{"id":45110,"date":"2023-10-20T13:46:17","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T17:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/?p=45110"},"modified":"2023-11-27T13:55:11","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T18:55:11","slug":"la-reverenda-dr-anna-carter-florence-es-la-invitada-en-liderar-teologicamente","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/resources\/news\/the-rev-dr-anna-carter-florence-is-the-guest-on-leading-theologically\/","title":{"rendered":"La Rev. Dra. Anna Carter Florence es la invitada en \"Leading Theologically\"."},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Rev. Dr. Anna Carter Florence<\/p><\/div>\n

In the tradition of beloved writers including Frederick Buechner<\/a>, the Rev. Dr. Anna Carter Florence<\/a> has written \u201cA is for Alabaster: 52 Reflections on the Stories of Scriptures<\/a>,\u201d published earlier this month by Westminster John Knox Press. Carter Florence, the Peter Marshall Professor of Preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary, appeared last week alongside the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty<\/a> of the Presbyterian Foundation on his show, \u201cLeading Theologically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their 32-minute conversation is available here<\/a> or here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Seminary professors \u201chave our own questions we want to ask,\u201d Carter Florence told Hinson-Hasty, \u201cbut it\u2019s the questions your students are asking and the things that are happening in the classroom that you really want to explore \u2026 reading biblical texts in ways that will make them come alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing how weary preachers can get,\u201d she added, \u201cso creating this space to have the text be constantly new and fresh \u2014 and not just for preachers, but for anyone who picks up the scripture. I feel like this is a pretty urgent need right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hinson-Hasty then turned to \u201cA is for Alabaster,\u201d in which Carter Florence writes brief and engaging pieces on scriptures about 52 biblical characters \u2014 26 from the Hebrew Bible, and 26 from the New Testament.<\/p>\n

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Westminster John Knox Press published \u201cA is for Alabaster\u201d earlier this month.<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n

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\u201cI read Frederick Buechner\u2019s lexicon books when I was young and I fell in love with this abecedary form,\u201d she said. The Book of Lamentations includes that form<\/a>, she noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy aim is to speak to anyone who might read [the book] about just how bottomless these stories are, how much they have to say right now, and encourage people to get imaginative themselves,\u201d Carter Florence said.<\/p>\n

Selecting the biblical figures to write about \u201cended up being a really fun challenge, because it turns out everybody\u2019s name begins with \u2018J,\u2019\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201cJacob had to be \u2018I is for Israel,\u2019 and Jonah had to take \u2018F is for fish.\u2019 Jesus got to go rogue and go in and out of everybody else\u2019s letters. I wanted a mix of texts I had never worked with and some that I really do love to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n

The book concludes with a discussion guide. Hinson-Hasty asked Carter Florence one of the questions she asks of readers: Did you detect recurring themes in the book?<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought a lot about how the Hebrew Bible stories, the Old Testament stories, were ones Jesus might have been told,\u201d she replied. \u201cI thought about all of the people with complicated lives, particularly women, whom he spent time with \u2026 and what it means for us that he entered into their stories so deeply.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a reason these stories are in scripture,\u201d Carter Florence said. \u201cThere is no human experience that is off-limits or that disqualifies anyone from a life of faith. To be human is to live in and among and with everything that\u2019s possible under the sun.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty<\/p><\/div>

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Hinson-Hasty called the vignettes Carter Florence included \u201cstories I want to sit with and think about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like a Christian formation tool, and for preachers, it\u2019s a nice spark,\u201d he said. Then he invited Carter Florence to leave listeners with a benediction, and she offered words from the Iona tradition that she often uses after leading worship:<\/p>\n

\u201cMay God\u2019s goodness be yours and well, and seven times well may you live your life. May you be an isle in the sea. May you be a hill on the shore. May you be a star in the night. May you be a staff to the weak. May the love Christ Jesus gave fill every heart for you and may the love Christ Jesus gave fill you for everyone. Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the tradition of beloved writers including Frederick Buechner, the Rev. Dr. Anna Carter Florence has written \u201cA is for Alabaster: 52 Reflections on the Stories of Scriptures,\u201d published earlier […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":45112,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}