Led by UPSem professors John Carroll, Frances Taylor Gench, and Richard W. Voelz

Cost: $250 ($195 for those who register by April 4); includes lunch on May 16.

CEUs:  1.2

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Click here to register for The Gospel of Matthew:  Challenges and Resources for Preachers Today

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Workshop Description:

In the early centuries of the church’s life, Matthew established itself as the most popular and influential of the Gospels, due largely to its extraordinary presentation of Jesus’ teaching—practical and detailed teaching that the church has found to be perennially useful in the ordering of its life. In the twenty-first century, it also presents interpretive challenges with which preachers must wrestle. Matthew’s stunning ethical vision sets the bar very high indeed for the life of discipleship: does Matthew really expect us to live like this? Many parables in Matthew contain graphic images of judgment and violence: how may we faithfully interpret such passages? This Gospel, often described as “the most Jewish” of the gospel narratives, is at the same time filled with hostile rhetoric toward Jesus’ (and Matthew’s) Jewish contemporaries: how can we respond wisely to potentially harmful traditions in this narrative? Does Matthew summon readers to love of neighbor and love of enemy—unless they happen to be “scribes and Pharisees”? Given interpretive riches and challenges such as these, how might we engage the Gospel of Matthew today and find inspiration and nourishment for Christian faith and life, and for the task of proclamation?

This series of presentations and conversations, led by Union Presbyterian Seminary faculty in Bible and preaching, will open up the world of Matthew’s narrative and its presentation of the ministry and teaching of Jesus, provide orientation to distinctive theological contributions Matthew makes to the life of the church, and suggest resources and strategies for preaching what Augustine described as “the fullest of the Gospels.”

Click here to view leader biographical sketches.

Click here to register for The Gospel of Matthew:  Challenges and Resources for Preachers Today.

If you prefer to register by mail, please contact Elizabeth DiStanislao at edistanislao@upsem.edu or 804-278-4301.