Perkins to Host 'Crosstalk' Seminar on Monday, Feb. 20

Dr. Alyce McKenzie joins five other Perkins professors in presenting constructive, healing models for preaching.

DALLAS (SMU) – “Crosstalk: Preaching, Teaching, and Praying at the Foot of the Cross” will take place Monday, Feb. 20, at Perkins School of Theology. The daylong seminar on preaching and praying on the significance of Jesus’ death for our faith, sponsored by the Perkins Center for Preaching Excellence, will address the question, “How can we get beyond theories of the atonement that picture Jesus’ death as an external transaction based on guilt and punishment?”

Early registration continues through Dec. 31 for $85. Regular registration is available Jan. 1 to Feb. 7 for $105, with late registration (Feb. 8-19) costing $125. Also, current Perkins students can attend for only $25 (email preaching@smu.edu for more information.)

This seminar will acknowledge the positives of traditional understandings of the Atonement, but also provide critique on biblical and pastoral grounds. It will equip preachers with constructive, healing models for preaching and what Dr. Mark Stamm, Professor of Christian Worship at Perkins – in his book Devoting Ourselves to the Prayers: a Baptismal Theology for the Church’s Intercessory Work – calls “praying at the foot of the cross.”

Dr. Alyce McKenzie, Le Van Professor of Preaching and Worship and Director of the Perkins Center for Preaching Excellence, will moderate the event. Other Perkins faculty members presenting include: Dr. Carlos Cardoza-Orlandi, Dr. Jaime Clark-Soles, Dr. Jack Levison, Dr. Mark Stamm and Dr. Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner.

Visit the Perkins Center for Preaching Excellence website for more information and to register.

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Perkins School of Theology, founded in 1911, is one of five official University-related schools of theology of The United Methodist Church. Degree programs include the Master of Divinity, Master of Sacred Music, Master of Theological Studies, Master of Arts in Ministry, Master of Theology, Doctor of Ministry, and Doctor of Pastoral Music as well as the Ph.D., in cooperation with The Graduate Program in Religious Studies at SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences.