Terry L. Mattingly (born January 31, 1954) is a journalist, author, and professor. As columnist for the

Scripps Howard News Service The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...

, Mattingly has written "On Religion", a nationally syndicated column, since the summer of 1988. Mattingly also runs a well-known religious journalism blog, ''GetReligion''. Mattingly was also Director of The Washington Journalism Center, a program run by the

Council for Christian Colleges and Universities The Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) is a global organization of evangelical Christian colleges and universities. The headquarters is in Washington, D.C. History In 1976, presidents of colleges in the Christian College Cons ...

Early life

Mattingly was raised by a father who was a Southern Baptist pastor. He was involved in Boy Scouts as a youth. Mattingly attended Thomas Jefferson High School in

Port Arthur, Texas Port Arthur is a city in Jefferson County within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area of the U.S. state of Texas. A small, uninhabited portion extends into Orange County; it is east of Houston. The largest oil refinery in the United Sta ...

. He later attended

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...

earning his B.A. in Journalism and American History (1976) and his M.A. in Church-State Studies (1984). He then earned his M.S. in Journalism at

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

(1982).

Career

Mattingly's first major break was with the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette. As a staff writer and copy editor, he wrote Backbeat, a rock 'n' roll column. While writing Backbeat, one of Mattingly's subjects included a 1982 tour b
U2
From 1982-1984, Mattingly worked for

The Charlotte News ''The Charlotte News'' was the afternoon newspaper in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was first published on December 8, 1888. The newspaper was eventually purchased on April 5, 1959 by Knight Newspapers, owner of its larger rival ''The Charlotte Ob ...

and later ''

The Charlotte Observer ''The Charlotte Observer'' is an American English-language newspaper serving Charlotte, North Carolina, and its metro area. The Observer was founded in 1886. As of 2020, it has the second-largest circulation of any newspaper in the Carolinas. I ...

'', and from 1984–1990, he was a religion writer for the

Rocky Mountain News The ''Rocky Mountain News'' (nicknamed the ''Rocky'') was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States, from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As ...

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. He taught at

Milligan College Milligan University is a Private university, private Christianity, Christian university in Milligan College, Tennessee. Founded in 1866 as the Buffalo Male and Female Institute, and known as Milligan College from 1881 to May 2020, the school has ...

. Since 1988, Mattingly has been a religion columnist fo
On Religion
at the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Mattingly also runs a well-known religious journalism blog
''GetReligion''
As the current Director of the Washington Journalism Center, Mattingly teaches journalism to students in Washington, D.C. Mattingly has a long association with Howard Ahmanson Jr. and his wife, Roberta, dating back to Roberta's tenure as a religion reporter for the ''

Orange County Register ''The Orange County Register'' is a paid daily newspaper published in California. The ''Register'', published in Orange County, California, is owned by the private equity firm Alden Global Capital via its Digital Fiest/Media News subsidiaries. ...

'' in the late 1980s. Roberta was an original financial backer o
GetReligion
and Ahmanson has funded the Washington Journalism Center and the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life, which currently hosts the website. After leaving the Southern Baptist Convention, the christian body in which he was raised, Mattingly was for a time a member of

The Episcopal Church The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine Ecclesiastical provinces and dioces ...

. Mattingly goes by the nickname of TMatt and often refers to himself a prodigal Texan. He is a practicing

Orthodox Christian Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Churche ...

, a member of the

Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (AOCANA), often referred to in North America as simply the Antiochian Archdiocese, is the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch in the United States and Canada. Origin ...

. Mattingly is a supporter of the

American Solidarity Party The American Solidarity Party (ASP) is a Christian-democratic political party in the United States. It was founded in 2011 and officially incorporated in 2016. The party has a Solidarity National Committee (SNC) and has numerous active state ...

Books

Mattingly's first book was titled ''Pop Goes Religion: Faith in Popular Culture''.

References

External links

Terry Mattingly's personal web page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mattingly, Terry 1954 births Living people American Christian democrats American columnists E. W. Scripps Company people Eastern Orthodox Christians from the United States People from Port Arthur, Texas American religious writers Members of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Protestantism American male bloggers American bloggers Baylor University alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Media alumni American journalism academics Journalists from Texas 21st-century American non-fiction writers Religion journalists Former Baptists Former Anglicans