Princeton Seminary's Fall Concert Laudate Dominum! Features a Festival of Psalm Singing November 10

Princeton, NJ, November 5, 2007–Dr. John D. Witvliet, director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and professor of music and worship at Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary, and the Princeton Seminary Choir will lead a festival of psalm singing at Princeton Theological Seminary at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 10 in Miller Chapel on the Seminary campus. 

Witvliet also teaches in the Religion Department at Calvin College. He oversees the institute's practical and scholarly programs, and teaches courses in worship, theology, and music. His areas of interest lie in the history of Christian worship, worship practices in various denominations, biblical and systematic theology of worship, the role of music and the arts in worship, choral music, and consulting with churches on worship renewal.

He is the author of The Biblical Psalms in Christian Worship: A Brief Introduction and Guide to Resources (W.B. Eerdmans, 2007) and Worship Seeking Understanding: Windows into Christian Practice (Baker Academic, 2003).

For more information, call 609.497.7890.

In conjunction with the concert, Witvliet will offer a workshop through the Seminary's Center of Continuing Education on Saturday, November 10 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The workshop is titled “The Biblical Psalms in Christian Worship.”

Witvliet believes the psalms offer compelling, beautiful, and sometimes disturbing poetry, and have been a source of comfort and challenge for thirty centuries of Jewish and Christian practice. But the psalms are not merely objects to be studied. They are communal prayers to be adopted, adapted, resisted, sung, and depicted. The workshop will explore what the psalms teach  about communal Christian worship and how a congregation can sing, speak, and pray them in worship with greater faithfulness and imagination.

For more information, contact the Center of Continuing Education at 609.497.7990 or visit http://www.ptsem.edu/CE/course20071110.php.