Rev. Dr. Anna Carter Florence

Proclaiming the Verbs

Saturday, January 28, 2012
2:00 – 5:00 pm
Western Springs

Sunday, January 29, 2012
2:00 – 5:00 pm
Rogers Park, Chicago

If you do a quick survey of any bible passage, you'll find that what is true in life is also true in scripture: the verbs dominate. Not adjectives; verbs. It's what we do and don't do that preoccupies human beings. And it's the verbs we cannot imagine for ourselves (live, liberate, forgive, resurrect) that the church offers, and that we reach for, week after week. So what happens when we read scripture and let the verbs lead? In this workshop, Anna puts a twist on dramatic theory and invites us to read the biblical "script" by focusing on the verbs that are given and chosen by the characters. What new things will we see and hear in both our sacred text and our human drama when we connect the verbs? How can that, in turn, change and renew our proclamation?

The Rev. Dr. Anna Carter Florence is the Peter Marshall Associate Professor of Preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. She spends her days listening to student sermons, talking with pastors and churches about preaching, and thinking about exactly what it is we have all gotten ourselves into. Her first book, Preaching as Testimony, was published in 2007 (WJKP); she is currently at work on another one. Anna holds degrees from Yale College and Princeton Theological Seminary, and is an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA). She and her husband, the Rev. David Carter Florence, have two lacrosse-playing sons, Caleb (20) and Jonah (16). They also have two dogs and a flock of chickens. This is all excellent counterpoint for sermons, and as Anna has learned, you can get a lot of knitting done at sports events.

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