Pulliam Journalism Center

About the Pulliam Journalism Center

The Pulliam Journalism Center fosters the discipling, mentoring, teaching, and training of Christian journalism students who have committed their story-writing talents for the glory of God. Founded in 2019, the Center:

• Provides an on-campus locus for the focused discussion of the intersection of faith with media and society, expanding Taylor’s commitment to integration of faith and culture by bringing media professionals and students together in classes, conferences, etc.
• Trains deeply committed Christ-followers for a life of servant-leadership in culture-influencing industries like broadcast, online, and print journalism.
• Fosters a campus-wide culture of critical thinking about journalism, information, and news and the key roles the presence or absence of these key ingredients play in our society.

Heritage of the Pulliam Family

The Pulliam family is part of a larger story of how Christ works across and through the generations, sometimes giving a family a special calling or purpose. This multi-generational spread of the gospel can only be sustained by Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

Born in 1859, I.B. Pulliam came to salvation in Christ. He had been earning a steady income in Danville, Illinois, running a grocery store. He gave it up to join the pioneer missionary movement who sought God instead of gold, bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to the new state of Kansas in the late 1880s.

He enlisted as a circuit rider in the Methodist church, preaching and pastoring in new towns, where people often lived in houses made of sod. He and his wife Martha had to trust the Lord for provision, sometimes sent by friends back east in the form of the missionary barrel of gifts. They also had to trust the Lord during conflicts, where some settlers resorted to guns when it came to battle over which town would become the county seat.

I.B. Pulliam linked a chain of faith across several generations. His son, Eugene C. Pulliam, carried the Proverbs 11:21 blessing (“The seed of the righteous shall be delivered.”) into a successful newspaper career. He started as a reporter before buying newspapers, eventually building newspaper bases in Indianapolis and Phoenix.

After a series of reporting trips around the world after World War II, he made II Corinthians 3:17 (“Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”) the motto of his newspapers, in a tribute to the importance of the Bible in history and current events.

His son, Eugene S. Pulliam, carried on the family journalism in Indianapolis after World War II, joined by two children of his own, Myrta and Russell. The life calling of Russ Pulliam has been to bring the Bible to bear on the news, inspired by newspaper commentaries his great-grandfather, I.B. Pulliam, wrote in the 1920s and 1930s. Russ’ daughter Sarah Pulliam Bailey followed in the family journalistic tradition, working for Christianity Today magazine, Religion News Service, and the Washington Post.

Through the Pulliam Journalism Center at Taylor University, more Christian journalists and writers are being prepared to speak God’s truths into media.

Contact the Pulliam Journalism Center

Alan Blanchard

Associate Professor of Journalism, Executive Director of the Pulliam Journalism Center

• PhD, Media & Information Studies, Michigan State University 
• BA, Journalism, Eastern New Mexico University

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