Dr. Henry Young, visiting professor of theology and ethics at Hood Theological Seminary, will be the featured speaker during the seminary’s annual Bishop Alfred E. and Mamie Williams White Endowed Heritage Lecture Series to be held Thursday and Friday on the seminary campus.
The lecture series, titled “The Historical Significance of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church: How Does it Impact the Present and Future,” is free of charge and open to the public. Through these lectures, Young will show how the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, since its origins, has served as the vanguard of freedom and liberation.
In announcing this year’s series, Dr. Vergel Lattimore, president elect of the seminary, said “Dr. Young is highly regarded as an outstanding scholar and educator within institutions of higher learning throughout the country. We are proud and fortunate to have a person with the credentials and reputation of Henry Young as our featured speaker for the Bishop White Endowed Heritage Lecture Series.”
The first lecture will be in the chapel on Thursday at 10:10 a.m. Lecture 2, on Friday at 7 p.m., will be held in Room 315.
Young received a B.A. in philosophy and religion from Tougaloo College, a master of theology degree from Boston University, and a Ph.D. in systematic theology from The Hartford Seminary. His areas of expertise and research interest are process philosophy and theology, systematic theology, 19th century European theology, philosophy of religion and Western culture, and New Testament theology. Young is well published and has lectured at colleges, universities and theological seminaries throughout the United States. He is professor emeritus of systematic theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and was a faculty member of the philosophy and religion department at UNC-Wilmington before coming to Hood. He also serves as pastor of Johnson Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Leland.
The Heritage Lecture Series, established in 1999, was endowed in April 2012 by an estate gift of Mamie Williams White, wife of Hood Seminary alumnus the late Bishop Alfred Edward White, who served as a presiding prelate of the AME Zion Church from 1984-1992. The endowment is a memorial tribute for the ministry of Bishop White who believed firmly in the training of clergy.
Young will also present an “EduWorship” service with the theme “Civil Rights in America — The Journey” on Thursday from 6–7 p.m. in Room 315 on the seminary campus. All are welcome.
This educational worship service is inspired by the 2014 Black History Month theme, “The Golden Jubilee of the Civil Rights Act.”
Hood Theological Seminary, at 1810 Lutheran Synod Drive, sponsored by the AME Zion Church and approved by the Senate of the United Methodist Church, is a graduate and professional school where intellectual discourse and ministerial preparation occur in tandem within the framework of a community of faith.