Rev. Dr. Brad Braxton is Schaff lecturer

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Rev. Dr. Brad Braxton will be the featured speaker for the 2016 Schaff Lecture April 5 at First Presbyterian Church, 201 Wick Ave.

He is the founding senior pastor of The Open Church in Baltimore, a congregation committed to social justice activism and interfaith collaboration.

He has a doctorate in New Testament studies from Emory University, where he was a George W. Woodruff Fellow; a master’s degree in theology from the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar; and a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from the University of Virginia, where he was a Jefferson Scholar.

In March 2007, he preached at Westminster Abbey in London, England.

The Rev. Mr. Braxton was program officer for Religion in the Public Sphere at the Ford Foundation in New York City. He had professorships at Southern Methodist University, McCormick Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University and Wake Forest University.

His pastorates have included Riverside Church in New York City and Douglas Memorial Community Church in Baltimore.

His wife, Lazetta, is a certified financial planner and operates her own firm. They have a daughter.

Registration will be at 3:30 p.m. The seminar at 4 p.m. will focus on “Lifting the Veil: The Apostle Paul and the Racial Reconciliation.”

A supper will be at 6 p.m. Paid reservations of $8.50 must be at the church office by March 29.

At 7 p.m., Dr. Braxton will deliver the public lecture, “A Blueprint for the Beloved Community: Vocation, Values and Voice.”

The presentations are free.

For information, call the church office at 330-744-4307.

The David S. Schaff Lecture Series is made possible by the late Mrs. Philip H. (Jane Booth) Schaff, who died in 1981. In her will, she provided for the completion of the endowment of the previously established David S. Schaff Lectureship at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. It was stipulated that the Schaff lecturer would give one address in Youngstown.

Mrs. Schaff’s father-in-law, professor David S. Schaff, taught church history at Western Theological Seminary, a forerunner to Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

The educational program is open to people of all denominations.