For thirty years, Duke Divinity School Professor Charles Campbell's work on the power of the cross and the foolishness of preaching has shaped the field of homiletics. His 2018 Beecher Lectures reframe the grotesque as an illumining resource for gospel scandal and preaching resistance and will be available in expanded form in his forthcoming book, "The Scandal of the Gospel: Preaching and the Grotesque" to be published in October by Westminster John Knox Press.

Campbell, the James T. and Alice Mead Cleland Professor Emeritus of Homiletics, retired in December 2020 after serving on the Duke Divinity faculty since 2009. On the occasion of his retirement, Duke Divinity School is hosting an online celebration in gratitude for his scholarship and his shaping of a new generation of preaching scholars.

The celebration will include a webinar panel of internationally renowned homiletic thinkers responding to The Scandal of the Gospel in light of the future of the homiletic field. The panel discussion will be followed by words of appreciation and presentation of a retirement gift.

• Panelists & Moderator

  The Rev. Dr. Luke A. Powery, dean of Duke University Chapel and associate professor of Homiletics at Duke Divinity School. Powery's research interests are located at the intersection of preaching, worship, pneumatology, and culture, particularly expressions of the African diaspora. He has authored numerous books, including Spirit Speech: Lament and Celebration in Preaching and Dem Dry Bones: Preaching, Death, and Hope, and co-authored a textbook for preaching, Ways of the Word: Learning to Preach for Your Time and Place. He also serves as one of the general editors of the nine-volume series, Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship.

   

  The Rev. Dr. Anna Carter Florence, the Peter Marshall Professor of Preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary. Florence's research interests focus on testimony, pedagogies of preaching, the creative process by which communities engage and embody scripture, and how other fields—particularly poetry and theatre—offer models for prophetic speech. Her books include Preaching as Testimony and Rehearsing Scripture: Discovering God's Word in Community.

   

   

  Dr. Marlene Ringgaard Lorensen, associate professor of Practical Theology at the University of Copenhagen. Lorensen's research on homiletic theology and dialogue philosophy engages the work of Mikhail Bakhtin in developing contextual preaching models. Her significant ethnographic work highlights how European preaching practices are being transformed by growing refugee populations. Dr. Lorensen is co-editor of the International Journal of Homiletics and a member of the Executive Committee of Societas Homiletica. Her books include Dialogical Preaching: Bakhtin, Otherness, and Homiletics. She was a Duke Divinity School visiting scholar in 2012-13.

  The panel will be moderated by Jerusha Matsen Neal, assistant professor of Homiletics at Duke Divinity School, and will be followed by words of appreciation and a presentation of gifts to mark Dr. Campbell's transformative contributions to the field.

• Registration

  Registration is required for the online event. After registering, registrants will receive a comfirmation email about joining the webinar.