Faculty to head two national scholarly organizations

Two faculty members have been elected presidents of the two major academic organizations in the field of religious studies. Gene M. Tucker, professor of Old Testament at Candler School of Theology, has been elected president of the Society of Biblical Literature, and Robert Detweiler, professor of liberal arts and comparative literature at the Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts, has been elected president of the American Academy of Religion (AAR).

"These selections come as no surprise to us at Emory," said Candler Dean R. Kevin LaGree. "Both professors Detweiler and Tucker are superb scholars and teachers who will lead their respective organizations well. Never has the quality of instruction in the study of religion at Emory been stronger, as these elections illustrate."

Tucker was named president-elect of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) at its November meeting in Chicago. He will serve in this capacity during 1995 and will assume the duties of president in 1996.

A Candler faculty member for 24 years, Tucker served on the Old Testament Committee for the Revised Standard Version Bible. He is the author, co-author or editor of 18 books, the series editor of 22 books, and the author of more than 60 journal articles and reference works.

The SBL is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States, with an international membership of more than 7,000. The SBL's purpose is to stimulate the critical investigation of biblical and other related literature through the exchange of scholarly research both in published form and in public forum. The SBL supports disciplines and subdisciplines related to the literatures and religions of ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean regions, such as the study of ancient languages, textural criticism, history and archaeology.

Detweiler, who came to Emory in 1970, is the author or editor of nine books and numerous monographs, essays and reviews. He is the author of John Updike (1972, 1989), Story, Sign and Self: Phenomenology and Structuralism as Literary Critical Methods (1978, 1984) and Breaking the Fall: Religious Readings of Contemporary Fiction (1989). He has two forthcoming books, one on American fiction, religion and the public sphere, the other on fiction and the sacred.

The American Academy of Religion, based at Emory, has more than 7,500 members who teach in some 1,500 college and university departments and schools in North America. The academy is dedicated to furthering knowledge of religion and religious institutions in all their forms and manifestations through academic conferences, meetings, publications and a variety of programs and membership services.

-- Nancy Seideman