Yale Divinity School Dean Gregory Sterling addresses the Alumni Board during Convocation and Reunions 2012.

Gregory Sterling, Dean of Yale Divinity School

The Kavanagh Lecture, presented by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, is named for the late Professor Emeritus of Liturgics Aidan J. Kavanagh O.S.B., and given in conjunction with Convocation Week at Yale Divinity School.

This year's speaker is John D. Witvliet, the director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and professor of worship, theology, and congregational and ministry studies at Calvin College.

Lecture: The Biblical Psalms in Christian Worship:  Overlapping Scripts in the Unfolding Drama of Liturgical Performance."

The talk describes a sampling of the multiple ways that the biblical Psalms function within the script of Christian worship in the West, exploring how rubrics, formal and informal liturgical gestures, and musical motifs frame the reception of the biblical text.  It draws on examples across the spectrum of denominational traditions, and asks how recent biblical scholarship might inform and challenge emerging work on the Psalms in liturgy, preaching, pastoral care, education, and Christian witness.

John Witvliet is director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and serves as professor of music and worship at Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary, respectively. He also teaches in the religion department at Calvin College. His areas of interest include the history of Christian worship, worship practices in various denominations, biblical and systematic theology of worship, the role of music and the arts in worship, and consulting with churches on worship renewal.

A graduate of Calvin College, Dr. Witvliet holds graduate degrees in theology from Calvin Theology Seminary, in choral music from the University of Illinois, and the Ph.D. in liturgical studies and theology from the University of Notre Dame.

Witvliet is the author of numerous books about Christian worship.

John Witvliet, director of the Calvin Institute of...

Convocation and Reunions 2012

Panel Discussion

Introduction by Gregory Sterling, The Reverend Henry L. Slack Dean, and The...

Convocation and Reunions 2012

Beecher Lecture

The Word in the Repertory Church

Lecture II: "It Could Have Gone Differently": Repertory Readings of Texts of Terror

Speaker: Anna Carter Florence, Peter Marshall Associate Professor of Preaching, Columbia Theological Seminary

Anna Carter Florence, Peter Marshall Associate Professor of...

A panel discussion on religion, theology, politics, rights and more at Yale Divinity School.

Hosted as part of Convocation & Reunions 2012.

Presenters include:

Rev. Dr. Dwight Andrews
Rev. Bob Brashear
Prof. Emerita Margaret Farley
Rev. Dr. Marie Fortune
Rev. Lee Hardgrove
Ms. Paige Lindsey Smith
Dr. Kim White

Rev. Chris Glaser, Moderator.

Rev. Chris Glaser, Moderator.

Kathryn Tanner, Professor of Systematic Theology at Yale Divinity School, discusses the theological and moral issues surrounding the modern Occupy Movement. This presentation is part of the YDS Convocation and Reunions 2012.

Kathryn Tanner, Professor of Systematic Theology at Yale...

Convocation and Reunions 2012

Beecher Lecture Series:  The Word in the Repertory Church

Lecture I: The Script in the Scripture, the Word in Rehearsal: Proclamation in the Repertory Church

Anna Carter Florence, Peter Marshall Associate Prof of...

Cheney Lecture Event - Marquand Chapel

Canterbury Jazz Mass by William Z. Cleary and Andrew K. Barnett

Ecumenical Eucharist featuring Theodicy Jazz Collective performing the American debut of the "Canterbury Jazz Mass"by William Z. Cleary and Andrew K. Barnett '12 M.Div., with commentary by Professor Thomas Troeger.  The performance and preaching is supported by the Francis Cheney Lectureship of the Berkeley Divinity School.

Thomas Troeger

Emilie M. Townes, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of African...