The annual Gardner C. Taylor Lecture Series sponsored by the Office of Black Church Studies at Duke Divinity School seeks to equip ministers and pastoral leaders with new and innovative perspectives to proclaim the Gospel with power and precision in the present age. The series honors the legacy of Gardner C. Taylor, an effective pastor, compelling preacher, and prolific author. His written sermons and recordings, with his high capacity to discern the “strange angles” of scripture and spirit, continue to instruct, inform, and inspire. Taylor’s enduring legacy emerges from his fruitful 42 years as senior pastor at Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, N.Y. During his tenure, he faithfully and effectively served his “present age.”

Join the Office of Black Church Studies for a day of worship, conversations, and a lecture to encourage seminarians, practitioners, theologians, and community partners. The 2023 guest lecturer will be the Rev. Dr. Maurice Wallace, professor of English and associate chair of the English department at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Music will be led by Gospel Choir. 

• Guest Lecturer

  Rev. Dr. Maurice Wallace, a native of Harford County, Maryland, is a graduate of Harford County Public Schools, Washington University in St. Louis (BA), and Duke University (Ph.D.). Since earning his degree at Duke in 1995, Wallace has been a member of the faculty at Yale University, Duke University, University of Virginia, and Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. At Rutgers, Wallace is professor and associate chair of English. He has published three academic books on Black literature, culture, and history, a short biography on Langston Hughes for junior high and high school studies, and several scholarly articles ranging topically from the religious roots of African American literature to photography, disability, and Black oratory. Among his recent publications is King’s Vibrato: Blackness, Modernism and the Sonic Life of Martin Luther King, Jr., a study of the soundscapes, architectures, and technologies that shaped Martin Luther King, Jr.’s unforgettable preaching and public oratory.

  A scholar and a churchman for most of his career, Wallace also has a long and intimate connection to the Christian church. A child of the African Methodist church, and ordained in the missionary Baptist tradition, he was senior pastor of New Red Mountain Baptist Church in Rougemont, North Carolina, serving from 1993-1995 and 1998-2005. In 2008 he joined a small community of unaffiliated believers in organizing Cornerstone Community Church serving north and west Durham. Now giving his energies to teaching full time, Wallace happily worships with First Corinthian Baptist Church (FCBC) in New York where Rev. Michael Walrond is the lead pastor. Since 2020, Wallace has been a regular guest on Pastor Walrond’s “Empowering Conversations,” a video podcast of FCBC on faith and contemporary issues.

  Rev. Dr. Wallace is thirty-two years married to Pamela Sutton-Wallace. A widely recognized leader in her own right, Sutton-Wallace is Chief Operating Officer of the Yale New Haven Health System in New Haven, Connecticut. Rev. Dr. Wallace and Ms. Sutton-Wallace are proud of their two daughters, Sage and Amaya. Sage is a full-time athletic trainer in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Amaya is a graduate student in social work at UNC-Chapel Hill.

• Schedule of Events

  The schedule of events for the 2023 Gardner C. Taylor Lecture Series on September 12, 2023:

  • 11:45 a.m. - Worship with the Reverend Dr. Maurice Wallace in Goodson Chapel and streaming on Duke Divinity YouTube channel
  • 12:30 p.m. - OBCS Student and Alumni Lunch and Learn, Registration Required (The Alumni Memorial Common Room - AMCR, Duke Divinity School)
  • 3:30 p.m. - Gardner C. Taylor Lecture (0016 Westbrook, Duke Divinity School)