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The Rev. Ruthanna Hooke, Ph.D.

Ruthanna Hooke joined the VTS faculty in 2003, where she is currently the Assistant Professor of Homiletics. She received her A.B. degree summa cum laude from Harvard University, where she majored in Comparative Religion. She subsequently earned an M.A. in Performing Arts from Emerson College, where she studied the Linklater method of vocal training for actors, and became a Designated Linklater Voice Teacher. She received her M.Div. degree summa cum laude from Yale Divinity School, and her Ph.D. in Theology from Yale University. Her dissertation focused on the divine-human relationship in preaching, engaging the work of theologians Soren Kierkegaard and Karl Barth, and philosophers Emmanuel Levinas, Luce Irigaray, and Jacques Derrida.

Dr. Hooke is an ordained Episcopal priest; prior to coming to VTS she served parishes in the Diocese of Connecticut. She has also worked as a program leader for the Iona Community in Scotland, a community organizer in Somerville, MA, and in an agency providing direct services to the homeless in Holyoke, MA. She currently serves as adjunct clergy at St. Thomas’ Parish, Washington, DC. She also leads workshops and retreats focused on performance and vocal training for clergy and parishes, most recently for an association of Young Clergywomen at the Cathedral College of the National Cathedral.

Dr. Hooke has recently published Transforming Preaching, a volume in the Transformations series published by Church Publishing, a series devoted to exploring vital practices for the church of the 21st century. Transforming Preaching argues for the importance of engaging and training the preacher’s body and voice so as to foster a fuller embodiment of the Word proclaimed, and includes interviews with notable preachers in the Episcopal Church. Dr. Hooke is currently working on Real Presence: Preaching as an Embodied Event, which explores the meaning of the preacher’s bodily presence in preaching in dialogue with performance theory, recent Continental philosophy, and sacramental theology. She recently gave a presentation at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature entitled “Performance as a Bridge between Interpretation and Proclamation,” and was a keynote speaker at the 2008 Pennsylvania State Pastors’ Conference. She serves on the planning committee of the Homiletics and Biblical Studies Section of the Society of Biblical Literature. Her recent courses at VTS have included The Preacher as Artist, Prophetic Preaching, Preaching Resurrection, Embodying the Sermon, and Performing and Preaching Paul’s Letter to the Philippians.

BOOKS

Transforming Preaching. Volume in series: Transformations: The Church of the 21st Century. Church Publishing Grou, 2010.
Theological reflection on best preaching practices for the 21st century church, and research into current preaching practices.

Real Presence:  Preaching as an Embodied Event (in process).
Book project involves theological investigation into the body in Christian scripture, theology and practice; interdisciplinary research on theories of performance applicable to preaching; and study of current practices of teaching physical and vocal skills to preachers.

ARTICLES

Commentary essays for the First Sunday after Christmas, Years A, B, and C, in Preaching Social Justice from the Lectionary:  Years A, B and C.  Ron Allen and Dawn Ottoni Wilhelm, eds.  Louisville:  Westminster John Knox Press (forthcoming).

 

Pastoral Perspective Essays for Proper 27, Proper 28, and Reign of Christ Sundays, in Feasting on the Word:  Year C, Volume 4.  David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds.  Louisville:  Westminster John Knox Press (forthcoming).

 

“Inductive Preaching Renewed,” in The Renewed Homiletic, O. Wesley Allen, ed.  Minneapolis:  Fortress Press, 2010.

 

Pastoral Perspective Essays for the First Sunday after the Epiphany, Second Sunday after the Epiphany, and Third Sunday after the Epiphany, in Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume I.  David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds.  Louisville:  Westminster John Knox Press, 2008.

 

“Fear Not:  Follow Me,” in Crossing by Faith:  Sermons on the Journey from Youth to Adulthood.  David L. Bartlett, Claudia A. Highbaugh, and Stephen Butler Murray, eds.  St. Louis:  Chalice Press, 2003.

 

Sermons for the Fourth Sunday in Lent and All Saints’ Day, in The Abingdon Women’s Preaching Annual, Series III, Year C.  Nashville:  Abingdon Press, 2003.

 

“I Am Here in this Room:  The Practice of Performance and the Learning of Preaching,” Homiletic, Summer 2002.