Academy of Homiletics Honors Professor Richard Lischer

December 11, 2007

Lischer

Richard Lischer, Duke Divinity School’s James T. and Alice Mead Cleland Professor of Preaching, has been presented with a lifetime achievement award by the Academy of Homiletics.

He received the award Dec. 1 in Minneapolis at the annual meeting of the Academy, the professional organization of those who teach preaching or are studying preaching at the doctoral level in United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Japan and several other countries. Lischer is a past president of the group, which was founded in 1965 and has about 400 members.

“One is struck by the continuity between Rick’s scholarship and his person,” said Ronald Allen, who presented the award and is a professor of preaching and New Testament at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. “Quiet but intense. Critically reflective but compassionate. Thorough without becoming tedious. Passionate while recognizing his own relativity. Lutheran in the larger context of Christian.”

A native of St. Louis, Lischer’s graduate theological training is in systematic theology. He is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and has nine years of pastoral experience in rural and suburban settings. He joined the Duke Divinity School faculty in 1979 and teaches in the areas of homiletics and ministry.

In his scholarly work Lischer has sought to portray proclamation as an integrated theological activity. He also has explored the interactions of preaching, politics and contemporary culture, notably in “The Preacher King: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Word that Moved America” and in his most recent book “The End of Words.” His theological memoir, “Open Secrets,” evokes the hidden dynamics of ministry in a small-town parish.

Lischer, who is author of nine books and more than 40 scholarly articles, has taught and lectured widely in the areas of practical theology, ministry, religious autobiography and preaching. He has held numerous distinguished lectureships, including the Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale Divinity School.

“A lifetime award offers a stimulus for planning and reflection on the future,” Lischer said. “The Academy seems to be asking, ‘What’s next?’ I will always treasure the friendships and conversations of a professional lifetime, which have shaped me in many ways, but what really turns me on is the next project, a new book, and my next class of students.”