Belmont University

Andy Watts

Andy Watts

Professor of Religion

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences

Ph.D., Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary; Th.M., Duke University; M.Div., Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond; B.A., Baylor University

Location: JAAC 2021

615.460.5549
andy.watts@belmont.edu

Biography

Andy Watts is a Professor of Religion and teaches undergraduate courses in religion and social ethics, also serving as the Field Education advisor for the college. He has 13 years experience teaching college-level courses in Tennessee prisons. He is a member of the SALT (Schools for Alternative Learning and Transformation) program in Nashville which collaborates with incarcerated students to bring transformative justice and conflict transformation skills inside the prison walls while transforming the practice of punishment in US society. He teaches in two units in the maximum-security prison in Nashville, including death row. Andy engages Belmont students in experiential learning through his work with SALT as well as on study away programs through relationships with tribal members on reservations. He is published in academic and popular resources on these activities. He was ordained at Highland Baptist Church in Louisville and has served as a board member and moderator for the Tennessee Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. He is married to Rev. Amy Dodson-Watts who has served as the Executive Director of Luke 14:12, a ministry to the unhoused and hungry in Nashville. They have two sons who as of this moment do not intend to follow their parents vocational paths. We shall see.

Education

  • B.A. Baylor University, 1990
  • M.Div. Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond
  • Th.M. Duke University
  • Ph.D. Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

Book Chapters

  • “Challenged by Respect: Rethinking Service Learning on American Indian Reservations" for Culturally Engaging Service-Learning in Diverse Communities (IGI Global, 2017), ISBN-13: 9781522529002
  • “Commentary on the Gospel of John”, Feasting on the Gospels (Westminster John Knox Press, 2015), ISBN-13: 9780664235543

Works in Progress

A Christian People’s Guide to Mass Incarceration

Social Justice Partners