Theological Education Sunday will be observed at St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Sunday, with Sewanee senior seminarian Steve White preaching. An adult confirmation class will begin Sunday and continue through May 5, meeting each Sunday from 9:15 to 10:15 a.m.
The 40th anniversary Thorne Sparkman School of Religion begins Wednesday, and continues each Wednesday through March 20. The school is hosted by St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 805 West 7th St., with the active involvement of other local Episcopal parishes. Established in 1973 through the leadership of the Rev. John H. Bonner Jr., then Rector of St. Paul's, it offers the extended community the best in education in crucial areas including worship, ethics, liturgy, history, literature, music and critical thinking. It was named in honor of the Rev. Thorne Sparkman, who served as rector at St. Paul's from 1938 to 1949.
This year's school features presentations by a diverse group of well known scholars and speakers. Feb. 20, Jon Meaham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and executive editor of Random House Publications; Feb. 27, Professor Amy Jill Levine, professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School; March 6, the Rt. Rev. Neil Alexander, an author and dean of the School of Theology of the University of the South; March 13, the Rt. Rev. Frank T. Griswold, an author and retired Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church; and Andrew Exum, American Scholar on the Middle East, Fellow of The Center for a New American Security, Washington, D.C.
The Rev. John H. Bonner III will celebrate at the opening Holy Eucharist on Feb. 20.
The schedule each evening will begin with an organ meditation at 5:15 p.m., Holy Eucharist at 5:30 and 5:45 p.m., dinner by reservation; 7 p.m. speaker presentation; 8 p.m. questions from the audience; 8:15, book sales and signing by presenters. Advanced registration for all 5 evenings is $35 or individual evening presentations, $10 at the door.