that she wanted to go to seminary, and like Barham, had strong family ties to Millsaps. In fact, her trail was blazed by her father, Lovett Weems, a religion major and 1967 graduate of Millsaps, who spent years as a Methodist pastor before becoming president of Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri. Cynthia Weems recounts that her classes and professors offered a thoughtful balance among questions of faith, history, and philosophy that gave her a broader understanding of religion. She also recalls another important element. “The department doesn’t cast faith aside, yet doesn’t allow faith to dictate the direction of thought or teachings of courses. It made me a better student of religion.”

An appreciation of other religions and the study of them have driven Dr. John Thatamanil since his undergraduate years at Washington University. Today, he is the resident Religious Comparativist in the department. And, as is often the case, behind this inspiring teacher is another inspiring teacher. Thatamanil explains: “I started as an electrical engineering/computer science major, but one of the first electives I took was An Historical and Theological Introduction to the New Testament, and I absolutely loved it. My professor pulled me aside one day and asked me, ‘What the heck are you doing in engineering?’ Soon I switched my major to religion.”

Thatamanil came to Millsaps from Boston University, where he earned his Ph.D. degree in Comparative Religion. He brings to the department a wealth of knowledge about world religions, especially Eastern religions. As one of the professors in the Heritage program, he is charged with the task of presenting and examining a variety of religious views. With his help, students get a taste of comparative theology, learning to bring together resources from multiple traditions in their examination of the world around them. “I try to help my students navigate this new landscape, where religious diversity is part of our everyday life,” he says.

In fact, Millsaps is so diverse that United Methodists are often the third largest religious group among students, after Roman Catholics and Baptists. And at the recent Inauguration Service and Blessing on campus, students shared their faith with readings from Christian, Jewish, and Hindu traditions.

“Millsaps is an institution that doesn’t shy away from religious life,” Thatamanil notes. “Being a church-related college means that we ought to feel a special obligation to not just describe and analyze religion, but to be religious. That is, to show how being religious might make a difference.”

The Religious Studies department does that. And in the process it has become as diverse as the curriculum it teaches and the students who follow its track. Like the College itself, the department has evolved, driven by the search for answers to the world’s most perplexing questions, driven by its search for the truth, and embracing the consequences.

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Millsaps Magazine  |  Millsaps | Last Edited April 23, 2001