Public Lecture: Reclaiming Prophetic Proclamation: Equipping Black Public Witness in a Hybrid World

Duke Divinity School will hold a public lecture, "Reclaiming Prophetic Proclamation: Equipping Black Public Witness in a Hybrid World," by Mark A. Jefferson, assistant professor of homiletics at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, VA.

Dr. Jefferson holds a Ph.D. in Religion focusing on homiletics from Emory University where he was a doctoral fellow for the Fund for Theological Exploration (FTE) and the Lilly Foundation. During his doctoral work, he received the W.E.B. Du Bois Award from the Candler School of Theology. He also holds a Master of Divinity degree from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, where he concentrated his coursework on homiletics, completed a certificate in Black Church Studies, and served as president of the Black Student Caucus. 

Dr. Jefferson is an emerging scholar interested in the ways that consciousness and imagination inform the practice of preaching. Other areas of concentration for his life and work include critical engagement of the American social imagination, popular culture, and African American socio-political enfranchisement and empowerment. His dissertation titled “Beyond the Talented Tenth: W.E.B. Du Bois, the Hip-Hop Emcee, and the Reimagination of African American Homiletics” explores Du Bois’ advocacy of the “Talented Tenth” social imagination and its influence in the formation of black preachers and preaching.