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Kathleen Norris

Kathleen Norris was inspired by her move to Lemmon, South Dakota, to write Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, which became a bestseller and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. The Cloister Walk, which follows her experience as an oblate of a Benedictine monastery, was also a bestseller. Amazing Grace sheds light on the theological concepts of grace, repentance, dogma and faith, rooting them in everyday life. Her recent work, The Virgin of Bennington, traces her life from a sheltered childhood into the cultural tumult of the 1960’s and 1970’s. She has also written seven books of poetry.

 

  
 

Amy Plantinga Pauw is Henry P. Mobley Professor of Doctrinal Theology at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Before joining the Louisville faculty in 1990, she studied at Calvin Seminary before completing her M. Div. at Fuller Seminary in 1984. Dr. Pauw serves on the editorial boards of the Columbia Reformed Theology Series, Yale University Press’s edition of The Works of Jonathan Edwards, and the journal Teaching Theology and Religion. She was a 1997-98 Lilly Faculty Fellow, pursuing research on The Supreme Harmony of All: Jonathan Edwards’ Trinitarian Theology ( 2002).

 

Amy Plantinga Pauw
Larry Rasmussen

Larry Rasmussen was Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York from 1986 to 2004. Before that, he was Professor of Christian Ethics at Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC, and Assistant Professor of Religion at St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota. He is past president of the Society of Christian Ethics and a past editor of their journal, The Annual. He is a member of the Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the Board of Regents of St. Olaf College. He is the author of twelve books, the most recent of which are Earth Community, Earth Ethics (1996), and Moral Fragments and Moral Community (1993).

 

  
 
Eugene F. Rogers, Jr. , formerly associate professor and convener of theology, ethics and culture at the University of Virginia, is now professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His new book, After the Spirit: A Constructive Pneumatology from Resources outside the Modern West, is being published this summer. He is the author of three previous books including Sexuality and the Christian Body: Their Way into the Triune God. He holds degrees from Yale and Princeton and has studied in Italy and Germany.

Eugene Rogers

 
 
Margaret Aymer

Margaret Aymer is is Assistant Professor of New Testament at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, GA.  She earned her M.Div. and her Ph.D. in New Testament and Early Christianity at Union Theological Seminary in NYC.  Her dissertation, “‘First Pure, Then Peaceable’: Frederick Douglass reads James” has been submitted for publication to the Henry McNeal Turner/Harriet Tubman series of Orbis Books. She is affiliated with Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. She has preached in various churches of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, led Christian Education at First African, and taught at Presbytery leadership training events.

  
 

Thomas G. Long is Bandy Professor of Preaching at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. According to John Buchanan, “When Tom Long preaches, other preachers in the congregation start taking notes.” His research interests are homiletical theory and biblical preaching. He is also working on the relationship between worship and Christian practices. He received his M.Div. from Erskine Theological Seminary and his Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is the author of 14 books, the most recent of which are Testimony: Talking Ourselves into Being Christian (2004), Beyond the Worship Wars (2001), Whispering the Lyrics: Sermons for Lent and Easter (1997) and Hebrews (1997). His very latest,The Witness of Preaching: The Second Edition will be hot off the presses by the conference.

 

 Thomas G. Long
Douglas Nave

Douglas Nave is a member of Covenant Network’s Board of Directors. A lifelong Presbyterian, he is a member and former trustee of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York, and a trustee of McCormick Theological Seminary. Doug represented New York City Presbytery before General Assembly in 2001 and 2004 as its Overture Advocate on measures seeking more inclusive ordination standards. He is a 1981 graduate of Whitworth College (a Presbyterian school) and a 1984 graduate of Columbia Law School. A partner in a New York law firm, he currently heads the firm’s international antitrust practice in London.

 

 

  
 

Nora Tubbs Tisdale is Consulting Theologian at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church and an adjunct professor at Union Seminary in New York. She served for a total of thirteen years on the faculties of Princeton Theological Seminary and Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, where she taught preaching and worship. She is the author/editor of five books, and preached, lectured and led seminars throughout the U.S. and beyond. She is currently President of the North American Academy of Homiletics. Before becoming a seminary professor, she was a volunteer missionary in Seoul, Korea; co-pastor of four churches in Virginia; and one of three Presbyterian Church representatives on the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches.

 

 Nora Tubbs Tisdale
 
Melva Costen

Worship leader Melva Costen is a widely recognized authority on music and worship. She has just retired as the Helmar Emil Nielsen Professor of Music and Worship at the Interdenominational Theological Seminary in Atlanta and is spending the fall semester as a visiting professor at Yale Divinity School. Her book African American Christian Worship is widely used by theological seminaries and her musical arrangements are sought after by publishers of hymns. She was chair of the committee that created the 1990 PC(USA) hymnal. Melva's latest book, In Spirit and In Truth: The Music of African American Worship, is now available.

Idlewild music director Ted Gibboney is working with Dr. Costen on the selection of both new and familiar hymns for services in a variety of musical styles:  gospel, jazz, traditional and international. Composer Thom Pavlechko is creating a series of musical liturgical responses based on the Call to Covenant Community.