—Gary S. Selby, professor of communication at Pepperdine University, will deliver the lecture series October 29 and 30—

Princeton, NJ, October 8, 2012–Gary S. Selby, the Blanche E. Seaver Professor of Communication, and chair of the Graduate Program in Communication at Pepperdine University, will give three lectures on preaching October 29 and 30 at Princeton Theological Seminary. The lectureship, the Donald Macleod/Short Hills Community Congregational Church Preaching Lectures, was established by The Community Congregational Church of Short Hills, New Jersey, in honor of Dr. Donald Macleod, Princeton Seminary’s Francis Landey Patton Professor of Preaching and Worship from 1947 to 1988. Inaugurated in October 1992, the series features, on a biennial basis, two or three lectures by an outstanding preacher or teacher of preachers.           

gary selbyAll lectures will be held in the Main Lounge of the Mackay Campus Center on the Seminary’s main campus. 

The schedule and topics for the lectures is as follows: 

Monday, October 29 at 7:00 p.m.—“Performing Theology: Mimesis as Persuasion in Early Christian Discourse”

Tuesday, October 30 at 3:00 p.m.—“Remapping Worldviews: Contemporary Perspectives on Attitude Change”

Tuesday, October 30 at 7:00 p.m.—“Capturing Souls: Preaching from a Poetic Consciousness”

Selby’s academic interests include 

• the history of U.S. public address

• rhetoric and racial conflicts in U.S. history

• rhetoric and religion

• rhetoric of protest, social movements

• rhetoric of the Civil Rights Movement

• and rhetoric theory and criticism

He is the author of Martin Luther King and the Rhetoric of Freedom: The Exodus in America’s Struggle with Civil Rights, and has written numerous reviews and articles. 

Selby received a B.A., magna cum laude, from Harding University, a Th.M. from Harding University’s Graduate School of Religion, and a Ph.D. in public communications from the University of Maryland.

He is a member of the National Communication Association, the Western States Communication Association, the Southern States Communication Association, and the International Society for the History of Rhetoric.

The lectures are open to the public and free of charge. For more information, call 609.497.7760 or visit www.ptsem.edu.          

Princeton Seminary was established in 1812 by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church as a post-graduate professional school of theology. Currently celebrating its Bicentennial, Princeton is the largest Presbyterian seminary in the country, with 500 students in six graduate degree programs.