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Dr. Jeanne Matthews Sommer, Department Chair

During my sophomore year of college I underwent a kind of metamorphosis. I began college thinking that I would be an attorney. As I became increasingly exposed to the complexities of the world, I felt a call to service but did not know what shape a career in service might take. During my senior year, a professor in the Religious Studies Department further opened the doors onto the world for me. He taught me not what to believe, but what there was to believe and gave me the critical tools and research skills to go about the task of acquiring knowledge and evaluating what postures of thought and action might be most appropriate for me. I decided then that I wished, some day, to do for others what had been done for me: to truly educate, from the Latin roots "educare," meaning to draw out. Instead of indoctrinating me into methods of learning and ideologies that may or may not hold truth for me, my teacher helped me to draw deeply from an endless well by exposing me to the breadth of the world's religious traditions and their multiple answers to the profound questions of life. I went on to graduate school and had the fortunate opportunity to come to Warren Wilson in 1995, a place I have come to love dearly. I find the students here to be quite bright and creative in their thinking. They tend to be seekers, and the academic study of religion provides them with multiple resources for approaching the great questions of life. Every class I approach, with great humility, knowing that I am going on a journey with folks for sixteen weeks that will take us into the deepest quadrants of our own souls and the caverns of many diverse cultures. I can think of no greater profession than to be given this opportunity to accompany young people on their quest for knowledge and peace.

Maya Angelou once responded to someone who said that they were Christian by saying, "Oh really? Already?" I found this statement to be helpful, for, while I am an ordained Presbyterian minister, I see the life of Christian faith as a journey of becoming, not a destination itself. I find the adventure to be a thrilling ride, full of both fear and fascination. For me, the world's religions speak "truth" whenever I find the conjunction of opposites apparent: justice/mercy, fear/fascination, individuality/community. I seek to live in the tensions of those opposites. Sometimes it's near maddening, but, for the most part, I feel that it is truly a place of peace. I have found, through the study of religions, many incredible partners on this crazy journey of life. I love giving students the opportunity to meet people whose beliefs and practices are quite different from their own. I believe that this current generation of young people, and I include myself within it (at least for now!), bears a tremendous responsibility as we guide people to find ways of living creatively with real human difference. While there are similarities in the religions of the world, there are also very clear divergences. We must find ways to live in this tension creatively. Warren Wilson, with its over a century of experience in this regard, is a wonderful environment to pursue training in the skills needed to maneuver the challenges we face and to find one's true vocation.

I teach a variety of courses in the world's religions at Warren Wilson with special interests in women and religion, environment and religion, and Inter-faith dialogue. In 1998, I oversaw the research of 39 different student projects at Warren Wilson, as we documented the religious diversity of the Asheville area with the aid of a grant from Harvard University's "Pluralism Project." Asheville is a microcosm of the world and a beautiful place to study and live. My 2001-2002 sabbatical was in Buddhist Ecology/Ecofeminism in dialogue with Christian ecological theologies. I travelled to Thailand as a scholar in residence at Payap University in January - Febuary of 2002. I then led 15 students on a Warren Wilson World Wide field course to Thailand in 2003. International travel is one of my great loves, having traveled to Guatemala, Nicaragua, most of Europe and Great Britain (to read about my experiences in Thailand, click here). In 1998, I led students from Warren Wilson and other Presbyterian Colleges across the country on a field course to Israel and the Occupied Territories for the purposes of studying the religious roots of the current conflicts in this land (to read about this experience, click here). I look forward to other opportunities to sponsor travel seminars abroad. Future dreams include a meditation and social action field course to France to visit Plum Village (a Buddhist meditation center) and Taize (a Christian monastic community). A field course to New Zealand to study ecotheology and a field course to Ethiopia to study Orthodox Christianity with an old friend from seminary, His Holiness Abuna Paulos, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church are also among my future plans.

Personally, I love to hike, swim, play the piano, read, and volunteer for local nonprofits. Most importantly, I love my two daughters, Hannah and Emilia, and my beloved partner, Rudi, who is the Director of Operations for Manna Food Bank. Two dogs, a bird, several fish and a cat also grace our home.