Lecture Series

Dr. Caldwell Preaching Former President Frank H. Caldwell

The Caldwell Lectures honor former Louisville Seminary President Frank H. Caldwell who served from 1930 to 1964. Dr. Caldwell was Professor of Homiletics during his time at the seminary in addition to serving as President from 1936–1964. He also served as the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the United States in 1966 after retiring from the seminary. In addition to the Caldwell Lectures a professorship in homiletics has been endowed in his name at the seminary.

Some of the Caldwell Lectures are available online:


2023 Dr. Rebecca F. Spurrier Whose Bodies? What Technologies? Cocreating Access as Christian Worship
2022 Dr. Jamesetta Ferguson & Stachelle Bussey The Urban Church & Community Development, The Connection
2021 Rev. Dr. Brad Braxton Troubling Waters: Black Theology, Baptism, and Black Lives Matter
2019 Rev. Edwin C. Sanders, II Whosoever: Finding Holy Ground
2018 Jennifer Beste (part 2) Fulfillment and Justice: A New Approach for Fostering Sexual Justice in Christian Communities (Part Two)
2018 Jennifer Beste (part 1) Fulfillment and Justice: A New Approach for Fostering Sexual Justice in Christian Communities (Part One)
2017 Marcia Mount Shoop Lifting the Veil on Big-Time Sports
2017 Marcia Mount Shoop Touchdowns for Jesus and Other Signs of Apocalypse
2015 Miguel de la Torre A Theology of Hopelessness
2013 Stephen Prothero No Common Path: From Interfaith 1.0 to Interfaith 2.0
2008 Anna Carter Florence The Testimony Edit: Writing Ourselves Back into the Story
2008 Debra Mumford Counter-Cultural Preaching
2007 Nicholas Wolterstorff Living with Grief
2007 Nicholas Wolterstorff Understanding Grief
Dr. George Edwards George Edwards and his wife Jean

The Edwards Peacemaking Lectureship honors Dr. George Edwards and his wife, Jean. Dr. Edwards, an alum of Louisville Seminary (BD ’51), also served the Seminary for 27 years as Professor of New Testament. Dr. Edwards died June 2, 2010. Together, Dr. and Mrs. Edwards shared a ministry that was active in Christian efforts for peace and social justice. Established in 1986, the Edwards Peacemaking Lectureship endowment supports a visiting lecturer to teach a special course or programs in continuing or lay education.

Traditionally, the Edwards Peacemaking Lectureship has been coupled in time and theme with the Black Church Studies Consultation because of the shared focus on peace and social justice. Some of the Edwards Lectures are available online:


2024 Rev. Dr. Tony W. Barr, Sr. Navigating Challenges and Embracing Opportunities
2023 Dr. Trina Armstrong Reimagining a Post-Covid-19 Black Church: Lessons, Opportunities, and Possibilities
2022 Dr. David Goatley Black Baptist Traditions (part 3 of 3)
2022 Dr. Camille Brown Black Roman Catholic Traditions (part 2 of 3)
2022 Dr. Lewis Brogden African American Pentecostal Traditions (part 1 of 3)
2021 Rev. Dr. Teresa L. Fry Brown The Church of Allen: Tending Our Own Vine and Fig Tree
2021 Bishop Othal Hawthorne Lakey The Rise of Colored Methodism
2014 Susan Thistlethwaite A Just Peace Approach to Ending the Global War on Women
2012 Dr. Suzanne Holland Give Me Children or I Shall Die: Technologies of Desire
2011 Anant Rambachan The Resources and Challenges for Constructing a Hindu Theology of Liberation
2009 Frances Adeney The New Mission Worker
2007 Charles Marsh The Beloved Community: American Search, Christian Hope, Human Struggle
Dr. Theodore M. Greenhoe Dr. Theodore M. Greenhoe Graduation

The Greenhoe Lectures were established in 1966 by Memorial Presbyterian Church in Midland, Michigan, in honor of their former pastor, Dr. Theodore M. Greenhoe. Dr. Greenhoe was a member of the Louisville Seminary class of 1934.

Some of the Greenhoe Lectures are available online:


2023 Dr. Hillel Gray Questioning Toxic Theology and Tolerance
2022 Dr. Duane R. Bidwell Attending to Spirit: Spirituality & Childhood Hope in Chronic Illness
2022 Dr. Lee H. Butler, Jr When Will It End?: The Protracted-Traumatic Stress of Living as An Other
2017 Dr. John B. White Who is Afraid of Sports? Play, Bodies, and Formation (Part Two)
2017 Dr. John B. White Who is Afraid of Sports? Play, Bodies, and Formation (Part One)
2015 Wesley Granberg-Michaelson Navigating the Changing Landscape of World Christianity
2013 Steven Prothero No Common Creed: The American Bible from Thomas Jefferson to Barack Obama
2008 Otis Moss III Preaching in the Post-Modern World
2008 Cláudio Carvalhaes Preaching from the Borders: The Impossibility of Hospitality
2007 Rev. Dr. Joretta L. Marshall Finitude and Unfinished Business
2007 Rev. Dr. Joretta L. Marshall Forgiveness and Beyond

The Henry H. and Marion A. Presler Lectureship was established to honor the couple’s missionary service and to inspire the Louisville Seminary community and its wider community about issues of global mission and the role of American denominations in their historical and present witness to mission. The topics of the lectures vary, but the overall theme is Jesus Christ’s commission to the church in Matthew 28:19–20, to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” Dr. Henry Presler studied for two years at Louisville Seminary and then transferred to Boston University School of Theology. In his later years he remembered his formative time at Louisville Seminary and left a bequest for this lectureship.

Some of the Presler Lectures are available online:


2023 Dr. Joy Ladin Miracles and Strangers: Responding to the Spread of Anti-Trans Theology (view photos)
2022 Dr. Kimberly D. Hill Local Legacies of The Great Commission
2020 Dr. Gerardo Marti We Believe in God; We Believe in Trump: Religion, Power and the Quest to Restore a True America
2019 The Rev. Najla Kassab Christian Witness in the Middle East
2017 Soong-Chan Rah The Necessity for Lament in a Changing World
2015 Todd M. Johnson Our Global Community: Embracing Common Identity with Christians and Humanity to Change the World
2014 Amos Yong Doors to Dialogue and Mission: Openings Afforded by the Holy Spirit in a World of Many Faiths
2013 Dr. Shanta Premawardhana Greed as Violence: The Role of the Global Church in Addressing the Enduring Spiritual Crisis of Our Time
2012 Dr. Douglas Hicks Money, Mission, and Responses to Global Poverty
2011 John Thatamanil The Hospitality of Receiving: Rethinking Mission and Conversion in an Interreligious Age
2009 Terry C. Muck A New Mission?
2007 Carlos Cardozi-Orlandi Mission Impossible? Faith at the Crossroads of People & Religions