Contemporary events related to immigration, the environment, voting rights, assistance to low-income families, and racial discrimination call for a Christian response that articulates Gospel values in relationship to these issues. However, we live in a cultural moment marked by deep division, in which Americans hold a wide range of views on how the Christian faith ought to speak to the public square. This diversity of views, and the polarization that increasingly defines American public life, make it difficult to preach on these issues. This workshop will explore faithful approaches to preaching in this context, drawing on the richness of the Old Testament prophetic tradition and the social justice emphases in the Gospels. This exploration will generate resources and strategies for preaching on contemporary issues in ways that are theologically sound, biblically grounded, pastorally sensitive, and courageously prophetic.
The Rev’d Dr. Ruthanna B. Hooke is dean and president elect of Seminary of the Southwest. She is currently Professor of Homiletics at Virginia Theological Seminary and Program Director of the Preaching Congregations Initiative, a Lilly Endowment-funded program to engage both preachers and congregations in proclamation. She is a graduate of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale and holds a doctorate in Theology from Yale University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Her most recent book project, Sacramental Presence: An Embodied Theology of Preaching (Lexington Books, 2023), draws on performance theory and liturgical and sacramental theology to develop a theology of proclamation rooted in the body’s experience of preaching. Her other recent publications include work on the preacher as artist, queer homiletics, and feminist readings of the Gospel of Luke. She is a member of the planning committee of the Homiletics and Biblical Studies Section of the Society of Biblical Literature. A Designated Linklater Voice Teacher and ordained Episcopal priest, she teaches courses in homiletics, voice, performance, and biblical storytelling.
