Proclamation Against Empire
Preachers today face relentless pressure to respond to the news cycle — but we are not journalists. Join us to learn how the homiletic of Karl Barth, James Cone, and Oscar Romero demonstrate that scripture, not headlines, defines what is real, what is evil, and what is possible.
Proclamation Against Empire: There is Nothing New Under the Sun. Preachers today are under immense pressure to address the (horrifically abundant, and abundantly horrific) news of each and every week, each and every Sunday. But we are not journalists. The demand to exegete the 24-hour news cycle is draining us until there is no time, energy, or cognition left to exegete our specific contexts or our biblical texts.
Our ancestors in faith from within the last century dealt head-on with the rise of fascism, the stripping of civil rights, and governments of terror. They were deeply attentive to their historical moment, but always allowed Scripture, never the headlines, to define what was real, what was evil, what was possible, and what was necessary. Join us to explore how the homiletics of Karl Barth, James Cone, and Oscar Romero lifted up biblical theology as the solution – not a support, not an encouragement, but the diagnostic and the cure – to their social-political emergencies.
Rev. Dr. Angela Dienhart Hancock
Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty and Howard C. Scharfe Associate Professor of Homiletics at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
The Rev. Dr. Angela Dienhart Hancock (she/her) is the author of Karl Barth’s Emergency Homiletic, 1932-33: A Summons to Prophetic Witness at the Dawn of the Third Reich, a contextual interpretation of Barth’s lectures on sermon preparation at the University of Bonn based on unpublished archival material. Her current research assesses Karl Barth’s potential contribution to the study of democratic practices, including the relationship between political and theological rhetoric and the significance and ethos of deliberation in Christian communities. She is an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Rev. Dr. Alma Tinoco Ruiz
Royce and Jane Reynolds Assistant Professor of the Practice of Homiletics and Evangelism, Director of the Hispanic House of Studies, and Foundation For Evangelism Fellow at Duke University
Professor Tinoco Ruiz (she/her) is a practical theologian whose work centers on the intersection of homiletics, pastoral care, and evangelism. Throughout her ministry, she has witnessed that most preachers are poorly equipped to respond to the traumatic injuries marginalized and oppressed communities experience. In contrast, she sees in the sermons of Saint Óscar Romero a profound response to the traumatic injuries the marginalized and oppressed people of El Salvador were experiencing during the years he was the archbishop of San Salvador (1977-1980). Influenced by Saint Romero’s preaching, Professor Tinoco Ruiz is exploring how preachers can effectively address the trauma experienced by marginalized and oppressed communities, particularly the community of undocumented immigrants from Latin America in the United States. She completed her Th.D. thesis on “Óscar Romero’s Theological, Hermeneutical, and Pastoral Framework for Preaching to Traumatized Communities.” Her publications include essays in the International Journal of Homiletics, Predicación con Impacto: Preparación y Presentación de Mensajes Bíblicos, The Christian Century, and Duke Divinity School’s DIVINITY magazine. Professor Tinoco Ruiz was awarded the Denman Fellow of the Foundation for Evangelism (FFE) in 2016, the Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE) Doctoral Fellowship in 2019, and the Hispanic Theological Initiative (HTI)/Lilly fellowship in 2020. She is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church.
Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas
Visiting Professor of Theology at Harvard Divinity School
The Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas, Ph.D. (she/her) is currently the visiting professor of Theology at Harvard Divinity School. From 2017 to 2023, she was Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Theology. She was named the Bill and Judith Moyers Chair in Theology at Union in November 2019 where she is now Dean emeritus. She served as interim Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School from 2023-2024. During the 2023 fall term, she served as Honorary Professor of Global Theology at Emmanuel Theological College in Liverpool, England.
Ordained as an Episcopal Priest in 1983, she currently serves as the Canon Theologian at the Washington National Cathedral and Canon Theologian at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine – New York City; and Anglican Communion Canon at Newcastle Cathedral in Newcastle, England.
Douglas is the author of many articles and several books including the 2023 Grawemeyer Award winning book, Resurrection Hope: A Future Where Black Lives Matter. Her academic work has focused on womanist theology, racial justice issues as well as sexuality and the Black church. Her current research interest involves expanding the moral imaginary in fostering a more just future.
You might also find helpful:
- Preaching as Resistance — How to preach on current events and hot-button topics without letting the news cycle drive the sermon.
- Decolonizing Preaching: The Pulpit as Postcolonial Space — Sarah Travis writes on how colonialism shapes North American preaching — and what it means for the pulpit to respond to empire.
- Preaching and Social Issues: Tools and Tactics for Empowering Your Prophetic Voice — Practical and pastoral guidance for preachers who want to find their prophetic voice with integrity, from Leah D. Schade.
- Christian Nationalism is the Wrong Sermon Illustration — Guidelines for how preachers can avoid perpetuating the harm of Christian Nationalism in the pulpit.
