One Class Can Change Your Life

Graduating religion senior Hali Brook is leaving Ashland and going to Thailand to train with the organization Remember Nhu. After six months in Thailand she will start work with the charity in Bolivia caring for children at risk of human trafficking.

Hali first developed an interest in Remember Nhu when Carl Ralston, the founder of the Akron-based charity, came and spoke in Dr. Dickson's class, REL214 Christian Formation.

Hali explains what she is doing and why in this video: 



You will be able to follow Hali's work through her blog.

Senior Wisdom

Religion Department seniors offer these words of wisdom to ‘those left behind.’

Joe Antus

Joe Antus: "Take the time to invest in people. even if it’s just sitting and listening to them for a while."

Hali Brook

Hali Brook: "Stop thinking about your classes, homework, and papers as assignments and tasks to check off on your to-do list. Instead, start thinking about them as tools and knowledge to help you understand the world, others, and yourself."

Jacob Ewing

Jacob Ewing: "Read more books. Even if you think you don't have enough time, try to fill the short 10-minute breaks in your day with good literature. There are a lot of things worthy of reading that don't require a ton of time. See Brian Doyle, for example."

Mary Johnson

Mary Johnson: "Use this time to grow spiritually as well as academically."

Annie Kathleen Miller

Annie Kathleen Miller: "Pray more, complain less, remember God and seek truth."

James Robinson

James Robinson: "Study read and listen with an open mind! Be open!"

Majors Present Papers at CAS Symposium

Mackenzie Lake at the podium

Religion Majors Mackenzie Lake and James Robinson both presented papers at the Undergraduate Research and Creativity Activity Symposium at Ashland University on April 10.

Mackenzie Lake’s paper “The Protestant Church Under a Socialist Regime,”  came from research conducted in Germany as part of a study abroad program. James Robinson conducted his research a little closer to home for his paper “The Role of the Church in a Segregated Society: A Case Study of Shelby, Ohio.” 

Both Mackenzie and James's research was for their major theses.

James Robinson with his thesis advisor Dr. Slade 

Fall 2013 - Religion Classes

Choosing courses in Religion for you minor, major, or general improvement and education?

Check out what's on offer in the Fall:


REL 208 Exploring Christian Theology (10:50-12:05 TTh) Dr. Hovey
An introduction to central doctrines of the Christian faith that is both respectful of classic
theological traditions and open to the new voices and emphases of recent theologies. A required course for religion majors and one of the best ways for religion minors to fulfill their Christian thought requirement.

REL 230 History of Early Christianity (11-11:50 MWF) Dr. Aune
Focuses on selected literature and historical events in the development of Christianity from the 2nd to the 5th century. One central question will guide our inquiry: how did orthodox Christianity overcome various challenges to become the dominant religious tradition in the West? Meets Core credit for Historical Reasoning.

REL 301A Foundations for Biblical Study: NT Greek (1:40TTh) Dr. Walther
In this course you will be provided with an exposure to New Testament Greek so as understand and apply basic translation skills with the help of dictionaries and other lexical aids. Highly recommended for those in the pre-seminary program but valuable for anyone wanting to do serious Biblical studies in the original language.

REL 307 World Religious Traditions East and West (3:05-4:20 TTh Dr. Aune)
An advanced inquiry into selected topics within Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism with a special focus on primary texts such as the Mishnah, Qur’an, Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana and selected Buddhist Scriptures. The theme for this fall will be peace and justice issues.

REL 311 Youth Ministry (12:15-1:30 TTh) Dr. Swope
A study of contemporary U.S. American youth and youth culture as they relate to the church and to para-church organizations. Students will be exposed to youth programs, leadership styles and organizational designs. Emphasis is on the practical aspects of planning, administration and implementing of youth ministries within and related to the church.

REL 341 World Christianity, Culture and Mission (3:00-4:15 MW) Dr. Dickson
Explore the emerging field of World Christianity through the lens of Christian mission and culture theory. How do Christians in the two-thirds world understand and contextualize their faith? How has traditional western mission shaped them? How have post-colonial contexts challenged them? Experience cross-cultural phenomena. This is a GPS course.

From Jim Crow to Black Power

Rev Harold Walker, a retired Presbyterian minister,  shared stories and insights from his life in ministry with students in REL 340 Religion and Civil Rights.

Dr. Slade conducted an oral history with Walker as part of the class. "Rev Walker has such a wealth experience and wisdom," Slade said. "He shared with us stories that shone a light on what it meant to grow up in the South before the civil rights movement and desegregation. He also experienced the racism and injustice in the urban North and had remarkable tales of working with violent gangs in Chicago."

Born in Birmingham, AL, in 1929, Walker served as an assistant minister in Starkville MS from 1949-51. He then moved to Chicago where he worked as a campus minister at the University of Chicago and at First Presbyterian Church where he was involved in the founding of The Woodlawn Organization .

Students taking REL340 conduct their own oral history interviews as part of the class.

AU Religion Grad gets MDiv. at Duke

Congratulations to Drew Tucker ('09) on his M.Div (Magna Cum Laude) from Duke Divinity School. 

He is currently working as the Lutheran campus minister at Duke University. He will complete his Lutheran theological training at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary and will be eligible for call and ordination in Spring 2014.

Interview with Dr. Hovey about his new book "Unexpected Jesus"

Unexpected Jesus: The Gospel as Surprise has just been published by Cascade Books. Click here to order a copy.

Dr. Craig Hovey says that his new book offers a theology of hope, waiting, and promise from the perspective of the resurrection of Jesus. It asks what kind of knowing is most appropriate if the God Christians worship is a living God and the Christian gospel is a surprise. "It took a lot of time for this book to come together," Hovey says. "There's a lot in it that simply required a great deal of thinking that couldn't be hurried. I can't wait to use it in my Christology class in the Spring."

1. You say in your introduction that, for Christians, knowing God is fundamentally different from knowing other things. How so?

As Christians, we always need to be on our guard against idolatry. We can certainly make an idol out of God if our knowing him is limiting and controlling. It’s obvious that knowing God is more like knowing a person than knowing a piece of information. And when you know a person, they can surprise you. If you are too surprised by what someone does, you might think you never really knew this person to begin with. Or they might be acting out of character, acting differently from how they usually act. And while we only know what a person is like by what they’ve done, so long as they’re alive, they’re free to act in ways that enlarge our sense of what they’re like. Especially because of the resurrection of Christ, we know that God is a living God. We never “have” God, nor is God at our disposal. We’re are at his disposal!