Preaching lecture set at Saint Meinrad

Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology, St. Meinrad, IN, will present the annual John S. and Virginia Marten Lecture in Homiletics on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, at 9:30 a.m. Central time in St. Bede Theater. This year’s program will be presented by the Very Rev. J. Sergius Halvorsen, Ph.D., on the topic of “Preaching with both lungs: homiletical reflections from the Eastern Church.”

Iconography plays a prominent role in the worship, theology, and piety of the Eastern Church. Whether an icon is part of a formal liturgical space or a small domestic “icon corner” used for personal prayer, sacred images help to frame the Eastern Christian understanding of divine encounter.

This lecture will explore the creative interplay between sacred images and anamnesis, the sacramental remembering of God’s action in the world. These theological reflections will form the basis for practical suggestions on how preachers can craft liturgical homilies as sacred art that incorporates imagery and invites hearers to encounter the Crucified Messiah through anamnesis.

Fr. Halvorsen is assistant professor of homiletics and rhetoric at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Yonkers, NY, and serves as director of the Doctor of Ministry Program and director of the Compelling Preaching Initiative. In addition to teaching homiletics and rhetoric, he also teaches courses in Christian education and the sacred art of narrative.

He received a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1992, a Master of Divinity from St. Vladimir’s Seminary in 1996, and a Ph.D. from Caspersen School of Graduate Studies Drew University, Madison, NJ, in 2002.

Fr. Halvorsen is a priest of the Orthodox Church in America and is attached to Holy Transfiguration Church in New Haven, CT. He has served as a hospital chaplain at Yale New Haven Hospital and has contributed to a number of “Archangel Voices” recordings.

The lecture will be livestreamed at saintmeinrad.edu/events?item=17198.

This lecture/workshop series is made possible by an endowment established by the John S. Marten family of Indianapolis. Parking is available behind St. Bede Hall, as well as in the Guest House and student parking lots.