SFTS faculty to hold free workshop on "The Virgin Birth: Truths and Myths"

San Francisco Theological Seminary invites pastors and lay people to a free workshop entitled “The Virgin Birth: Truths and Myths" on Wednesday, Nov. 30, from 7-10 p.m.

Every Christmas we hear or preach about the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. Why is this idea so important in the gospels of Luke and Matthew? What ideas are connected with it in history and what can we do with it today?

To answer these questions, four professors from San Francisco Theological Seminary invite lay people and pastors to a workshop to explore exegetical, historical and theological perspectives on what is true and false about the virgin birth. The panelists include experts in African-American Christian experiences, Church History, the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Dr. James Noel is Professor of American Religion and the H. Eugene Farlough Jr. California Chair of African American Christianity. His research interests include the history of African American Christianity, black Religion in African and the Americas, and African American Social, Cultural and Intellectual History. His latest book is Black Religion and the Imagination of Matter in the Atlantic World (2009).

Dr. Christopher Ocker is Professor of Church History. Ocker is a specialist on the history of biblical interpretation, including the intersection of theology, religious mentalities, politics, and social life between the years 300 and 1600. His latest book is Politics and Reformations (2007; co-edited with Michael Printy et al.) He also wrote Biblical Poetics before Humanism and Reformation (Cambridge 2002). 

Dr. Annette Schellenberg is Associate Professor of Old Testament. Her research interests include Old Testament wisdom literature, anthropology, priestly thinking, and the interconnections between the Old Testament and its ancient Near Eastern environment. She completed her PhD on Ecclesiastes and the problem of human cognition at Zurich University. Her latest book is Humankind, the Image of God? (2011; in German).

Dr. Annette Weissenrieder is Associate Professor of New Testament. Her research interests include NT miracle stories and anthropology and the connections between the New Testament and ancient medicine, iconography and architecture. Her latest book is Contested Space (2011; co-edited with David Balch). The German native has been a visiting scholar at Union Theological Seminary, McCormick Theological Seminary and Harvard Divinity School.