Anna Carter Florence
Anna Carter Florence is the Peter Marshall Professor of Preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary and an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA). She is known for her work on the historical, theological, aesthetic, and performative dimensions of preaching. Career. Anna Carter Florence received a B.A. from Yale University (1984), an M.Div from Princeton Theological Seminary (1988), and a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary (2000). She was ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1988 by the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area. She was an Associate Pastor for Youth and Young Adults at Westminster Presbyterian Church , Minneapolis, MN (1988-1993) before becoming a Teaching Assistant in Preaching (1993-1996) and Instructor in Preaching (1997) at Princeton Theological Seminary. Beginning in 1998, Anna Carter Florence became an Instructor in Preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary, where she has since held the positions of Assistant Professor of Preaching (2000-2006), Associate Professor of Preaching (2006-2008), and Peter Marshall Associate Professor of Preaching (2008-2016). She currently serves as the Peter Marshall Professor of Preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary. Thought. Anna Carter Florence has focused much of her research on testimony, feminist theology, and the relationship of preaching to  other fields and traditions. In addition to teaching and lecturing around the world on these topics, she has written several books and contributed a number of chapters and essays to others. She is also a frequent contributor to "Lectionary Homiletics" and other journals. She is a proponent of preaching as both testimony and witness, as well as a proponent of preaching exegetical sermons based on the texts provided in the lectionary. She believes that "the authority for authentic preaching is based on the depth of the preacher’s engagement with the text. It is the job of the preacher to  encounter the text on a personal level and then testify to what he/she has seen and heard." She advocates preachers to think of themselves as "people who have seen and heard something, and who have to tell about it. We are the people who pay attention in the first place: we pay attention to sacred texts and to human life, and then we try to describe what we see, even when it is beyond belief.” Anna Carter Florence has also developed the method of reading biblical scripture by focusing on the verbs that are given and chosen by the  characters. She states, " It’s what we do and don’t do that preoccupies human beings. And it’s the verbs we cannot imagine for ourselves (live, liberate, forgive, resurrect) that the church offers, and that we reach for, week after week."