MARY LEE TALBOT
Staff Writer
The Rev. Frank A. Thomas believes in preaching dangerous sermons. These sermons challenge the hearers’ comfort levels and challenge established powers and hierarchies. A dangerous sermon uses moral imagination to help the hearer to see what they cannot see, to hear what they cannot hear — to inhabit the lives of others, so that they can embody Christ and true freedom for those others.
Thomas will serve as chaplain for Week Seven at Chautauqua Institution. This is his third visit to Chautauqua, having served as chaplain in 2021 and spoken at the African American Heritage House in 2022. He will preach at the 10:45 a.m. Sunday morning worship service in the Amphitheater. His sermon title is “Weeping Over Jerusalem.”
He will also preach at the 9:15 a.m. Monday through Wednesday morning worship service in the Amphitheater. His sermon titles include “The Things that Make for Peace,” “The House of God’s Visitation” and “God’s House of Prayer.” Thomas will share his faith journey at the 9:15 a.m. morning worship service Thursday in the Hall of Philosophy.
Thomas currently serves as the director of the Compelling Preaching Initiative and the Nettie Sweeney and Hugh Th. Miller professor of Homiletics at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana.
For many years, Thomas has also taught preaching to doctoral- and master’s-level students at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, Memphis Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tennessee, and United Theological Seminary of Dayton, Ohio. With a long history of excellence in preaching and preaching method, Thomas was inducted into the Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of Preachers of Morehouse College in 2003. Thomas serves as a member of the International Board of Societas Homiletica, an international society of teachers of preaching.
He is the author of several books, including The God of the Dangerous Sermon, Surviving a Dangerous Sermon, How to Preach a Dangerous Sermon and Introduction to the Practice of African American Preaching. He also co-edited the anthology Preaching with Sacred Fire: An Anthology of African American Sermons 1750 to the Present. Thomas is also the author of several other books on subjects ranging from matters of prayer to spiritual maturity.
Thomas served with distinction as the senior pastor for two remarkable congregations: New Faith Baptist Church of Matteson, Illinois, and Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church of Memphis, Tennessee.
He holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Communications from the University of Memphis, a Doctor of Divinity from Christian Theological Seminary and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Chicago Theological Seminary and United Theological Seminary. He also holds a Master of Fine Arts from Alma College, a Master of Divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary and a Master of Arts from Northeastern Illinois University.
This program is made possible by the generous support of The Reverend Leonard J. Ebel Chaplaincy.
