GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Greensboro College mourns the death of W. Barnes Tatum, Jefferson Pilot Professor of Religion and Philosophy Emeritus.
Tatum died Aug. 26. He was 78. His funeral will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 30, at Christ United Methodist Church, 410 N. Holden Road in Greensboro.
He held a B.A. from Birmingham Southern College, an M.L.S. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and B.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Duke University. He served on the Greensboro College faculty from 1973 until 2009, when he assumed emeritus status. He served as dean of the college from 1983 to 1987.
Tatum received the Outstanding Teacher Award in 1980, the Moore Professorship in 1993-1994, and the United Methodist Exemplary Faculty Award in 2001.
Tatum "served this college as a highly respected New Testament scholar, as dean, as interim president, and as a mentor to countless students," said Daniel Malotky, dean of the School of Humanities and Lucy H. Robertson Professor of Religion and Philosophy.
"I will always think of him as the conscience of the college. ... He always had the good of the school as a whole in mind."
A former colleague in the Department of Religion, Rhonda Burnette-Bletsch, recalled not only Tatum's scholarship but also his quick wit. In particular, he would set "booby traps" for students who were perpetually late, blocking classroom doors with a desk or propping a trash can over the door.
A former student recalled that a classmate once moved to adjourn Tatum's class. The class voted unanimously to adjourn, so Tatum dismissed the class - and tested it the next day on the material the class would have gone over.
"As a colleague, Barnes was generous with his time, his advice, and his humor," recalled another former Religion Department colleague, John Woell.
"Barnes was a scholar not just of New Testament, which he was too, but of life. He taught me what was good about the liberal arts through his unbridled curiosity -- whether it was excitement that Richard Swinburne had calculated the probability for the bodily resurrection (.93 one year, .96 two years later) or his declaration that 'Talladega Nights' might be 'the perfect film.' He took the same open, critical eye to everything and exemplified liberal learning."
As a scholar, Tatum was active in the work of the Jesus Seminar, Westar Institute, a group of several dozen scholars and lay people founded in 1985 and devoted to determining whether the sayings and acts of Jesus were historical fact. In that capacity, he wrote "John the Baptist and Jesus: A Report of the Jesus Seminar" in 1994.
He also published several other books, including "In Quest of Jesus," "Jesus at the Movies," and "Jesus: A Brief History," and his books have been used as texts at numerous colleges and universities.
He published numerous articles in academic journals and was a featured contributor to "The Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception." And he presented numerous times at the conferences of the American Academy of Religion.
His interest in the depiction of Jesus in film led him to be featured as a commentator on American Movie Classics (AMC), the History Channel, the BBC, and EO Television.
"What a ceaseless intellect -- hilarious and perceptive," said Jim Langer, professor and chair of the Department of Art. "Some light has left GC forever."
