Bass Lecture Series
The Courtenay Wright Bass and R. William Bass Lecture Series was begun in 2010 as the result of a generous gift in memory of Courtney Wright Bass, a church member committed to faith and scholarship. The Lecture Series allows us to invite distinguished speakers who are known and respected in their professional lives for the purpose of “encouraging faithful exploration of Christian faith with contemporary social issues.”
Jonathan Walton
In 2019, we were delighted to host innovative and dynamic voice in Christian education, the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Walton, author of Watch This! The Ethics and Aesthetics of Black Televangelism (NYU Press, 2009), and A Lens of Love: Reading the Bible in Its World for Our World (Westminster John Knox Press, 2018). He is a social ethicist whose scholarship focuses on evangelical Christianity, and its relationship to mass media and political culture. He previously served as the Dean of Memorial Chapel (Harvard) and was the dean of the School of Divinity, Presidential Chair of Religion and Society, Dean of Wait Chapel (Wake Forest). He is currently the President of Princeton Theological Seminary.
Heather Vacek
In 2021, we were happy to welcome the Rev. Dr. Heather Hartung Vacek, who is Vice President and Dean and Associate Professor of Church History at Moravian Theological Seminary and Lancaster Theological Seminary.
She previously served at Vice President for Academic Affairs / Dean of Faculty at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Her book, Madness: American Protestant Responses to Mental Illness (Baylor University Press, 2015), explores Protestant reactions to mental illnesses from the colonial era through the twenty-first century.
Denise Anderson
In 2023, we were deeply blessed by the teaching and presence of the Rev. Denise Anderson, director of Compassion, Peace, and Justice for the Presbyterian Mission Agency in Louisville, Kentucky. She was previously Acting Director of Racial Equity and Women's Intercultural Ministries at the Presbyterian Mission Agency.
She is also a wonderful creative: a writer, artist, as well as a pastor who has served multiracial and intercultural churches, and was a co-moderator of the 222nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
She was commissioned to do the artwork for a special issue of the Presbyterian Outlook called Trust Black Women.
Other past guests have included Brian Blount, Dorothy Bass, Marcus Borg and Diana Butler Bass, Rodger Nishioka, Ellen Davis, Rabbi Phil Pohl and Palestinian farmer and peace activist Daoud Nassar.