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Rev. Dr. Melva L. Sampson featured as keynote speaker for this year’s Presbyterian Lectures
Columbia Theological Seminary is pleased to welcome the seminary community and the wider public to the Presbyterian Lectures 2026, featuring Rev. Dr. Melva L. Sampson, Assistant Teaching Professor in the Practice of Preaching and Practical Theology at Wake Forest University School of Divinity.
This year’s lectures, titled:
Digital Insurgent Homiletics: Afro-Womanist-Futurist Strategies for Preaching Liberation, will explore how preaching can serve as a powerful practice of liberation and resistance in a digital age. It also invites us into faithful imagination during a time of cultural and technological change.
Rev. Dr. Sampson asks listeners to consider how proclamation emerges not only from pulpits, but also through online spaces and public movements. These are places where communities continue to long for justice and hope.
Drawing from Afro-Womanist thought, Rev. Dr. Sampson centers the spiritual insight and prophetic leadership of Black women. She highlights their essential role in shaping the future of preaching and the church’s witness.
Her work challenges traditional homiletical frameworks. It engages futurist imagination, digital disruption, and the liberative possibilities of preaching that speaks beyond institutional boundaries.
These lectures will offer timely reflection on how the gospel is proclaimed amid political unrest and cultural change. Rev. Dr. Sampson brings innovative approaches to proclamation that call the church toward courage, creativity, and renewed responsibility in the work of liberation.
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
7:00 – 8:15 p.m.
Reception to follow
Thursday, February 26, 2026
10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Harrington Center Chapel
Columbia Theological Seminary
701 S. Columbia Drive
Decatur, GA 30030
We invite you to join us for these important lectures and to welcome Rev. Dr. Sampson to Columbia as she helps us reflect on the evolving practices of preaching, liberation, and faith in public life.
All are welcome.
For more information about other Alumni Reunion events, please click here.
