Sunday, November 13:
A Distinguished guest speaker and Kirkin' of the Tartans
WPC will be hosting Dr. Brian Blount, President and Professor of New Testament from Union Presbyterian Seminary, on November 13, which is also the date of our annual Kirkin of The Tartans observance during the 11am service. Dr. Blount will adopt the Kirkin theme as he preaches his sermon, "Dazzling Dress," drawing from the Book of Revelation.
Kirkin of The Tartans
Ever wonder what this annual tradition is all about? While the Kirkin of The Tartans (alternatively "Kirkin’ o’ the Tartans") service celebrates Scotland and Scottish heritage, it is truly of Scottish-American origination, going back to the 1940's. Learn more about this unique piece of Presbyterian history in this excellent article from the Montreat Scottish Society. The St. Andrews Society of Williamsburg, founded in 1968, will again be coordinating with WPC for this event. You can catch a glimpse of last year's observance below.
Brian K. Blount
President and Professor of New Testament
Brian K. Blount is President and Professor of New Testament at Union Presbyterian Seminary, Richmond, VA and Charlotte, NC. He was called to this position in 2007, after serving for 15 years as the Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Princeton Theological Seminary.
An M.Div. graduate of Princeton Seminary in 1981, he obtained his B.A. from the College of William and Mary in 1978. After graduating from Princeton Seminary, he went on to become the pastor of the Carver Memorial Presbyterian Church in Newport News, Virginia from 1982-1988. William and Mary’s first African-American to receive membership in the Alpha Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society received his Ph.D. in New Testament Studies from Emory University in 1992. He returned to teach at Princeton Seminary the same year. He served as the president of the Society of Biblical Literature from 2017-2018. He served as the president of the Association of Theological Schools from 2018-2020.
Professor Blount’s primary work has been in the Gospel of Mark, the Book of Revelation and in the area of cultural studies and hermeneutics. He is the sole author of six books:
- Cultural Interpretation: Reorienting New Testament Criticism (Fortress, 1995)
- Go Preach! Mark’s Kingdom Message and the Black Church Today (Orbis, 1998)
- Then The Whisper Put on Flesh: New Testament Ethics in an African American Context (Abingdon 2001)
- Can I Get A Witness? Reading Revelation Through an African American Lens (Westminster John Knox Press, 2005)
- Revelation. A Commentary in the New Testament Library Series (Westminster John Knox Press, 2009)
- Invasion of the Dead. Preaching Resurrection (Westminster John Knox Press, 2014)
In 2010, his Revelation commentary was voted the 2009 top reference work by the Academy of Parish Clergy. He has also edited a volume of essays on worship with Leonora Tubbs Tisdale entitled Making Room at the Table: An Invitation to Multicultural Worship (WJK, 2000). He is also the coauthor of a book with Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann and theologian William C. Placher entitled Struggling With Scripture (WJK, 2001). He has also co-authored the book Preaching The Gospel of Mark in Two Voices (WJK, 2002) with Gary W. Charles, the pastor of Cove Presbyterian Church in Cove, VA. He is an editor of The Discipleship Study Bible, also by Westminster John Knox (2008). As a part of his work for the Bible, he has also written the introduction and notes for Mark and Matthew. He is an associate editor of the New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible for Abingdon Press. He is the General Editor for True To Our Native Land: An African American New Testament Commentary by Fortress Press. He is also an editor for the forthcoming revised Interpretation commentary series by Westminster John Knox Press.
He lectures widely. He was the 2011 Beecher Lecturer at the Yale Divinity School, Yale University. The author of numerous articles, he also preaches and directs adult education classes in local congregations. He is married, and he and his wife, Sharon, have two children, Joshua and Kaylin.
