MACON, Ga. – Mercer University Associate Professor of Southern Studies Douglas Thompson was recently named editor of the Journal of Southern Religion, the first scholarly journal devoted to the study of religion in the American South.
“Mercer's Southern Studies Program is truly unique, and I am very excited that one of our Southern Studies professors has been tapped to lead this academic journal,” said Dr. Lake Lambert, dean of the College of Liberal Arts.
Dr. Thompson, who joined Mercer's faculty in 2001, teaches courses within the curriculum that examine the role of religious life in the region, including his favorite, “Southern Jesus.” His current book project looks at how religious Richmonders responded to the movement by white politicians to keep public schools segregated, known as Massive Resistance, in the 1950s.
With its program in Southern Studies, Mercer University Press, the Lamar Lectures and the Lanier Prize for Southern Literature, Mercer adds the Journal of Southern Religion to its rich collection of resources, which has established the University as a leader in the study of the American South.
“Mercer's place within the region allows it to attract this kind of scholarship,” Dr. Thompson said. “We hope to build an institutional identity for the journal with Mercer's ever-increasing visibility in the field.”
The Journal of Southern Religion, a fully peer-reviewed academic journal reflecting the best traditions of objective and critical scholarship, was formed in 1998. The journal has been guided by the vision of scholars of the South and supported institutionally by Florida State University, Louisiana State University and University of Tennessee, Knoxville. It is an open-access publication, published free of cost in its entirety on the Internet. For more information, visit http://jsr.fsu.edu/.
