Please use this form to make your reservations for this year's Mullin Forum, Feb. 14 and 15, at First Presbyterian.
The Mullin Forum is designed for rejuvenation and rejoicing. If you are a pastor, a church professional or lay leader, this forum is a place to rest and rediscover your gifts and rejoice in the God who gave them.
The Session of First Presbyterian Church established the Joe and Betty Mullin Preaching and Teaching Forum in 1991 to honor the former minister of this church and his wife. The forum brings distinguished preachers, teachers or similar guests to preach for the community and conduct workshops for ministers.
Contributions to the Mullin Forum fund, established at Dr. Mullin’s retirement in 1988, underwrite this project. Contributions are accepted.
Being a Christian is an exercise in memory shaped by the Bible, which influences our thinking, imagination and emotions, and shapes our consciousness and convictions as believers.
During this year's Mullin Forum, Frances Taylor Gench will address new developments in Biblical studies that can reframe important dimensions of Christian memory and identity.
Gench is Herbert Worth and Annie H. Jackson Professor of Biblical Interpretation at Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, Va.
Her most recent book is Faithful Disagreement: Wrestling with Scripture in the Midst of Church Conflict. She is a Parish Associate at The New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., where her husband Roger J. Gench is the pastor.
Worship, open to everyone
10:30 a.m., FPC traditional service, sanctuary and non-traditional Rejoice! service, Mullin Life Center (live video feed)
Sermon: Love Songs
Scripture: Readings from the Song of Songs
On this Valentine’s Day, the sermon will engage ancient love poetry from the Song of Songs and its significance for all – single or married, divorced or widowed, straight or gay. Its unconventional gender imagery challenges distorted images of our bodies and our sexuality that saturate our cultural airwaves and bombard us every day.
Workshop for those who has registered. Please note: Deadline for registration is Feb. 8. Use form to register. Monday fees: Workshop only, $5. Workshop and lunch, $12.
9 a.m.: Check-in, Myers Loyalty Room, Smith 208
9:30 a.m.: Women in the Biblical World: Reframing Foremothers in the Faith
Women’s stories in the Bible are clouded by considerable interpretive litter, for until recently the dominant voices in interpretation have been those of men, who have read their own gender expectations into the stories. As a result, biblical women are often trivialized, marginalized, even sexually demonized. We will consider new developments in the study of women in the biblical world and ways in which we can contribute to interpretive litter control by reframing our foremothers in the faith and conveying their stories more faithfully to future generations.
10:30 a.m.: Break
10:45 a.m. Moving Beyond Teaching of Contempt: New Perspectives on Ancient Judaism
Dramatic shifts are taking place in our understanding of first-century Judaism, but teaching and preaching have not caught up with recent scholarship. Inaccurate caricatures of Jews in the biblical text continue to be propagated. We will consider new perspectives on ancient Judaism and ways in which we can foster a deeper understanding of our Jewish kin, so that we might overcome the “teaching of contempt” that so often characterizes Christian perceptions of Judaism.
Noon: Worship, FPC sanctuary, open to everyone
Sermon: Reframing the Great
Commission
Scripture: Matthew 28:16-20
12:30 p.m.: Optional lunch, book signing, Mullin Life Center. Books will be available for purchase. Use form to register for lunch.
