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Gardner C. Taylor Lecture Series

Fall and spring preaching and lecture series provide frequent opportunities to hear outstanding black preachers in Divinity School classes and worship services.

The Gardner C. Taylor Lecture Series and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Lecture Series are sponsored by the Office of Black Church Studies in conjunction with the Black Seminarians’ Union and a local church. These lectures expose seminarians, faculty, staff, alumni and local congregations to our nations most outstanding African-American preachers.

Since 1975, the Gardner C. Taylor Lecture Series has brought outstanding black preachers to Duke University. The lectures are named in honor of the Rev. Dr. Gardner C. Taylor, pastor emeritus of the Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, New York.

GCT Lecturers Since 1975

  • Dr. Valerie Bridgeman: Oct. 7-8, 2008
  • Dr. Brad Braxton: Oct. 2-3, 2007
  • Rev. Dr. James Forbes Jr.: Oct. 4, 2006
  • Dr. Kwame Bediako: Oct. 5, 2005
  • Dr. Cleophus J. LaRue: Oct. 5-6, 2004
  • Bishop Gregory V. Palmer: Oct. 7-8, 2003
  • Bishop Michael Bruce Curry: Oct. 1-2, 2002
  • Reverend Dr. Delores Carpenter: Oct. 2-3, 2001
  • Reverend Clifford A. Jones Sr.: Oct. 3-4, 2000
  • Dr. Vashti M. Mckenzie: Oct. 6, 1998
  • Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton: Oct. 7, 1997
  • John Hurst Adams: Oct. 1, 1996
  • Dr. Gardner C. Taylor: Oct. 3-4, 1995
  • Reverend Prathia Hall Wynn: Oct. 5-6, 1994
  • Bishop Joseph Johnson: Oct. 6, 1993
  • Dr. Samuel D. Proctor: Oct. 7-8, 1992
  • Dr. J. Alfred Smith, Sr.: Oct. 2-3, 1991
  • Bishop Ithiel C. Clemmons: Oct. 3-4, 1990
  • Dr. J. Johnson: Oct. 2, 1990
  • Reverend Carrie Hunter- Bolton: Oct. 3-5, 1989
  • Dr. Renita J. Weems: Oct. 3-5 , 1989
  • Bishop Joseph B. Bethea: Oct. 19-21, 1988
  • Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.: Oct. 29, 1986
  • Dr. Herbert O. Edwards, Sr.: Oct. 16-17, 1985
  • Dr. Henry H. Mitchell III: Oct. 17-18, 1984
  • Dr. L.H. Whelchel, Jr.: Oct. 26-27, 1983
  • Rev. Dr. Robert H. Wilson: Nov. 18-19, 1981
  • Rev. E.C. Tillman: Nov. 11-13, 1980
  • Dr. Miles Jerome Jones: Nov. 6-8, 1979
  • Dr. Gardner C. Taylor: Nov. 16-17, 1978
  • Dr. David T. Shannon: Nov. 18, 1976
  • Dr. William Augustus Jones, Jr.: Nov. 13-14, 1975