Release date: Nov. 12, 2002
Contact: Elaine Justice, Associate Director, University Media Relations,
at 404-727-0643 or ejustic@emory.edu

Emory Conference to Celebrate Wesleyan Movement

A conference celebrating the Wesleyan movements — and the tricentennial birthday of founder John Wesley —will be held at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology Jan. 6 – 8, 2003. "Celebrating and Revisioning the Wesleyan Movements" will draw pastors, laypeople and academics from around the world to the Emory campus to examine and reflect on the contributions of the Wesleyan movements, while envisioning future directions for the ministry in relation to the church and world.

"Methodists have sought to make anniversaries into occasions for renewal, a chance to look back and to look forward," says Russell E. Richey, dean of Candler. "The tricentennial of John Wesley’s birth is shaping up as one of those occasions, giving us a chance to look back to the Wesleys and to Scripture, while asking again about the work we are called to do. Wesleyan people may find here themes and resources adequate to the needs and opportunities facing the church and the world in the immediate and long-term future."

Wesley expert Richard P. Heitzenrater, William Kellon Quick Professor of Church History and Wesley Studies at Duke University School of Divinity, will lecture on "The Wesleyan Tradition and the Myths We Love." Known for "breaking the code" of Wesley’s diaries, Heitzenrater serves as general editor of the Wesley Works Editorial Project, which is producing the 35-volume "Bicentennial Edition of the Works of John Wesley."

Also speaking will be Randy L. Maddox, Walls Professor of Wesleyan Theology at Seattle Pacific University, one of the leading voices in the Methodist Church and an expert on John Wesley’s theology and the theological developments in later Methodism. He will speak on "John Wesley and Holistic Healing."

Worship services will be led by Whiteside Preacher William McClain, who chaired the committee that produced the Methodist hymnal "Songs of Zion," for which he wrote much of the material on African-American spirituals and gospel songs.

Other lecturers and topics include:
Rebekah Miles, associate professor of ethics, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University; "Work and Vocation in the Wesleyan Tradition";
Mercy Amba Oduyoye, director, Institute of African Women in Religion and Culture, Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, Ghana, and Campbell Fellow, Columbia Theological Seminary; "Wesleyan Echoes in Missionary Work in West Africa";
Carlton "Sam" Young, professor of church music emeritus, Candler, "The Future of Methodists as a Singing People";
W. Stephen Gunter, Arthur J. Moore Associate Professor of Evangelism, Candler, "Susanna Annesley Wesley: A Woman of Spirit and Spirituality"; and
Mary Elizabeth Moore, professor of religion and education and director of the Program for Women in Theology and Ministry, Candler, "Prophetic Grace: A Wesleyan Heritage of Repairing the World."

All lectures and worship services will be held in Cannon Chapel on the Emory campus. The cost for the conference is $175 if registered before Dec. 13, and $200 after that date. The cost to attend individual days of the conference is $85 per day. For more information, call 404-727-0714, email ocme@emory.edu or go to candler.emory.edu/ACADEMIC/OCME/.

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