February 7, 2012

Dear friend,

The Living Pulpit has long been a staple for preachers or teachers of preaching across North America. The journal was founded in 1992 by Walter J. Burghardt, S.J., David H. C. Read, Robert Birge, and others to help create a community of dialogue among biblical scholars, theologians, writers, artists and preachers. The goal was to improve the quality of sermons that people were hearing in churches everywhere. Three years ago we made the decision that times had changed enough to warrant a new delivery system for the journal. We moved it entirely online, and most of our subscribers followed us there.

As you may have guessed, the last year for us has been a time of transition again for The Living Pulpit. The Rev. Dr. Keith Russell, who has so ably served as Editor-in-Chief for more than 15 years, decided to step down from his position. The board met in September to elect a new Editor-in-Chief, the Rev. Dr. Jin H. Han, who is Professor of Biblical Studies at New York Theological Seminary and an ordained clergy in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Unfortunately the transition has caused us to miss several issues. Fortunately Dr. Han has been busy assembling a new team to work on the journal, and is planning to bring a special issue into print in late February 2012.

By the end of 2012 we expect to see The Living Pulpit back up and running with four issues a year as an online journal that is both in a web format and in .pdf for download and printing. We have a new web team in place and plan to offer new resources online such as a lectionary section with fresh and relevant biblical exegesis and a place for comments from readers. We are even talking about printing a limited number of issues in hard copy for those who like to receive a paper version.

Most of all what we need now are readers and preachers who are going to use the journal as a resource. To help encourage you to come back we offer free trial subscriptions, allowing you to visit and see what new things we are doing. You will find that the outstanding collection of back issues is still there, waiting for you to browse in what has become one of the most diverse and inclusive collections of practical theology resources for preaching found anywhere in the English language. We won’t charge a membership fee during this period, although we will welcome any donations that you might wish to make as we need to continue to raise support for this valuable journal. Most of all we want to hear from you. Dr. Han will be writing to you as well in the days ahead to introduce himself a bit more and to join me in welcoming you back. I look forward to seeing you again online at The Living Pulpit at www.pulpit.org!

Yours,

Dale T. Irvin
Executive Vice President

About the author

Dale T. Irvin wrote 6 articles for this publication.

Dale T. Irvin is President and Professor of World Christianity at New York Theological Seminary, in New York City. A graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary (MDiv, 1981) and Union Theological Seminary in New York (PhD, 1989), he is the author of several books, including History of the World Christian Movement, a three-volume project he has written with Scott W. Sunquist. Dr. Irvin has held visiting or adjunct appointments at a number of theological schools and universities, including the University of Uppsala in Uppsala, Sweden, and has lectured and preached throughout the world. An ordained minister in the American Baptist Churches USA, he is a member of The Riverside Church in New York City.

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