Marty Bell

Biography

Standing in our kitchen looking up at my mother when I was three-years-old, I announced to her that when I grew up I was going to be a preacher or I was going to sing on the Grand Ole Opry. I will let you figure out which one of those came true. During the time that I was a Belmont undergraduate, I discovered my natural gifts as a teacher and I was inspired by my professors. Put quite simply, I love being a professor. Parker Palmer, my favorite teacher of teaching says: “to teach is to create a space in which the community of truth is practiced,” and “truth is an eternal conversation about things that matter, conducted with passion and discipline.” I say amen to that. To use another idea from Palmer, I participate daily in “the grace of great things.” Thoughts are powerful. Thoughts give rise to emotions and emotions give rise to behaviors. Being a part of the intellectual and spiritual formation of humans is what I enjoy most in my work in the School of Religion. As a scholar in the field of the history of Christianity, historical theology, and, for several years now, spirituality in the world’s religions, I revel in making the connections of mind and heart and seeing those connections come alive for my students. Being a teacher of the love of wisdom, the literal meaning of doctor of philosophy, is my true vocation!

Publications

• “Great Awakenings, USA,” in The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology
• “Carlyle Marney” in Against the Grain: Prophetic Voices in Baptist Life
• “James Robinson Graves” and “Landmark Movement” in Dictionary of Christianity in America