WILSON, N.C. — February 7, 2025 — Barton College is pleased to present the annual Thedford G. and Woodrow W. Sprinkle Lecture and the E. G. Purcell, Jr. Bible Conference Lecture on Monday, March 3. The spring lectures will be held in Howard Chapel on the Barton campus, and the community is invited to attend.
The Sprinkle Lecture, beginning at 2 p.m., will feature Dr. Richard W. Voelz, associate professor of preaching and worship at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Va. His lecture topic will be “Finding Our Way From Pulpit to Public Square: Three Images and Six Crucial Questions.”
At 3:15 p.m., the E.G. Purcell, Jr. Bible Conference will feature Dr. Anathea Portier-Young, associate professor of Old Testament at Duke Divinity School. Her lecture topic will be “Re-Embodying Biblical Prophecy.”
About the Speakers —
Dr. Richard W. Voelz is an associate professor of preaching and worship at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Va. As an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), he previously served as senior minister of Johns Creek Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), an open and affirming congregation in metro Atlanta. With more than a decade of ministry experience in various contexts, he is deeply engaged in the contemporary study of how sermons communicate and shape faith, known as homiletic theory, particularly in relation to critical pedagogy, adolescent youth, reproductive loss and adoption, and public proclamation.
Voelz holds a doctorate in homiletics and liturgics, the study of Christian worship practices and rituals, from Vanderbilt University’s Graduate Department of Religion. His body of work includes several books and articles, including his forthcoming book, “From Pulpit to Public Square: Faithful Speech Beyond Church Walls” (Westminster John Knox expected Sept. 2025). As a proud North Carolina native, he is naturally a huge college basketball fan.
Dr. Anathea Portier-Young is associate professor of Old Testament at Duke Divinity School. Her research focuses on prophetic literature, apocalypticism, early Jewish literature, embodiment, violence and nonviolence, and justice. She also teaches and writes on Christian preaching and is a frequent contributor to Working Preacher, a resource from Luther Seminary. Her recent book, “The Prophetic Body: Embodiment and Meditation in Biblical Prophetic Literature” (Oxford University Press, 2024), is part of a larger project on embodiment in biblical prophetic literature. Her monograph “Apocalypse Against Empire: Theologies of Resistance in Early Judaism” (Eerdmans, 2011) won the Manfred Lautenschläger Award for Theological Promise. She co-edited “Scripture and Social Justice: Catholic and Ecumenical Essays” (Fortress, 2018) with Gregory Sterling. She holds degrees from Yale University, Jesuit School of Theology/Graduate Theological Union, and Duke University. She is also a runner, dancer, quilter, gardener, and mother.
About the Endowed Lectures —
The Thedford G. and Woodrow W. Sprinkle Lectures were established in 1981 by Dr. Stephen V. Sprinkle, a graduate of Barton College, Yale Divinity School, and Duke University. The lectures were named in honor of his father, Thedford G. Sprinkle and his uncle, Woodrow W. Sprinkle.
The Purcell Bible Conference was established in 1984 with an endowment given by family, colleagues, friends, students, and parishioners to honor the life and ministry of Eugene G. Purcell Jr. A graduate of Duke University and Duke Divinity School, Purcell joined the faculty of Barton College in 1957 and served 27 years in the Department of Religion and Philosophy.
For additional information about these events, please contact Dr. Rodney A. Werline, Marie and Leman Barnhill Chair in Religious Studies at Barton College, at [email protected].
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