Our annual CPD event offers resources for preaching and leading worship in the year ahead, based on the lectionary readings for Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary and the Gospel of Luke. Professor Helen Bond will offer insights into scholarship on gender in Luke/Acts; Revd Neil Glover will explore key aspects of his new book ‘Finding Our Voice’ in the context of worship in the coming year; and the Very Revd Dr Derek Browning will share the perspective of an experienced minister and respected preacher on the place of preaching in our present-day context with an eye on the Luke texts.

Rev. Dr Sandy Forsyth, Acting Principal of New College, will host. The café in the Rainy Hall will be open beforehand if you would like to meet others over lunch there.

Speakers

Professor Helen Bond

Helen K. Bond is Professor of Christian Origins at the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on the social and political history of Judaea under Roman rule, the historical Jesus, and the canonical gospels. She is the author of Pontius Pilate in History and Interpretation (CUP, 1998), Caiaphas: High Priest and Friend of Rome? (Westminster John Knox, 2004), The Historical Jesus: A Guide for the Perplexed (Bloomsbury, 2012), Jesus: A Very Brief History (SPCK, 2017), The First Biography of Jesus: Genre and Meaning in Mark’s Gospel (Eerdmans, 2020), Women Remembered: Jesus’ Female Disciples (Hodder, 2022), and a number of shorter studies and articles. She has contributed to over 50 TV and radio documentaries, including acting as historical consultant to The Nativity (BBC, 2010) and co-presenter (with Joan Taylor) of Jesus’ Female Disciples (C4, 2018). With journalist Dave Roos, she hosts the podcast Biblical Time Machine.

Revd Neil Glover

Revd Neil Glover has been a parish minister for twenty years, having previously worked as an Outdoor Instructor, Youth Worker and IT consultant. He passionate about the role of the Church of Scotland, and churches like it - and believes that it needs to rediscover its identity in the secular age. He is currently based in Aberfeldy, has responsibility for a number of rural parishes and has grown impatient with structural reshuffles and liturgical avoidance.

The Very Revd Dr Derek Browning

The Very Revd Dr Derek Browning is a parish minister in the Church of Scotland, currently Minister of Morningside Parish Church. He has held many posts within the Church over his 37 years of ministry. He is a graduate of Oxford and St Andrews Universities, and gained his doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary. He was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 2017.

Further Information

Short Courses for Church People

New College Festival of Books and Belief

Church of Scotland Learning

Resources for the Worship Year ahead