Almost seven years ago, Winebrenner Seminary hosted a conference focused on Sacred Rhetoric: Discourses of Religion. From May 31 – June 2, 2017, over 25 presenters participated in 10 sessions that explored everything from “Prayer as Sacred Rhetoric” to “Sacred Rhetoric and Social Controversy in Media.” Plenary session speakers included Dr. Ronald C. Arnett, recently retired from Duquesne University’s Department of Communication & Rhetorical Studies and Dr. Tom Beaudoin, current Professor in the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education at Fordham University in New York City.
The conference included presentations by several who are currently full-time at Winebrenner including, Dr. Kathryn Helleman, Dr. Martin Johnson, Dr. Andrew Draper, and was co-directed by Dr. David Barbee and Dr. Brent Sleasman.
Earlier this year (2024), in what can accurately be described as a labor of love, an edited volume was published that emerged from the conference in 2017.
The book includes a chapter titled “Sex, Purity, and Community in First-Century Corinth: Paul’s Disciplinary Directive in 1 Corinthians 5:3-5, Its Meaning, Anticipated Outcome, and Contemporary Applicability.” The Introduction is written by Dr. David Barbee who also served as co-editor along with Dr. Brent Sleasman.
In last week’s post that introduced quality as a core aspect of Winebrenner’s work, I wrote, “Quality speaks more directly to the substance of the educational and learning experience. Quality emerges from a commitment to the Spirit along with active engagement with culture and our local context. Pushing this further, quality also must flow out of and align with an organization’s mission and strategy in addition to being reflective of multiple voices.” Winebrenner’s ongoing commitment to provide space for various ways of engaging in conversations about “sacred rhetoric” demonstrates many facets of this notion of quality including:
- Both the conference and the edited volume demonstrate a commitment to engage both the wider culture and the local context;
- The conversations that emerged from the conference and book definitely emerged from Winebrenner’s overall mission and strategy;
- Multiple voices – both internal to Winebrenner and external – contributed to understanding sacred rhetoric as something worthy of further study.
Along with affordability and accessibility, quality is what adds additional substance to what makes Winebrenner so unique!
- Brent C. Sleasman, President
[…] Quality: Sacred Rhetoric – from Conference to Book […]