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GRAYBEAL
RESEARCHES MORRISTOWN
MORRISTOWN, Tenn. – The Rev. David Graybeal has just spent 13 days in a hotel, and he's ready to go home. But the Holston minister still has four days to go before completing his work in Morristown and heading back to New Jersey.
Professor emeritus at Drew University's Theological School, Graybeal spent a large part of January 2002 studying the impact of religious faith in the town where he conducted similar research in the mid-1900s. Fifty years later, Graybeal's back – along with six students from Drew who want to discover how Morristown's strong faith may have lessened since the professor wrote his dissertation in 1951.
"I thought there were many factors that might combine to change the way people understood their faith," said Graybeal, citing TVA, television, transportation and other elements of progress that typically effect change. "What's fascinating to me is that religious attitudes here continue to permeate this town."
The retired professor and his students attended worship services and met with ministers and community leaders of all denominations in the Hamblen County area. They even attended a day of Resurrection, the conference's annual youth retreat in Gatlinburg, Tenn., to observe how religion affects the area's young people.
What's Graybeal going to do when the research is complete? "Several people have asked me that," said the professor, who has yet to publish his findings. "I'm still thinking about it."
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