TUSCULUM COLLEGE
PUBLIC RELATIONS

CONTACT: CAMERON JUDD
423.636.7304
e-mail: cjudd@tusculum.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 02-08-01

From the Holiness Movement to 'Snake-Handling,' themes of Appalachian Religion to be explored throughout February at Tusculum College
Aspects of religious life in Appalachia ranging from the Holiness Movement to serpent-handling will be examined as Tusculum College's Theologian in Residence lecture and presentation series continues this month.
The month-long series began last week with a presentation by Paul Rader, coordinator for missions of the Coalition for Appalachian Ministry (CAM). The topic of his presentation was "Ministry in Appalachia."
Each Theologian in Residence presentation takes place in the Chalmers Conference Center of the Niswonger Commons on the Tusculum College campus beginning at 10 a.m. and continuing until lunch at 12:30.
Each afternoon, a wrap-up session takes place starting at 1:15 and usually concluding an hour or hour-and-a-half later.
Reservations to attend the sessions must be made to allow planning for seating and lunch. To make a reservation, contact the office of Mark Stokes, vice president for administration and college relations, by calling Tusculum College at 423-798-1638, or 1-800-729-0256, extension 638.
On Feb. 13, the featured speaker will be Deborah Vansau McCauley, independent scholar, writer, and editor. Dr. McCauley holds a master’s degree in Hebrew Scriptures and a Ph.D. in American Religious History from Columbia University. She is currently co-editor of the "Images and Icons" section of the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Appalachia, and is also the author of the award-winning book, Appalachian Mountain Religion: A History. Her presentation topic will be The Holiness Movement.
On Feb. 20, Fred Brown and Jeanne McDonald, journalists, authors, and editors, will give a presentation entitled The Snake-Handling Tradition.
Fred Brown is a feature writer with the Knoxville News-Sentinel, a member of the Scripps-Howard Hall of Fame, and the recipient of several journalism awards. He is co-author, with Harry Moore, of Discovering October Roads, UT Press.
Jeanne McDonald has published short fiction, contributed to Knoxville’s Metro Pulse, edited two anthologies and is a multiple winner of prestigious writing awards. Brown and McDonald collaborated on the recent book, The Serpent Handlers: Three Families and Their Faith, which tells the true stories of three Appalachian serpent-handling families, one from Kentucky, another from West Virginia, and another from Tennessee.
The series will conclude on Feb. 27 with a presentation by Loyal Jones, a popular writer, speaker, and educator. Jones formerly directed the Berea College Appalachian Center, where he taught courses and ran workshops in Appalachian studies, started an annual festival of traditional music, and established the Appalachian Sound Archive of music, stories, and interviews.
He has published extensively on Appalachian values, religion, humor and music and is a popular public speaker on those and other Appalachian themes. His latest book is Faith and Meaning in the Southern Uplands, published in 1999 by the University of Illinois Press. At Tusculum College he will talk about Old Time Religion.
The Theologian in Residence series is sponsored by Tusculum College and the Holston Presbytery.
-TC-

#