Written by Kenzie James
The Harding School of Theology (HST) hosted a groundbreaking ceremony last week to begin construction on the HST library on campus.
The ceremony was Feb. 6 at 10:30 a.m. Dean Peter Rice, retired HST librarian Don Meredith, Board of Trustees representative Charles Ganus, President Mike Williams and HST student Tyler Burdette gave remarks. In his remarks, Williams said the 18,000-square-foot library is estimated to be completed in March 2026.
HST coordinated and executed most of the ceremony. Assistant Vice President for University Communication and Marketing (UCM) Jack Shock said UCM helped manage the media and information about the event, but HST took the lead for the groundbreaking.
“HST has joined our campus, and so in this first sort of move into the public consciousness where we’re blended together… [HST] has been calling all the shots, and we are helping,” Shock said. “We’ve done a lot of work with constituencies, alumni… current students, just trying to give them the story that the move is successful, we recognize the importance of the collection, we are building a suitable home for it.”
The HST library is known as the crown jewel of theological libraries in churches of Christ in the mid-South. Harding undergraduate students and faculty have remote access to the HST library but will benefit from having in-person access. Associate professor and co-director of theological studies Mac Sandlin said his students regularly request books from the Memphis library for a seminar class, so he is excited for them to easily access those books on campus.
“[Dr. Rice’s] constant push was students need to be able to walk the stacks,” Sandlin said. “And the fact that we’ll be able to do that rather than having the books just away in a warehouse or something is going to be monumental.”
Assistant professor Kevin Burr and Sandlin, both HST alumni, said walking the stacks and looking for research is a key experience for HST students.
“My master’s thesis in its entirety happened because I happened to see a book with a title that caught my eye while I was walking the stacks,” Sandlin said. “I was like, ‘[Why] is there a book about Captain America in the Memphis theological library?’ and it turned out it was about the way that America thinks about redemption and its relationship to violence… I wrote my whole master’s thesis on it.”
Burr said that several programs outside of theological studies and the College of Bible and Ministry on Harding’s campus benefit from the addition of the HST library, including the English Department, Honors College and History Department. Burr said Dr. Larry Hunt teaches a class on C.S. Lewis’ literature, and the HST library has resources to study his works.
“Our church history holdings are really strong, particularly things related to the American restoration movement and development of churches of Christ… all of that is deeply rooted in American religious history, which our colleagues across campus in the Holland-Waller would appreciate,” Burr said. “The kinds of stuff that we were doing with a cross-section of scholars… in the Honors College, they’re going to be able to find things like that in the HST library that will continue to benefit their work.”
