Published on February 2, 2024 by Neal Embry  
Hodges1

Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School will host its first two lectures of 2024 next week, with another slated for March.

The inaugural Reformation Anglicanism Lecture will be held Feb. 5 from 5-7 p.m. in Hodges Chapel. Each year, this event will include an evening talk by an internationally recognized scholar exploring the relationship between the history, theology, worship and pastoral significance of the English Reformation and the broader tradition of Anglican Christianity. The speaker for 2024 is Simeon Zahl, who is a professor of Christian Theology at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Jesus College in Cambridge, England. Zahl’s recent research has focused on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, the place of experience and emotion in Christian religious life, and the theological legacy of the Protestant Reformation, culminating in the publication of "The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience." Zahl will speak on “The Book of Common Prayer: Thomas Cranmer’s Technology of the Heart.” The event will be followed by a reception for all in attendance.

Following Monday night’s talk is the Conger Preaching Lectures, a series of lectures focused on biblical preaching. This year’s speaker is Jeremy Treat, pastor for preaching and vision at Reality Church of Los Angeles, California. Treat will speak at 11 a.m. on Feb. 7 and 8 in Divinity Hall N-101, in addition to preaching at Beeson’s chapel service on Feb. 6. Treat’s chapel message will come from Acts 17:16-34 and is titled, “Proclaiming Christ in a Pagan Society.” His title for the Feb. 7 message is “A Theology of Preaching for a Post-Christian Society,” while Thursday’s talk is titled, “The Art of Preaching in a Post-Christian Society.”

In March, Susan Eastman, associate research professor emerita of the New Testament at Duke Divinity School, will preach in chapel and deliver Beeson’s Biblical Studies Lectures. Eastman’s message on March 19 is entitled, “Leaky Buckets,” taken from Romans 5:12-21. She will speak at 11 a.m. in Divinity Hall N-101 on March 20 and 21. On March 20, she will deliver a message entitled, “God’s Son in Human Flesh: The Logic of Grace in Romans 1-8,” with a message entitled, “Solidarity and Exchange: The Outworking of Grace in Romans 9-11” following on March 21.

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.