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James Abbington is Associate Professor of Worship and Music at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. His research interests include music and worship in the Christian church, African American sacred folk music, organ, choral music, and ethnomusicology. Dr. Abbington serves as executive editor of the African American Church Music Series by GIA Publications (Chicago) and co-director of music for the Hampton University Ministers’ and Musicians’ Conference. He has served as the national director of music for both the Progressive National Baptist Convention and the NAACP.
Kenyon Adams is a multi-media performance artist also known as “little ray,” whose works have been featured throughout the U.S. Kenyon studied Religion and the Arts at Yale Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music, earning his M.A.R. degree in 2015. He is also an alumnus of Southern Methodist University, Meadows School of the Arts. Kenyon has been the recipient of a National Young Arts Foundation Award, and was named a White House Presidential Scholar in the Arts. He is a 2015-16 Artist-in-Residence at the ISM, and also serves as Director of Arts Initiatives at Grace Farms Foundation in New Canaan, CT. Among his many artistic endeavors, Kenyon helped to stage Long Wharf Theater’s production of Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity, for which he composed original music and performed a leading role. He made his feature film debut as Jason in director Lee Isaac Chung’s 2010 narrative feature Lucky Life. In 2011, Kenyon formed the band Kenyon Adams & American Restless, which sought to explore the liturgical quality of the blues aesthetic in the American musical context. The project released a self-titled EP and performed throughout the U.S. Following the release of his solo recording Songs for the Road (2002), Kenyon shared the stage with artists such as The Lovin’ Spoonful, Charlie Peacock, Ten Shekel Shirt, Cindertalk, Gary Clark, Jr. and others.
Dorothy Bass is the director of the Valparaiso Project on the Education and Formation of People in Faith (www.practicingourfaith.org), a Lilly Endowment project that explores the importance of practices in Christian life and considers how greater attention to practices might contribute to theology and theological education. In addition to publishing several scholarly volumes on practices, edited or coedited by Bass, the Valparaiso Project has created several books that are widely used in congregations and other ministry settings, and has worked directly with some of these to strengthen communities of practice.
Rita Ferrone is an independent writer and lecturer on issues of liturgy, catechesis and Christian initiation in the Roman Catholic Church. Her background in parish and diocesan ministry has given her work a practical slant, and made her a much sought-after workshop leader in dioceses throughout the United States.
Martin Jean is a professor in the practice of sacred music, and director of the Institute of Sacred Music. He has performed widely throughout the United States and Europe and is known for his broad repertorial interests. He was awarded first place at the international Grand Prix de Chartres in 1986, and in 1992 at the National Young Artists’ Competition in Organ Performance.
Luke Timothy Johnson is Candler School of Theology’s Robert W. Woodruff Professor, Emory’s most distinguished endowed chair. A noted scholar and an award-winning teacher, Johnson taught at Yale Divinity School and Indiana University prior to arriving at Candler in 1992. His research concerns the literary, moral and religious dimensions of the New Testament, including the Jewish and Greco-Roman contexts of early Christianity (particularly moral discourse), Luke-Acts, the Pastoral Letters, and the Letter of James. A prolific author, Johnson has penned 31 books, more than 70 scholarly articles, 100 popular articles and nearly 200 book reviews. His 1986 book, The Writings of the New Testament: An Interpretation, now in its third edition, is widely used as a textbook in seminaries and departments of religion throughout the world. A decade later, Johnson made national headlines with The Real Jesus: The Misguided Quest for the Historical Jesus and the Truth of the Traditional Gospels (HarperOne, 1996), the first book to systematically challenge the Jesus Seminar’s controversial claims, among them that Jesus said only 18 percent of what the Gospels attribute to him.
Don Saliers recently retired as William R. Cannon Distinguished Professor of Theology and Worship and director of the master of sacred music program at Emory University. Dr. Saliers is currently writing on liturgy and theological aesthetics and is a sought after lecturer and clinician in worship, music and congregational life.
Mark Sedio serves as Cantor at Central Lutheran Church in downtown Minneapolis, and also holds teaching posts at Augsburg College and Luther Seminary. He is an active recitalist, clinician, conductor and composer, having presented hymn festivals and workshops throughout North America and Europe, and published more than 125 works for organ, piano, choral and instrumental ensembles. A number of his hymn tunes, texts and harmonization appear in various denominational hymnals and supplements. In 2008, the faculty of Luther Seminary (St. Paul) granted him the title of Musician Emeritus for his service in various musical capacities from 1982 through 2008. Mr. Sedio holds a B.A. in music from Augsburg College and an M.A. in choral music from the University of Iowa. He has studied in the M.Div. program at Luther Seminary and the liturgical studies program at St. John’s University.
Bryan Spinks is the Bishop F. Percy Goddard Professor of Liturgical Studies and Pastoral Theology, and chair of the program in liturgical studies, and Fellow of Morse College. Professor Spinks teaches courses on marriage liturgy; English Reformation worship traditions; the eucharistic prayer and theology, Christology, and liturgy of the Eastern churches; and contemporary worship. Research interests include East Syrian rites, Reformed rites, issues in theology and liturgy, and worship in a postmodern age.