2024 Annual Meeting:
Preaching Builds Bridges
Since 2019, when the Academy of Homiletics’ theme was “Unmasking Homiletical Whiteness,” our guild has made a concerted effort to critically look at the ways in which white hegemony has dictated how preaching is taught and research is conducted among homileticians.
As evidenced by our 2022 Wabash-funded self-study of diversity, equity, and inclusion, AOH members have made considerable efforts to be more expansive and inclusive in the teaching of preaching. At the same time, there are several ways in which we can expand and deepen our efforts toward justice.
The theme for 2024, “Preaching Builds Bridges,” takes up that mantle. This year, we will consider the many and various ways we build bridges, especially to historically underrepresented groups, as we move from the margins to the mainstream and welcome the questions, observations, and recommendations they have for crossing divides and interrogating the structures that undermine inclusivity, access, and representation of different perspectives.
The 2024 Annual Meeting, Dec. 5-7, will be held online in the spirit of building bridges of access and equity. In-person meetings make attendance difficult for our international members, those who have disabilities, and those who do not have institutional support for the cost of travel and lodging. While many will miss the benefits of meeting in person, the Executive Committee will be taking several steps to foster collegiality, connections, and continuing education throughout the year.
First, we will be introducing an online platform to help the AOH build bridges within our organization. Currently, our guild has no official online site to meet and connect as a professional group. This new online hub will allow for an innovative way to maintain relationships, improve communications, create affinity groups, arrange for mentoring, set-up mini-courses, and livestream webinars. Stay tuned for an announcement about this in February or March.
Second, we will be hosting three webinars this year supporting the theme, “Preaching Builds Bridges.” One will be “Building Bridges within the Multilingual Preaching Classroom.” From our self-study, we learned that many homileticians have students for whom English is not their primary language. Yet we don’t always know how best to create a pedagogical setting where they feel their gifts are welcome. This webinar will equip our members with ideas, strategies, and practical tips for creating an inclusive classroom for multilingual learners.
A second webinar will be “Building Homiletical Bridges Alongside Those with Disabilities.” According to our self-study, this is an area that has not received as much attention in the AOH. Yet almost everyone will temporarily or permanently experience disability at some point in their lives, including our students, colleagues, and ourselves. This panel discussion will help us think about how our pedagogy, research, and preaching itself is impacted by different aspects of disability.
A third webinar will be “Building Homiletical Bridges for Preaching in a Climate-Changed World.” This event will be sponsored in part by the American Association for the Advancement of Science Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion through their Climate Science in Theological Education grant. This panel discussion will connect faith and science in order to cultivate biblical, theological, and ecological imagination in our classrooms and pulpits as we face the environmental crises that are affecting our students, communities, and Creation.
As we get closer to the annual meeting, we will share more details about the topics we will address, particularly around building bridges with the LGBTQIA+ community and with preachers in non-traditional settings (e.g., itinerant preachers, chaplains, lay preachers, etc.)
In the meantime, as you are engaging in your own research and considering your paper submissions for our workgroups this year, I invite you to think about how “preaching builds bridges.” Sermons already link the biblical text, theology, and context in organic ways. As we expand and deepen our work toward diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice, we welcome the multiple ways that our members will build bridges through their preaching, teaching, and research.
Meeting Schedule
Tuesday, December 3: Pre-meeting Affinity Groups
Graduate Students (convener: Seyeom Kim; seyeom.kim@garrett.edu) 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. Eastern
Black Caucus (convener: Courtney Buggs; CBuggs@cts.edu): 4:00—7:00 p.m. Eastern
Korean Caucus (convener: Namjoong Kim; njkim@cst.edu): 8:00 – 9:30 p.m. Eastern; 5:00 – 6:30 p.m. Pacific
Wednesday, December 4: Pre-meeting Affinity Groups
Catholic Association of Teachers of Homiletics (CATH) (contact: Karla Bellinger; karlabellinger@gmail.com), in person, time TBA
Adjunct and Early Career Faculty (convener: Dawn Ottoni-Wilhelm; wilheda@bethanyseminary.edu) 7:00—8:00 p.m. Eastern
Thursday, December 5: Day 1
9:00 a.m. Eastern
- Executive Committee check-in
11:00 a.m. Eastern
- Participant landing page opens with direct links to:
- Meeting Schedule
- Bookstore
- Sponsors and publishers
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Eastern
- Welcome
- Leah Schade, Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship, Lexington Theological Seminary; President, Academy of Homiletics
- Charisse Gillett, President, Lexington Theological Seminary President
- Loida Martell, Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs, Lexington Theological Seminary
- Recognition of Sponsors and Publishers
- Opening Worship and Memorial Remembrances
- Preacher: Xavier Johnson, Assistant Professor in the Practice of Preaching and Black Church Studies, United Theological Seminary
12:30 p.m. – 12:45 p.m. Eastern
- Break
- Bookstore open
12:45 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. Eastern
Plenary Session 1: Preaching Builds Bridges with the LGBTQIA+ Community
- Panelists:
- Corwin Malcom Davis, PhD Candidate, Candler Divinity School, Emory University
- Jess Winderweedle, PhD Candidate, Princeton Theological Seminary
- Karyn Wiseman, Professor of Homiletics, United Lutheran Seminary
- Respondent:
- Yvette Flunder, Presiding Bishop of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries
1:45 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. Eastern
- Student poster session
- Hospitality room open
- Bookstore open
- Publishers available for conversation
3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Eastern
Work Groups Session 1
5:30 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. Eastern
- Break
- Bookstore open
5:45 p.m. — 6:00 p.m. Eastern
Retirements, Lifetime Achievement Award
- Presider: Dawn Ottoni-Wilhelm, Second Vice President, Academy of Homiletics
6:00 p.m. — 6:30 p.m.
- Hospitality room open
- Bookstore open
Friday, December 6: Day 2
9:00 a.m. Eastern
- Executive Committee Check-in
11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Eastern
Welcome and announcements
Plenary Session 2: Preaching Builds Bridges with Indigenous Tribes and Communities (International Session)
- Introduction: HyeRan Kim-Cragg, Principal, Timothy Eaton Memorial Church Professor of Preaching, Emmanuel College of Victoria University in the University of Toronto
- Panelists:
- Fr. Jude Thaddeus Langeh, Major Superior of Claretian Missionaries, Saint Charles Lwanga Parish, Yaoundé, Cameroon
- Mary Erika Bolanos, Associate Professor, Institute of Religion; Principal, Senior High School, University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines
- Respondents:
- Suzanne Duchesne, Assistant Professor of Worship and Preaching and Director of the Chapel, New Brunswick Theological Seminary
- Judy Deere, Director of Cookson Hills United Methodist Mission (MVSKOKE/Creek)
12:15 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. Eastern
- Student poster session
- Hospitality room open
- Bookstore open
- Publishers room open
1:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Eastern
Work Groups Session Two
4:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. Eastern
- Break
- Bookstore open
4:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Eastern
Worship Service Hosted by the Black Caucus
8:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. Eastern
- Korean Caucus meeting
Saturday, December 7: Day 3 / Final Day
9:00 a.m. Eastern
- Executive Committee Check-in
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Eastern
Plenary Session 3: Preaching Builds Bridges in Non-Traditional and Emerging Spaces
- Panelists:
- Lisa Cressman, Founding Steward, Backstory Preaching
- Chelsea Yarborough, Associate Director of Leadership Development, Association of Theological Schools
- Courtney Buggs, Director of the PhD program in African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric; Assistant Professor of Homiletics, Christian Theological Seminary
12:00 p.m. — 12:15 p.m. Eastern
- Break
- Bookstore open
12:15 p.m. — 1:15 p.m. Eastern
Annual Business Meeting
- Passing of the Gavel and Presidential Address
1:15 p.m. — 1:30 p.m. Eastern
- Break
- Bookstore open
1:30 p.m. — 2:00 p.m. Eastern
Closing Worship
- Preacher: Richard Voelz, Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship, Union Theological Seminary; 1st Vice President, Academy of Homiletics
Academy of Homiletics Workgroups
When an Academy member has a paper that meets the submission guidelines for a workgroup, she or he should submit it directly to the workgroup convener. Conveners are not editors and will return papers that do not strictly follow the submission guidelines. Qualified doctoral candidates, those who have completed all coursework in a homiletics-related field, must work through their doctoral advisers in making workgroup submissions.
Scholarship Application
The Academy of Homiletics is pleased to offer a number of scholarships for the 2024 Annual Meeting to students and retirees. A successful application for the scholarship will result in a payment from designated AoH funds for the student or retiree’s registration fee for the Annual Meeting. Scholarships are limited and will provided on a first-come, first-served basis.
Applications are confidential. To apply for a Scholarship and Registration Code to cover the registration fee for the 2024 annual meeting, please submit your application to AoH Secretary, Sunggu A. Yang. All applications will remain confidential and your request will not be shared beyond the Executive Committee. Applications are due by Tuesday, October 1. Three members of the AOH Executive Committee will determine the recipients of the scholarships no later than Tuesday, October 15.
AOH wishes to thank all our Sponsors
