News and Information
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322

Release date: September 2, 1998
Contact: Elaine Justice, Assistant Director

EMORY RECEIVES FUNDING FOR NEW DISTINGUISHED PROFESSORSHIP ON CULTURAL IMPACT OF JESUS

Emory University has received a gift of $1.5 million from the Alonzo L. McDonald family to fund a distinguished university professorship dedicated to the study of the person and teachings of Jesus and their impact on culture.

"The distinguishing feature of this professorship is its focus on the person and teachings of Jesus in relation to culture, embracing both the ways these interactions have shaped cultures and the ways in which they have been perceived by cultures," says Rebecca S. Chopp, provost and executive vice president of Emory.

The McDonald Chair in the Study of Jesus and Culture, to be housed in Emory College, will be a visiting position that each year will bring to campus a prominent scholar selected from a wide variety of academic and professional disciplines. The scholar-who could be a philosopher, an artist, a cultural anthropologist, a lawyer, or a musician, for example-will spend a year on campus exploring the topic of Jesus and culture from the standpoint of that particular discipline. While on campus, the scholar will teach an undergraduate class, conduct a seminar for graduate and professional students, hold discussions with faculty members, and make a series of presentations to the public. Plans also call for the work of the visiting scholars to be recorded and archived at Emory, creating a set of materials that can be used by disciplines across the university.

It is expected that the first scholar will be on campus during the 2000-2001 academic year, and that Emory will begin the program by hosting an interdisciplinary conference on Jesus and culture.

"The comparative study of Jesus and his impact on culture allows the arts and sciences to bring academic rigor to a central framing influence of modern human history," says Steven Sanderson, dean of Emory College and vice president for arts and sciences. "Through this chair, the academy can gather the best scholars and students from many traditions to consider Jesus and Christianity in their full cultural manifold."

"The cultural significance of Jesus in Europe and the Americas becomes obvious when listing the ways in which his person has had an impact on all religions of the West, his teachings on every sort of moral and political philosophy; his story on ritual, drama, music, literature and psychology; his representation in art and architecture," says Luke Johnson, Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins, who helped draft the proposal for the chair. "Yet the impact of Jesus on culture is not merely past. Jesus is central to heated contemporary debates."

"A visiting professorship dedicated to these multiple and complex cultural questions provides an invaluable opportunity for our students and faculty to engage in sustained interdisciplinary study in the arts and sciences," says William J. Fox, senior vice president for institutional advancement. "We are most grateful to Al McDonald and the Agape Foundation for this thoughtful and generous gift."

Alonzo L. McDonald is an Emory alumnus and member of the university's Board of Trustees. He is founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Avenir Group, Inc., a firm of development bankers and international investors based in Birmingham, Mich. A native of Atlanta, McDonald graduated from Emory with a degree in journalism in 1948, then served two years as a reporter, section editor and political writer for The Atlanta Journal before obtaining an M.B.A. from Harvard University and embarking on a business career. McDonald was deputy chief of staff to President Jimmy Carter and the ambassador completing the Tokyo round of multilateral trade negotiations in Geneva. He also spent 17 years at McKinsey and Company, Inc., including serving as managing director (CEO ) worldwide. After leaving government, he served on the faculty of Harvard Business School, then became president and vice chairman of Bendix Corp. until 1983, when he formed Avenir.

"My hope is that this professorship will provide an opportunity for a wide range of scholars to explore and communicate the impact of Jesus on various fields of study over the centuries and how that influences our thinking today," says McDonald. "That influence extends far beyond the field of religion and has enormous scholarly appeal to persons of all faiths and nonbelievers as well."