J.T. Albritton lecture series at WFU to explore worship in the 20th century

Brueggemann is the McPheeters Professor of the Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary in Georgia. He is also a contributing editor for the Christian Century, Journal for Preachers, Sojourners, Theology Today and Interpretation.

Brueggemann is a Rockefeller Doctoral Fellow and holds many honors including fellowships to several seminaries and universities. His numerous books and articles address Old Testament theology, biblical perspectives on evangelism and the Bible as applied to contemporary society.

“Walter Brueggemann continues to present perspectives on faith and theology that are fresh and challenging, while they are still accessible to the academy, the church and to lay people,” Crainshaw said. “The things he will speak about at the Divinity School are especially timely considering the struggle many churches are going through about which direction their worship should go.”

Bruggemann will present “Worship as Intergenerational Embedment” March 4 at 7 p.m. in Room 302 of Wingate Hall. Ken Hoglund, professor of religion at Wake Forest, will lead the discussion after the lecture.

Another lecture, “Worship as Covenantal Extremity,” will be given March 5 at 9:30 a.m. in Benson University Center’s Pugh Auditorium. The Rev. Steve McCutchan, senior pastor at Highland Presbyterian Church, will lead the discussion.

Jill Crainshaw will lead the discussion following Bruggemann’s lecture, “Worship as Other Embraced,” at 10:45 a.m., also in Pugh Auditorium. Crainshaw directs the Divinity School’s vocational development office and is an assistant professor of ministerial studies in the school.

The Albritton Lecture is named after the Rev. John Thomas Albritton who graduated from Wake Forest in 1857. He was a Baptist minister in Eastern North Carolina and taught in the schools there until his death in 1906. In 1919, his children endowed the “Chair of the Bible” position at Wake Forest that is now held by Fred L. Horton Jr. In 1920, the religion department adopted the name “The John T. Albritton School of the Bible” and used it until 1928. The fund established by his children now also sponsors the lecture series.

For more information about Brueggemann’s lectures, please call the Divinity School at 336-758-5121.