Prayers in Old and New Testament Texts and their Reception in History and Praxis

San Francisco Theological Seminary faculty members will present “Knocking on Heaven’s Door. Prayers in Old and New Testament Texts and their Reception in History and Praxis” on Monday, Oct. 1, from 7-9 p.m. at Alexander Hall.

This continuing education opportunity for Bay Area pastors will provide insight and discussion on the following questions:

· How have prayers changed over the course of time (Old Testament, New Testament, History of Christianity and the 21st century)?

These and similar questions will be addressed by four SFTS faculty members from four distinct perspectives. The panelists will be Dr. Annette Weissenrieder, Associate Professor of New Testament, Dr. Annette Schellenberg, Associate Professor of Old Testament, Dr. Christopher Ocker, Professor of History, and Rev. Dr. Sam Hamilton-Poore, Director of the Program in Christian Spirituality and Assistant Professor of Christian Spirituality.

Weissenrieder’s research interests include NT miracle stories and anthropology, and the connections between the New Testament and ancient medicine, iconography and architecture. Her latest book is Contested Space (2011; co-edited with David Balch). The German native has been a visiting scholar at Union Theological Seminary, McCormick Theological Seminary and Harvard Divinity School.

Schellenberg's research interests include Old Testament wisdom literature, anthropology, priestly thinking, and the interconnections between the Old Testament and its ancient Near Eastern environment. She completed her PhD on Ecclesiastes and the problem of human cognition at Zurich University. Her latest book is Humankind, The Image of God? (2011; in German).

Ocker is the convener of the Muilenburg-Koenig History of Religion Seminar, which is funded by Rev. Dr. Robert Koenig (M.Div. '69) to honor the late Dr. James Muilenburg. A member of the Graduate Theological Union’s Core Doctoral Faculty, Ocker is also affiliated with the UC Berkeley History Department. Ocker’s expertise is the intersection of theology, religious mentalities, politics and social life between 300 and 1600.

Hamilton-Poore is an ordained Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) pastor, who has served congregations in North Carolina, Missouri and Iowa. His 2009 book, Earth Gospel: A Guide to Prayer for God’s Creation, connects the natural world with the spiritual. He has traveled to South Sudan the past two summers as part of an ecumenical teaching team that reached out to church leaders from the Presbyterian Church of Sudan (PCOS) and Episcopal Church of Sudan (ECS).