Nelson W. Trout Lectures
Healing: Preaching Job
April 11-12, 2024
The Trout Lectures honor the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Nelson W. Trout (1920-1996). He was a Trinity Lutheran Seminary alumnus, a member of the Trinity faculty, and the first African American elected to serve as a Lutheran bishop. His vibrant preaching and commitment to social ministry inspired hundreds of seminary students and touched thousands of lives. As always, this year's Lectures are held in his honor.
Trinity is delighted to announce that the 2024 Nelson W. Trout Lectures will feature Dr. Valerie Bridgeman currently serves as Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs, as well as Associate Professor of Homiletics and Hebrew Bible at the Methodist Theological School of Ohio.
Featuring The Rev. Dr. Valerie Bridgeman
Dr. Valerie Bridgeman is Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs, as well as Associate Professor of Homiletics and Hebrew Bible at Methodist Theological School of Ohio. She also is founding president and CEO of WomanPreach! Inc. —the premiere non-profit organization that brings preachers to full prophetic voice. Dr. Bridgeman has been in licensed or ordained ministry since 1977. Some of her publications include “Interpreting the Bible in the Age of #BlackLivesMatter: The Gideon Story and Scholarly Commitments,” in Second Wave Intertextuality and the Hebrew Bible, published in 2019; “’A Long Ways from Home’: Displacement, Lament, and Singing Protest in Psalm 137,” in Perspectives in Religious Studies, 2017; and “‘I Will Make Boys Their Princes’: A Womanist Reading of Children in the Book of Isaiah,” 311-327, in Womanist Interpretations of the Bible: Expanding the Discourse, 2016. She is a regular contributor to workingpreacher.org and writes regularly for the Journal for Preachers. She currently is completing a commentary on Hosea with Dr. Cheryl Kirk-Duggan and will write the commentary on Job, both in the Wisdom Commentary series. She also is co-editor of a volume on Womanist methodologies, with Dr. Stephanie Buckhanon Crowder, due out in 2024.
Dr. Bridgeman is active on several boards, including the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, the editorial board for Homiletic, and the College of Affirming Bishops and Faith Leaders for the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries. She was inducted into the Society for the Study of Black Religion (SSBR) in 2007 and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Collegium of Scholars and Preachers at Morehouse College in 2010. She also is an active member of the Society for Biblical Literature, where she currently serves on the Committee for Women in the Profession. Her other professional guilds include the American Academy of Religion, the Black Religious Scholars Group, the Academy of Homiletics, and the Society for the Arts in Religious and Theological Studies.
Dr. Bridgeman is a graduate of Baylor University, with a Ph.D. in biblical studies (Hebrew Bible concentration) and secondary studies in ethics. She received her Master of Divinity from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, who named her Distinguish Alumna in 2018. She received her BA in Communication and Religion from Trinity University (San Antonio). She is a peace activist and advocate for human rights.
Albert Starr, Jr.
Albert Starr, Jr. draws on the power of poetry, song, drama, and art to enhance his capacity as a storyteller, ordained minister, pastor/teacher, workshop and conference presenter/facilitator, and keynote speaker. He is a native of Durham, N.C. Together with his wife Judy, their family calls Los Angeles, California home.
Late Night Offerings & Early Morning Prayers
Late Night Offerings & Morning Prayers consists of poems born out of conversations and encounters, many of which have literally kept the author, Albert Starr, up at night. The prayers are preludes, starting points, places and portals of entering into the sanctuary of prayer. Prayers and poems are never really finished, but there does come a point and place though when each is released, released as offering. Hopefully what is gathered here will be good company to you in your wrestling.
Prayer and poetry are often born or hiding in many of those wresting places, late into the night and other times of stillness or waiting at the edge of morning.
Featuring Emcee
Bishop Phyllis Blair Milton
Virginia Synod ELCA
Schedule of Events
Thursday, April 11
12:30 Registration Begins
1:15 Book Reading & Signing
3:00 Welcome, Introductions, and Recognition of Elders Music featuring Robert Fleming & Christopher Grays
3:30 Lecture #1: “Arguing with God in a Sermon: Job as theologian”
5:00 Dinner & Discussion in Koinonia sponsored by Season of Jubilee
7:00 Worship
Friday, April 12
9:00 Refreshments
9:30 Lecture #2: “Arguing with God and winning: The sermon full of questions and promises.”
11:00 Trinity Lutheran Seminary Student Panel Discussion
12:00 Lunch Koinonia
12:45 Blessing & Sending
1:00 Post-Event Conversation & Community with Rev. Dr. Albert Starr
Support the Trout Endowment
The Nelson W. Trout Lectures are, in part, endowment supported. To support the Trout Lectures, please give online.
Please note: When asked for designation, select "Other" and then write in "Trout Endowment"
Contact
Please contact msiefke@capital.edu with questions or call 614-236-6301.