Randolph-Macon College alumnus Marshall Taylor ’19, who recently finished his first year of the Masters of Divinity program at Union Presbyterian Seminary, presented a paper at the American Association of Suicidology (AAS) annual conference, which took place virtually April 22-25, 2020. The AAS seeks to promote the understanding and prevention of suicide and support those who have been affected by it.

From Capstone to Conference Paper
Taylor, who majored in religious studies at RMC, says his paper is an evolution of his senior capstone project, which he did under the guidance of Religious Studies Professor Don Polaski. Taylor examined views of suicide in the Bible and the early Church as well as what that means for modern pastoral care.

He decided on his capstone project after attending a workshop at the American Association of Suicidology in 2018 titled “Clergy Workgroup on Suicide Prevention and Aftercare.”

“After that I began to look into James T. Clemons’ book, What Does The Bible Say About Suicide? This started me on the road to my capstone,” says Taylor. “After much work editing since I graduated from RMC, I subsequently presented this at the first virtual AAS conference in the association’s history, while also working social media for the conference at the same time.” This was Taylor’s third presentation at the conference and first presented paper. He is currently preparing to present at the 2020 Society of Biblical Literature conference, which takes place November 21-24, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts.

“It’s a high honor for a student basically straight out of undergraduate school to have a paper accepted at the national SBL meeting,” says Polaski. “It’s an exacting process.”

A True Calling
“Religious Studies Professors Don Polaski and Tim Brown helped me find my love of religious studies and, subsequently, my desire to go to seminary,” says Taylor.

“I’m impressed because Marshall didn’t come to RMC as a star pupil,” says Polaski. “It was quite a struggle for Marshall at times. But he has developed so well, and it’s been fun to be a part of it.”

As he gears up for his second year at seminary, Taylor is also in the process for ordination in the Episcopal Church. A member of the Young Priest Initiative, which supports young leaders to serve the Episcopal Church, Taylor is preparing for priesthood by preparing for a summer internship and working with a committee of mentors to discern where he feels he is called within the Church. He also works at the Union Presbyterian Seminary library as a circulation worker, where he and his co-workers are re-cataloging all 300,000 physical copies to the Library of Congress system.

Yellow Jacket Memories
Taylor says his most memorable RMC experiences include spring break with the Habitat for Humanity program, and his participation in the Pep Band and the A. Purnell Bailey Pre-Ministerial program.

“These experiences were an amazing part of my four years at Randolph-Macon,” he says. “Every year Habitat for Humanity volunteers travel to a different part of the country to build homes. The Pep Band gave me the opportunity to go to the ODAC conference every year, and, thanks to the pre-ministerial program, I explored my calling toward seminary with the help of our great chaplain, Kendra Grimes.”