Walter Brueggemann, leading authority on the Old Testament, to speak on campus

Janel Shoun | 

The world's leading interpreter of the Old Testament, Walter Brueggemann, will be the keynote speaker at Lipscomb University’s annual Preaching Workshop, Oct. 24-26. His keynote speech, “Preaching & Paradigmatic Creation,” is free and open to the public at 7 p.m., Monday, Oct. 24, in Shamblin Theatre.

 
Walter Brueggemann has written more than 58 books in his career, including The Prophetic Imagination, Praying the Psalms and Theology of the Old Testament, and his most recent book, Out of Babylon. His works focus on the relationship between the Old Testament and the Christian faith. In addition to his books, Brueggemann has authored hundreds of articles and several commentaries on books of the Bible. 
 
He also participated in Bill Moyer’s 1990’s PBS television series on Genesis and has spoken at the Washington National Cathedral.
 
Brueggemann graduated from Elmhurst College and studied at Eden Theological Seminary, before he received his doctorate of divinity from the Union Theological Seminary and his Ph.D. from St. Louis University. He served as William Marcellus McPheeters professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary from 1986 to 2003. He also served as an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ.
 
The Lipscomb Preaching Workshop will connect theory and practice for each attendee, who will be expected to preach before their peers during the workshop. Sermon critique will be designed to ignite creative and helpful understandings leading to improvements in quality preaching for the seasoned minister.
 
Lipscomb professors John Mark Hicks, John York, and Ken Durham will also speak during the workshop.
  • John Mark Hicks is professor of theology at Lipscomb and will address the dynamic and sacramental nature of creation as a resource for teaching.
  • John York serves as the associate dean of the College of Bible and Ministry and Hazelip School of Theology. York’s background includes more than 30 years of full-time ministry and teaching. He will speak on the use of creation narratives in New Testament texts and the implications for preaching.
  • Ken Durham will explore the potential homiletic approaches to the creation narrative at the workshop. Durham has preached for more than 30 years and serves as the Batsell Barrett Baxter chair of preaching at Lipscomb University.
 
During the opening worship session of the workshop, coordinator David Fleer will present the opening sermon, and Rhonda Lowry, assistant professor at Lipscomb, will lead the worship.
 

To see more on the preaching workshop, click here.