James Hudnut-Beumler

Media Appearances

• Middle TN lawmaker wants schools to have option to display Ten Commandments

  Giving public schools across the Volunteer State the choice to post the Ten Commandments is the goal of a Middle Tennessee lawmaker. Critics say the idea crosses the line of religious freedom, but supporters say the Ten Commandments are a founding historical document of our country. News 2 spoke with all sides. “It’s been adopted in other states, and, of course, quickly subjected to court challenges,” said Professor James Hudnut-Beumler, who teaches American religious history at Vanderbilt’s Divinity School.

  January 2nd, 2025

• New Louisiana law requiring classrooms to display Ten Commandments churns old political conflicts

  Disputes over the law likely won’t just be about whether the commandments should be mandated on school room walls, but also which version, said James Hudnut-Beumler, a professor of American religious history at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. “The Ten Commandments always look universal until you put a shortened list up on the wall and discover that there’s room for dispute.”

  June 20th, 2024

• Methodists end anti-gay bans, closing 50 years of battles over sexuality for mainline Protestants

  The United Methodist Church was the last of the major U.S. mainline groups to liberalize its policies on sexuality in part because of its large presence in rural, small-town and Southern areas, where a more conservative sexual ethos prevails, said James Hudnut-Beumler, a professor of American Christian History at Vanderbilt University. He is a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) minister and co-author of “The Future of Mainline Protestantism.”

  May 5th, 2024

• Our Many Jesuses

  The Jesus of the corner office is not, however, the Jesus of the Prosperity Gospel, which holds that God will reward believers with material as well as spiritual gifts if they embrace standards of personal purity and sacrifice, including by tithing with their church, according to James Hudnut-Beumler, a professor of history at Vanderbilt University. The movement, whose exponents have included Oral Roberts, Kenneth Copeland and Joel Osteen, has roots in the healing revivals of Pentecostal pastors in the mid-20th century.

  April 7th, 2023

• Religious liberty has a long and messy history – and there is a reason Americans feel strongly about it

  At the close of its recent term the Supreme Court ruled on the cases of Carson v. Makin and Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, rekindling controversy over one of the most enduring issues in American history: religious liberty. Another of this term’s blockbuster decisions, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, underlines the fact that religious beliefs and actions in the public realm matter. Whether the issue concerns religion and education, prayer or reproduction, Americans feel strongly about their religious liberties.

  July 19th, 2022

• Despite Supreme Court rulings, religious liberty has always been a contentious issue | Opinion

  Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the cases of Carson v. Makin and Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, giving the justices yet another occasion to wrestle with one of the most difficult issues in American history: religious liberty.

  July 6th, 2022

• A year after Gwen Shamblin Lara's death, her presence looms large at Remnant Fellowship

  The sudden passing of several church leaders itself caused disbelief and trauma among the congregation, but that was further complicated by the fact that Lara ran a personality-based ministry, said James Hudnut-Beumler, a professor of American religious history at Vanderbilt Divinity School.

  May 29th, 2022

• Symbols brought to Capitol raise questions about role of Christian belief in riot

  It is easy to find Christian symbolism in the movement supporting Trump's reelection and the sense of embattlement that accompanies it, said James Hudnut-Beumler, a Vanderbilt University professor of American religious history. Adversity is a trope of Christian life, he said.

  January 8th, 2021

• Masks keep churches from being superspreaders. But they make sermons tough

  As congregations reopen, often with social distancing and masks, preachers have faced new challenges, said Jim Hudnut-Beumler, professor of American religious history at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville.

  October 16th, 2020

• The Methodist Church will probably split in two over homosexuality, and that's bad for all of us

  "The mainline Protestants are like the shock troops," said James Hudnut-Beumler, a professor of religious history at Vanderbilt University. "They absorb the first body blows. But as the mainline goes, so more conservative and evangelical will go eventually."

  January 17th, 2020