The Cadence of the Spirit: Preaching and Formation Under the Powers
Lecture I: The Powers That Form Us: Rival Cadences in the Algorithmic Age
This lecture will examine the competing cultural, technological, racial, economic, and ideological forces that shape attention, desire, identity, and belonging before the preacher ever enters the pulpit. I will argue that formation often happens rhythmically before it happens propositionally, and that contemporary preaching must take seriously the rival cadences already forming Christian communities.
Lecture II: Learning the Cadence of Christ: Toward a Cadential Homiletics
This lecture will move from diagnosis to a constructive theology of proclamation. It will develop Cadential Homiletics as a Spirit-enabled, Christologically ordered understanding of preaching as formation, organized around the recurring movement of hearing, discernment, proclamation, formation, and witness.
This lecture is made possible through the generosity of Pine Hill Divinity Hall.
Date and Time: October 13 & 14, 7:00pm
Format: Hybrid (in person and online)
Location: AST Chapel
About the speaker
Rev. Dr. Mark Andrew Jefferson
Rev. Dr. Mark Andrew Jefferson joined Acadia Divinity College as Associate Professor in the John Gladstone Chair of Preaching and Worship and Dean of the Sarah Daley Nickerson Chapel effective July 1, 2025. Dr. Jefferson brings academic, pastoral, and public ministry experience that reflects a powerful voice for contemporary proclamation and theological formation. He has served at Alfred Street Baptist Church (Alexandria, VA), Friendship Baptist Church (Atlanta, GA), and House of Hope Atlanta. A dynamic homiletician, educator, and church leader, Dr. Jefferson most recently served on the faculty of Virginia Theological Seminary, developing innovative courses in prophetic proclamation, homiletics, and leadership formation. He has also taught at Howard University School of Divinity, Sewanee School of Theology, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and Candler School of Theology.
An alumnus of Norfolk State University (B.A.), Candler School of Theology (M.Div.), and Emory University (Ph.D.), his work explores the confluence of race, class, technology, contemporary cultural expressions and preaching. His forthcoming book, I, Too, Preach America: Race, Class, and the Future of Christian Proclamation (Wipf & Stock, 2025) reexamines Black preaching through the perspectives of the Hip-Hop emcee and the folk preacher. His next project, The Algorithm and the Anointing: Proclamation at the Edge of Surveillance and Spirit investigates the theological ramifications of preaching in an era dominated by digital algorithms. He is also interested in the rich history and preaching traditions of Black Nova Scotians.
Dr. Jefferson has preached around the globe—in South Africa, Israel, the Caribbean, and throughout the United States. He has appeared on prominent platforms including the Washington National Cathedral and the Festival of Homiletics. A member of the Academy of Homiletics and the American Academy of Religion, he is also the Bicentennial Preacher at Virginia Theological Seminary and a member of the Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers at Morehouse College.
In addition to his teaching and preaching, Dr. Jefferson has contributed to several national initiatives, such as the Lilly Endowment-funded Deep Calls to Deep preaching program. He also initiated a global preaching project to make homiletic training accessible to emerging, bivocational, and lay preachers.
Whether in pulpits, classrooms, or digital platforms, Dr. Jefferson brings a theologically rigorous and culturally resonant vision for Gospel witness. He lives with his wife Chanel, and their daughter Ella.
Date and Time: October 13&14, 7:00PM (Atlantic)
Format: Hybrid (in person and online)
Location: AST Chapel
Questions? Please contact Lydia Hood (lydia.hood@astheology.ns.ca)