The 2009 Theologian-in-Lecture series at Tusculum College will bring a distinguished speaker to the region to discuss the differences between Christian ecumenism and evangelism and how the two can be reconciled.
Dr. Marian McClure, associate director and North America representative of “Edinburgh 2010: Witnessing to Christ Today,” will be the featured speaker for the annual series, co-sponsored by Holston Presbytery and Tusculum College. “Edinburgh 2010: Witnessing to Christ Today,” is the centenary celebration of a pivotal world mission conference that challenged Christians to greater ecumenical and evangelistic collaboration.
In her leadership of the 2009 Theologian-in-Residence lecture, Dr. McClure will explore the reasons for the particular history of Christian divisiveness between the ecumenical and evangelical camps and provide a challenge to continue the work of bridging and reconciling between the two.
In the four sessions of “Ecumenical (And? Or?) Evangelical,” she will explore how the chasm between ecumenical and evangelical formed, what bridges have been built between the two, what divisions still need to be healed and how a reconciliation of the two could make life different in East Tennessee.
Prior to her present position, Dr. McClure directed the Worldwide Ministries of the Presbyterian Church USA. At the beginning of her decade of service, she was introduced as “both evangelical and ecumenical.” As she learned why people wanted to hear both of those adjectives, she found herself serving as a bridging person between two wagon-circling camps.
Currently, Dr. McClure is also on the board of the Overseas Ministries Study Center in New Haven, Conn., serves as adjunct faculty in the Doctor of Ministry program at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary and chairs the Evangelism Committee of the congregation she attends.
Her earned doctorate is in political science from Harvard University, where her Fulbright-funded dissertation research explored the role of the Catholic Church in Haiti during the Duvalier dictatorship years. She then worked for the Ford Foundation more than five years as a grant-making officer living in Mexico and serving both Mexico and Central America. It was then that she responded to God’s call to seminary education and then to ordination to the church work of participation in world mission.
In demand as a lecturer, preacher and facilitator of mission-focused group retreats, Dr. McClure is also a mezzo-soprano church soloist and member of the Louisville Choral Arts Society.
The series takes place on each of the four Tuesdays in February, the 3rd, 10th, 17th, and 24th. Sessions will be held in the Chalmers Conference Center inside the Niswonger Commons on the Tusculum College campus and will begin at 10 a.m. The series is open to public. There is no admission fee and lunch is provided for participants. Reservations are required and can be made by calling Angie Shipley at 423-636-7319 or 1-800-729-0256 ext. 5319, or e-mailing ashipley@tusculum.edu.