PreachFest Keynote Speakers Announced

Stan Grant and Amy-Jill Levine will be the keynote speakers for PreachFest 2023.

Stan Grant is Vice Chancellor’s Chair of Australian/ Indigenous Belonging at Charles Sturt University. He has worked in journalism for over 30 years and has authored several non-fiction books.

On 17 July 2021, he delivered the inaugural Gladys Elphick Memorial Oration as a keynote address of the Adelaide Festival of Ideas.

He recently made headlines with his departure from hosting ABC TV’s QandA series.

Rabbi Amy-Jill Levine is University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies, and  Professor of New Testament Studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School, Graduate Department of Religion, and Department of Jewish Studies; she is also Affiliated Professor, Woolf Institute, Centre for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations, Cambridge UK.

Her books include The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus (Publisher’s Weekly Best Books of 2007; audio books); Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi, among others.

She was the first Jew to teach New Testament at Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute; in 2021, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Taking place from 1 to 3 November, PreachFest is a festival focusing on the vocation of preaching. People gather from around Australia to hear from preachers and learn more about the craft.

The event will take place across locations in Sydney and Melbourne. St Stephen’s Uniting Church hosts the Sydney event, while Melbourne’s will take place in Wesley Church. Some parts of the event will also be available to stream online.

As well as the keynote speakers, guest speakers will include Megan Powell Du Toit and Michael Jensen (the hosts of the With All Due Respect podcast), Sally Douglas – Associate Lecturer and Honorary Research Associate at Pilgrim Theological College, and Uniting Church President Elect Charissa Suli.

Amy Jill Levine will be speaking remotely.

Early bird tickets will go on sale from Monday 29 May for the three day event.

Preachfest takes place from 1 to 3 November. For more information about Preachfest, visit the official website here.