Course Descriptions

SCHEDULE

COURSES & COURSE FACULTY 

Choose from one of the following two courses.

Advance registration closes at the end of the day on January 18.

Becoming God’s Gesture for the World: Extending Worship and Sacrament into Our Daily Lives
Heidi A. Miller
Assistant Professor of Christian Worship

How do we connect what we purport to do in Sunday worship with what we encounter on Saturday night or Monday morning? Amidst the devastating realities of the world, the gestures we enact in gathered worship – kneeling, standing, breaking, thanking, taking, sharing, proclaiming, embracing, praising, lamenting – are the very things the world needs from us. This workshop will explore how we as worshippers can deepen our encounter with God in our gathered worship, and how we may extend this into the very pattern of our lives in service for the world.

Suggested Reading: For the Life of the World by Alexander Schmemann and Practicing Our Faith: A Way of Life for a Searching People by Dorothy C. Bass

Heidi Miller is the Assistant Professor of Christian Worship with teaching specialties in worship, spiritual formation and direction, integrative courses (theology, history, worship, ethics), leadership development and supervision. She received her Ph.D. from The Catholic University of America and has taught at Perkins since 2011. She is a member of the Virginia Mennonite Conference and author of “Finding Sustenance in Rituals and Rites of Passage” in Youth Ministry at a Crossroads. 

Short Sentences Drawn from Long Experience: The Bible’s Proverbial Wisdom for Today
Alyce M. McKenzie
Le Van Professor of Preaching and Worship
Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor

This class will explore the wisdom of the Book of Proverbs for contemporary life and its advice for living a wise life that combines trust in God, compassion for others, self-control and moral courage.

Suggested Reading: Character in Crisis by William P. Brown, Preaching Proverbs: Wisdom for the Pulpit by Alyce M. McKenzie

Alyce McKenzie is a popular and powerful teacher and preacher, whose work is heralded by students, clergy and laity alike. Her publications include The Parables for Today and Preaching Biblical Wisdom in a Self-Help Society. Dr. McKenzie, who is co-editor of the journal Homiletic, has particular research and teaching interests in the spiritual life of the preacher; and in preaching on biblical wisdom, the sayings and parables of Jesus, and public issues. An ordained member of the Central Pennsylvania Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, she earned her Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary.