“Why Read the Bible?” is the title for the inaugural Helen White Memorial Lecture which will be held on Saturday, April 13 at 4 p.m. at the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Philadelphia. The annual lecture will cover a wide range of topics in biblical studies over the next ten years while honoring Helen White for her long and vital ministry of spreading biblical literacy in southeast Pennsylvania.The inaugural lecture of the series will be delivered by the Rev. Dr. Eric D. Barreto who serves as the Weyerhaeuser Associate Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary. Professor Barreto is a New Testament scholar whose work focuses on the Acts of the Apostles. He is known at PTS as a popular, engaging, and inspiring professor who encourages deep investigation and wide-ranging application of the biblical text. He is looking forward to addressing a favorite subject, “Why Read the Bible?”, when he delivers his address at the Helen White Memorial Lecture.
Helen White, who died January 11, 2018, was an effective and passionate creator of biblical studies opportunities for - in her words - “the people in the pew.” Starting in the 1970s at St. Thomas, Whitemarsh, and then as a staff member for the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, Helen planted group after group organized to study the Gospels and then all the texts of the Old and New Testament. Four groups she started are still studying at her home parish, the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.
Because Helen felt so strongly that biblical literacy was so easily within reach and so crucial for all followers of Jesus, and because she dedicated her life to this ministry, the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields has established this annual lecture in her honor to advance and celebrate her mission and ministry. The event is free and a free-will donation will be collected to support the ongoing lecture series.
Professor Barreto, an ordained Baptist minister, lists among his publications Ethnic Negotiations: The Function of Race and Ethnicity in Acts 16 (Mohr Siebeck, 2010), Exploring the Bible (Fortress, 2016) and In Tongues of Mortals and Angels (Lexington, 2018). He is the editor of Reading Theologically (Fortress, 2014), and is a is also a regular contributor to ONScripture.org, the Huffington Post, WorkingPreacher.org, and EntertheBible.org. For more, go to ericbarreto.com and follow him on Twitter @ericbarreto.
The Inaugural Helen White Memorial Lecture,Why Read the Bible, will be held on Saturday, April 13 at 4:00 p.m., with a reception to follow. The Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields is located at 8000 St. Martin’s Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19118. RSVP for the lecture at StMartinEC.org/events. A free-will donation will be collected to support the ongoing series. For more information, call St. Martin’s at 215.247.7466.
Blessings,
The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel
Rector
